This is my boat.
It is a good boat. When I bought it, I anticipated fishing in the bay most of the time and occasionally going offshore. However, after learning the area and getting some experience under my belt, I've found myself going offshore much more than fishing in the bay. As much as 40 miles offshore.
The first issue is the ride. A bay boat is made primarily to be able to get into shallow water. Because of this the hull is somewhat flattish. This makes for a rough ride in rough seas. Even on a calm day offshore, the ocean has swells. On a windy day it can get pretty gnarly. My boat does OK if the wind stays under 10mph but that is rare. Anything more and it is a really rough ride and if the wind really picks up, can be dangerous.
The second issue is speed. Mine tops out at around 40 with smooth water. So, the ride out to some of my favorite places is easily over an hour.
The biggest issue is setup, though. We fish from the back of the boat when we fish offshore. You can't tell from this pic, but the area behind the seat is so cramped you can barely walk through without standing on the back deck. It really makes fishing and moving around difficult. And, the livewell (we fish with live bait) is sort of hard to get to. Not only do we have to dump bait in there, but on an average day you are dipping out bait maybe a 100 times. It just isn't ideal.
This is the boat I want.
The first thing you can't tell on it is it is 2 1/2 ft. longer. That makes a big difference for both ride and moving around. 2 1/2 ft. doesn't seem like much but it is on a boat that size. The second thing you don't see is the hull. The hull on this brand is much more of a V. It is made for rougher seas. The ride will be substantially better with this one.
This boat also has a 300hp motor. Mine has a 200. The top speed on this one is about 55. Definitely a plus.
But the main difference is fishability. The rounded thing behind the seat is a large livewell. Much bigger than mine. It will hold a LOT of bait. That is in addition to 2 other livewells that are about the same size as mine. Also, that rounded livewell is soooo much easier to get bait out of. Very convenient.
You can see the area behind the rounded livewell. That is plenty of walkaround area. Not cramped at all. Mine is less than half that.
There are a couple of other things about this boat. There are two tackle box storage areas. This is good because right now I have to haul my tackle boxes to the boat every time I fish and they sort of just lay on the floor in the way. This will be much better.
The bottom line is, this boat is a perfect setup for what I do. GF agreed. I haven't found all of this in any other brand of boat.
I seem to be talking myself into it.