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SUBJECT: # 39543: pathfinder boats
Submitted by willias20 (71.3.9.65) from FLORIDA on 7/12/05 6:14:00 PM
I am interested in buying a new/used boat. I like to fish both inshore as well as offshore. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of makes the would be good for both? I have had several people tell me that the Pathfinder 2200V is one of the best. Is this true? Thanks
- 7/21/05 5:35:00 PM
Submitted by
Brian (69.164.245.172) from GEORGIA says .
In my many years of fishing freshwater, inshore, and offshore I had come up with the conclusion there isn't a boat made that will be good for both inshore and offshore fishing. I'm not saying it can't be done it just won't be done well. I'm sure alot of people will disagree and that is the beautiful thing about opinions is everyone has one. A good offshore boat will had a couple of feet of draw and the gunwhales will extend out of the water a couple of feet. The bow will be large and extend several feet out of the water as well. This is necissary for when seas pick up to a few feet you can still run good speeds and not bury the nose or take a bath from all of the spray. On an inshore boat or bay boat they are all trying to get the draft of the boat as minimal as possible and the gunwhales are as low profile as possible. The gunwhale and bow are as low as possible on a bay boat because all of that extra fiberglass sticking up out of the water is heavy and because it catches wind. An inshore bay boat will run hard and fast in open ocean if the seas are laying down and nonexsistant but if the seas pick up, inlets and seas blowing at you can get quite tricky and sometimes dangerous for that matter. Any offshore boat with a large bow and deep draft will not be a good inshore or bay boat because you can't run into the skinny stuff and they get blown around quickly in even a slight breeze. It has taken me several years and a few close calls to come up with this opinion but I now have a bass boat that I use for freshwater and bay fishing and purchased a used grady white seafarer for offshore fishing. I would suggest you weigh the options of what type of fishing you'll do the most of and look for a boat to accomidate those particullar needs based on what you can afford. New boats are quite pricey as we all know but you may look for used and pick up two boats if your desire is to do both. To run more than a feew miles offshore I sure would like to here you picked up a 21+footer min. with a large steep bow and as much deadrise as you can afford. I got back from a trip to the gulf where I met a friend who had brought his 22' bay boat a couple months back. We were mostly concentrating on beach cruising looking for cobia. The first day was gorgeous with seas less than one ft. We even ran about 7 miles out and did a little bottom fishing. The next day the seas had picked up to 2 to 4 ft and we went out for a little while. We trolled at slow speeds and stayed near the inlet. When we decided it was to rough to be out in a bay boat we throttled slightly to get in. It was a VERY ROUGH and wet ride. At the same token I was in south Fla a couple weeks back out of sebastain inlet about 20 miles. We could see a wicked thunderstorm rolling towards us and it was time to go any how. With the throttle down in my grady we pushed 32mph for 20 miles into the inlet to beat the storm in 3 to 4 ft seas and didn't get wet.The boat cut right thru the waves because of its design and weight rather than slamming hard and killing ourselves.
- 7/25/05 4:03:00 PM
Submitted by
willias20 (71.3.32.206) from FLORIDA says thanks
I will definatley keep you advice in mind. I think i am leaning towards the inshore version and just go offshore on the GOOD days. Then when i win the lottery i will buy an off shore boat too.
