Bay boat vs. CC for Charleston

General Boats and Motors
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I have been going back and forth trying to decide which style to get as my first boat. It will primarily be used as an inshore boat 70/30 fishing/cruising and I’m looking at 20-22 foot boats. The wife will be fishing with me a lot of the time but she likes the amenities like bow seats with backrests, console space for porta potty etc.

I haven’t spent a lot of time on a boat in the salty stuff around here so I’m wondering if the higher gunnels and potentially better ride in the chop are worth it over the shallower draft and better fishability of a bay boat in this area.

I know this is all a matter of opinion but I’d like to here the opinion of people who do what I’m looking to do in the area I’m looking to do it. In case it matters I’ve kind of narrowed it down to Sea Hunt and Key West, with Sea Fox or Sea Pro as secondary options if the right deal presents itself.

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You should have taken your wife to the boat show and let her stand up in the bay boats and center consoles you are considering. She would probably tell you she felt more comfortable with the higher gunnels of a center console, mine did.

Pioneer 222 Sportfish
Yamaha 250

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quote:
Originally posted by Long Enuff

You should have taken your wife to the boat show and let her stand up in the bay boats and center consoles you are considering. She would probably tell you she felt more comfortable with the higher gunnels of a center console, mine did.

Pioneer 222 Sportfish
Yamaha 250

I did, and she did lol. But after going around and climbing on every boat remotely in our price range it basically boiled down to having a comfortable seat for her.

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Over 120 views and 1 response, I was hoping for some more insight.

What If I ask “what boats do you all use and why did you pick it?”

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bay boat, tons of deck space and storage, stabile , easy to handle by yourself

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Start with a bay boat and get her a bean bag!

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I have a 17 foot Sundance Flicker flats boat. Center console, large casting deck on the bow and poling platform. I occasionally fish with a friend in Florida and he has a 23 foot Blue Wave bay boat with lots of amenities including a hard/fiberglass t top. He uses it for fishing and family boating.

Based on my experience in these two types of boats I think for a wife/family comfort is really important so that they have a good time on the water. I can be out all day in my boat and come back tired and worn out from the sun but I still had a great time. My wife likes it OK but for shorter trips.

My observation for wife/family fun is that having shade (T-Top for sure w/ rollout shade awning if possible), staying dry (not get sprayed/soaked when driving in wind) and a place to pee are paramount.

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I’m pretty obsessed with my new key west, best layout in its class imo, and mine has so much fishing gear in it right now it’s silly. Fished a buddies sea pro 228 yesterday and I liked it a lot better than the old 21 I had but I prefer the key west’s layout with the live wells, console access, jump seats, and a few other nit picky things. That being said, all of your choices are locally made and factory support is right down the road if it’s ever required.

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quote:
Originally posted by salty849

I’m pretty obsessed with my new key west, best layout in its class imo, and mine has so much fishing gear in it right now it’s silly. Fished a buddies sea pro 228 yesterday and I liked it a lot better than the old 21 I had but I prefer the key west’s layout with the live wells, console access, jump seats, and a few other nit picky things. That being said, all of your choices are locally made and factory support is right down the road if it’s ever required.

Which Key West do you have? Coast 2 cove had a seapro 228 with a Suzuki 175 for 37k at the boat show. Seemed like a heck of a deal and very solid.

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250br. That 228 seapro will be a slug with a 175.

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I have an older SeaPro SV2400 with a F-150 Yamaha. It does 40+ MPH by Garmin GPS.
If you plan to take the family out to the beaches, a bay boat is much easier to get in and out of over the bow.
If you are taking them past the jetties; get the CC.

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My first boat that I bought a couple of years ago was a 20’ Pathfinder.
From a fishing perspective I love it, drafts shallow and on nice days can get out to nearshore reefs.
My wife isnt a huge boat person but I have a large beanbag for when she does want to come out.
Im about to get something a little bigger, and one of the considerations was something that was a little more passenger friendly, but those beanbags are super comfy!

Cheers

I’m not a Dr, those are my initials and I cant edit my user name. Please do not contact me regarding medical issues :slight_smile:

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Thanks for all the insight, I’m still pretty torn. I guess it’ll probably come down to which I can find lightly used for the best deal.

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We had the same dilemma, I think most people do, especially for their first boat.

Probably the biggest factor I read was “my wife likes amenities, bow seats, backrests, etc…” There is your answer… really… if she is not happy, you will not be happy either.

We looked at exactly the same size boat range for nearly 1 year before deciding. I bet stood in at least 100 boats from Florida to North Carolina.

The only piece of advice for power, do not under power your boat. It makes for an unpleasant experience, every time. It may save you $5-8k up front, but it is a mistake to think it will be ok. I would only recommend having an under powered boat to an experienced boater who knows they never would utilize it in the first place. I personally chose the highest power recommended by the manufacturer, I have no regrets.

