Who likes their walkaround??

[triumphrick]

Well, we are ready to move up a bit. I have been looking and we have decided on a walkaround, 22' - 24' preferably with an outboard. If you own one of these and have had good experiences with it, I sure wish you would share that with me and whomever else here may be interested.
Lots of them for sale here. I really like the Pro Lines, but most have Mercury power. Lots of good Gradys and Pursuits as well.
So, if you own one of these or are closely associated with someone who owns one I would like to hear about it. Thanks, Rick

 

[JoLin]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

I like the way my old P-L handles the slop, and I like it in general. That is, I liked it until I actually spent a night camping out in it. That was when I decided we needed a full cabin. Buying that now.

Otherwise, it was fine- room for a little privacy to change or use the head, but still easy to get around to the bow. Could take a pounding and I never felt threatened in some fairly rough stuff. It was a good first boat for us.

 

[Slayer's Sweetie]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

We've got a 24' Trophy with the walk around. We've had many boats in the past and this one is the best. We fish just about every weekend and having that walk-around sure makes it nice to get around. We are able to fish more people on our boat and access bouys/ropes with ease.
I highly recommend a good walk-around.

 

[gss036]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

I have a SeaCraft 23WA, bought it new in 1989. Great for fishing, but you give up a lot of room for the walk around feature. Mine serves me well for the way I use it. If I were going to do more camping and longer trips, then a hardtop would be the answer. I am not that familiar with the proline boats. There are a lot of Grady's around here, but are spendy, if money is not an issue, then I would have chosen a Grady White. My wife kinda wanted one, but it twice the money I paid for my SeaCraft.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

My dad has a 23' 2002 Seaswirl Striper walkaround http://s731.photobucket.com/albums/ww312/Lac_Huron/21ftSeaswirlStriper/23ft%20Seaswirl%20Striper/?albumview=gridthat he bought brand new and he loves it. We fish Lake Huron trolling(9.9 Yammy) with downriggers with it and she handles the chop amazingly.

He opted for the hardtop with side windows to stay dry and out of the sun and wind. We fish a wreck called the Nordmeer about 9 miles offshore and this boat is a good one for running out and back in quickly while still being able to take on some 5-7 footers no problem if need be.

Fuel tank will hold plenty for long excursions and the 225 Yamaha outboard is plenty of power to get around with. I like the huge, deep livewell mounted aft and the raw water washdown makes cleaning up a breeze.

One thing about her is that it is tough to get a strong breeze through the helm area on a calm hot day. The windows on the sides slide a bit but not enough to cool down if it's really warm. Of course we can always jump into the lake- that cools you down about as much as you'd want.

For the ocean I'd imagine people would want to run two outboards for redundancy but I read about folks switchingn back to a single 300hp these days. Having two provides quite a bit of assurance that you can get in when you need to even if one has issues.

Good luck picking one out

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

Forgot to mention that my personal favorite feature of the 23' Striper is the fact that the scuppers will drain that boat is seconds if waves ever crash over the bow/sides. She was designed this way in the event that water is being taken on at all. I'm not sure if the Grady White's or Trophy's have similar scuppers, I would imagine they would.

Running the bilge would barely even be necessary to drain especially if the motor is engaged.

If you look at the pictures in the link I posted you can see the scuppers on the port side directly below where the 2301 decal is located.

The helm deck is so high above the aft deck that it all just trickles on back and you stay dry if you're at the helm or in the cabin.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

Forgot to mention that my personal favorite feature of the 23' Striper is the fact that the scuppers will drain that boat is seconds if waves ever crash over the bow/sides. She was designed this way in the event that water is being taken on at all. I'm not sure if the Grady White's or Trophy's have similar scuppers, I would imagine they would.

Running the bilge would barely even be necessary to drain especially if the motor is engaged.

If you look at the pictures in the link I posted you can see the scuppers on the port side directly below where the 2301 decal is located.

The helm deck is so high above the aft deck that it all just trickles on back and you stay dry if you're at the helm or in the cabin.

Thanks to all that have posted, and thanks HA for the link. Good looking family! The boat looks really sweet. It is one that is on my list..we just don't seem to see alot of them down here.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

Hey Rick do you see Grady Whites in your neck of the woods? They are a pretty solid hull as well but we only see a few in the great lakes.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

Hey Rick do you see Grady Whites in your neck of the woods? They are a pretty solid hull as well but we only see a few in the great lakes.

Yes we do..Grady Whites and Yamahas are a very popular but pricey rig. The hulls are very well made and the hardware is about as good as it gets.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

I like mine

 

[Black Snow Slide]

Re: Who likes their walkaround??

A very good friend of mine has a WellCraft 252 Coastal with twin 200 E-Tecs. It is a great boat. Nice for fishing and a night on the hook. Not alot of plushness for the wife. 8'9" beam so carefull towing. When drift fishing feels much beamier then the 8'9" witch is a good thing. If my wife wasnt into the cruiseing thing so much I would have the 34' in my slip. Enjoy!!!