Boat Show

[Bodofish]

OK so who went to the boat show? Did you see anything that really turned your crank???

[racfish]

Yes... The 85' Carver Yacht always turns me on. Or the Landing craft for fishing.The question should read "Which boat dosent turn you on?"

[saltyseadog]

they had a 85' last time i was there the biggest they had was like 56'

[Bodofish]

OK so I go with a buddy every year and we look at every single boat and gadget there. It takes all day, first in the door and they're kicking us out at 8:00.

Obviously we're fishing fools so the ski/wake crap means nothing to us (still scope it out...). Boats for day, weekend and cruise. Sure we'd love to run a 65' Carver but let’s get serious, we're talking PS to Alaska and out a ways in the ocean.

So weekend and cruise; Whaler, Grady, nice boats but we live in the PNW, can't they make a sedan? One bit on the Grady's that really gripes me is the lack of fore thought and engineering. They make a beautiful Cuddy and then just stick a targa top on it and stretch plastic and canvas around it. The support pillars go up right smack in the middle of the pilots view.... not one but two. For the price one would think........ guess not. On to big aluminum tubs. How much crap do you need to carry? Most all of them are OB so under the huge back decks is enough storage to open a moving company but none of it for habitation. How about a fuel trade off with a diesel IO or maybe make the house just a bit bigger. For the size of those monsters one would think they would be able to make a birth that an average sized guy could sleep in. I'm 5'11" and not one had a bunk that I could lay on without scrunching. Sure the boat is made for fishing but on a couple day trip, ya gotta sleep sometime. OK so under a half mil, it's gotta go to Ocean Pro for fish cruise and live ability. No need for a hotel tent or camp stove here. Galley, births and staterooms, plenty of storage, fuel efficient diesel power and a nice fish deck.....did I mention the big fish boxes and the built in freezers? Fit and finish second to none, beautiful! So for us average guys, The boat that really jumped out in this class was the Bayliner 2660 Discovery. It's a sedan, you look through glass, not plastic. Ample sitting area above with a take down bunk/table. Galley/stateroom had plenty of room for a couple or a couple of old rotter’s that fart and snore. Back deck has plenty of room to work with downrigger mounting space. Although it's missing a fish box, one could sure strap one on the swim step. Enough room on the roof for radar and an inflatable. Sure it would need a few upgrades but at $59,000 there's room in the budget and no more hotels and greasy spoons.

Small day boats, the usual suspects, Smokercraft, Lund, Tracker...... Pretty much the same old same old. Lund was showing off their Rebel 1650. Open sled, deck it out anyway you want prop or jet, tough to wrong if you're looking for a light sled. Tracker had plenty of boats but all set up for lakes, some with a little different trim would be nice on the river. The one boat that really caught my eye was the Triumph 17 "Skiff". Wow!!!!! Wide, flat bottom and made out of indestructible plastic, much tougher than aluminum. Pop on an 80hp Yam pump and a guy would have one heck of a river sled, you could turn more than a couple heads!!!!! Lest you think I’m kidding check out their video "The Bubba Test” It was on the “let's go fishing” web site for a while. Plane Jane but very impressive!!

Odd balls.... Portaboat has a new one. You know the guys that fold flat and strap to the top of the truck or cruiser. They teamed up with an inflatable company to bring us a hybrid. The portaboat has finally come into it's own. With the addition of the inflatable ring it's brought new meaning to stability and rigidity for the little guys. It's now an option for the space conscious cruiser or the occasional boater that doesn't have the space to store a hard boat. Very cool!

Gadgets and stuff was pretty much the same as last year with the floor space at a premium price I guess one would have to be pretty sure of themselves to commit. The one thing that's impressed me for the second year running is the Torpedo electric OB's. You can't call them trolling motors because they're way past that. They seem to improve radically every year, this year it was self-contained batteries and a GPS to tell you when you've used half the battery. Brushless motors and lithium batteries are what make these babies go. Up to 4 ponies is pretty darn cool for a small skiff or sailly boat. Silent running boys and girls and about 25 cents to charge the batts for hours of fun. I could really see the need for a couple of battery packs just because.

So there you have it! What did everyone else see????

[sickbayer]

i love the bayliner DIS 26' i think it is a gret boat for the P Sound