A 20-22’ deep V boat will go in all the same places that a 20-22’ bay boat will go as far as shallow water is concerned. I am not talking about a Carolina Skiff with 6" of draft, a typical Sea Pro, Sea Hunt, Sportsman, Key West, etc… boat generally have a 12" draft whether they are a bay boat or a deep v. The fish-ability of that boat comes from whether you like to stand on the bow of a deck and fish or do you want to be inside the gunnels? It is a hard decision, I know.

So with all that said, we ultimately decided on a bay boat. My wife wanted a comfortable boat, we are empty nesters and we decided to buy a boat for “us”. My wife loves fishing and a bay boat offers the style of fishing we like best, inshore walking around the deck of a boat like bass fishing. As far as comfort was concerned, which was a big deal to my wife, we picked a boat that had a comfortable helm. Keep in mind comfort is in the eye of the beholder. She would literally go right to the helm and make sure she was comfortable. She probably made many salesmen mad, she would sit down and say “nope, let’s go”, leaving the salesman making all kind of comfort promises, but they don’t know my wife… L

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I bought my boat (Scout 195) almost exactly 4 years ago. At the time, I was dead set on a smaller flats boat, as I just wanted something that would get up in the creeks, with the occasional booze cruise. I settled on a small 17’ flat from Rogue Motion and took my fiancee to see it when I went to sign some papers. She immediately didn’t like it, which I sort of expected - but I listened to her, and tbf, she had a fair amount of boating experience as well. She wanted something with a deeper V, more seats and all - something I was pretty against. At that point, I put my sale on hold and started my search again and in the end, ended up in my 195 Sportfish. I hate to say she’s right, but I’m glad we got what we did. For me, the boat is the perfect size for the mix of what we do on the water. The one thing I’ll say - the harbor is rougher than most people realize. There are more days than I can count where I’ve planned on meeting some friends on the water and they turned around because it was too rough. If I’d gone with the flats boat, even getting into the creeks would have been a chore on a lot of days. If you’re on the fence and your wife is already raising flags, my suggestion would be to go with the deeper V. Mine drafts 24" or so and I can get to pretty much anywhere I want/need to go and it also has a much drier and smoother ride than anything I would have found in a flats hull. Comfort is not to be taken for granted.

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Awesome answers, thank you. I’m leaning more towards a traditional CC after having some frank discussions with my wife yesterday and from some of the information I’ve got from here.

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quote:
Originally posted by wisertime

I bought my boat (Scout 195) almost exactly 4 years ago. At the time, I was dead set on a smaller flats boat, as I just wanted something that would get up in the creeks, with the occasional booze cruise. I settled on a small 17’ flat from Rogue Motion and took my fiancee to see it when I went to sign some papers. She immediately didn’t like it, which I sort of expected - but I listened to her, and tbf, she had a fair amount of boating experience as well. She wanted something with a deeper V, more seats and all - something I was pretty against. At that point, I put my sale on hold and started my search again and in the end, ended up in my 195 Sportfish. I hate to say she’s right, but I’m glad we got what we did. For me, the boat is the perfect size for the mix of what we do on the water. The one thing I’ll say - the harbor is rougher than most people realize. There are more days than I can count where I’ve planned on meeting some friends on the water and they turned around because it was too rough. If I’d gone with the flats boat, even getting into the creeks would have been a chore on a lot of days. If you’re on the fence and your wife is already raising flags, my suggestion would be to go with the deeper V. Mine drafts 24" or so and I can get to pretty much anywhere I want/need to go and it also has a much drier and smoother ride than anything I would have found in a flats hull. Comfort is not to be taken for granted.

How was your experience with Rogue Motion? I’ve been looking at their boats a lot over the last month or so. We’re you able to haggle with them on price or were they pretty firm?

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How was your experience with Rogue Motion? I’ve been looking at their boats a lot over the last month or so. We’re you able to haggle with them on price or were they pretty firm?
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In the end, I didn’t buy from them, but I came as close as you could without purchasing. That being said, they seemed to be great, and they definitely haggle. Again, that was 4 years ago, but I think they came down $4k off the original price. That boat was on consignment (I think they all are?) so there was a delay in the negotiations (I’d offer a price, it’d take them a day to get back to me, etc…) but they seemed like great people, I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase from them, based on my experience.

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In the end, I didn’t buy from them, but I came as close as you could without purchasing. That being said, they seemed to be great, and they definitely haggle. Again, that was 4 years ago, but I think they came down $4k off the original price. That boat was on consignment (I think they all are?) so there was a delay in the negotiations (I’d offer a price, it’d take them a day to get back to me, etc…) but they seemed like great people, I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase from them, based on my experience.
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Awesome thank you very much!

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