Ordered our new boat today, a Tidewater 21 Bay

[Onewolf]

We placed the order for our new boat today. According to the dealer it should be ready for delivery in early August. I'm not in a hurry to take delivery because we're taking our Pursuit over to the Bahamas for 2 weeks at the end of next week, and then 5 days after I get back from the Bahamas I leave for 10 days in India. So basically my schedule is shot until almost the end of July.

As I have noted in previous posts I've gotten kind of tired of being 'stuck' in a slip with our current Pursuit 3070 so I've been thinking about getting a 2nd more trailerable boat. We love the Pursuit and we're planning to keep it until we 'upgrade' at some point to a 36-38 express type boat. I've been looking for a 2nd boat that we could use for inshore and some offshore fishing, "farting around" on the river (water toys, etc), towing to the Keys, towing over to the Gulf, etc. At first I was focused on 24-26 foot center consoles but try as I might I could never justify the expense of a 26ish foot center console while still keeping the Pursuit 30. I've always planned to eventually be a '3 boat owner' with a 36-38 Express, a 26ish foot center console, and a smaller skiff/bay boat. Since I couldn't rationalize getting the mid size center console right now I started looking at the 18/19' skiff/bay boats. As we looked at all the 17-19 center console/skiff bay boats it became apparent that that the 21 foot bay boats possessed a better mix of size and functionality that we wanted (And the 21 would be better suited when we tow it to the Keys/Gulf for going offshore on nice days). One of the absolute restrictions for this boat is that it must fit in our current garage (the good news is that the garage is almost 28' deep, but the garage door height of 7' is a big limitation).

The initial budget was $20K but when the admiral saw the differences between the 19 and 21 footers she upped the budget to $25K.

We ended up ordering a Tidewater 2100 BayMax/Yamaha F150 with a 'slate blue' hull color. The TideWater bay boats appear to us to possess the best value of all the "lower cost, yet reasonably finished" bay boats we looked at. We will be making the windshield and grab rail quick release (or fold down) attachments so the boat fits comfortably under the 7' garage door limit (there should be 6" clearance if my measurements are accurate).

So now it's time to select the GPS/sounder. I'm leaning towards the Lowrance LMS-525 or LCX-27C at this point.

I'll update with photos when the boat arrives.

Doug

[Contractor]

Congratulations!! It sounds like you made a great purchase.

Enjoy your new ride and post some pictures!!


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[SCAngler]

a good boat for the money you should be very pleased with her ...good luck

[abaze2001]

Congrats on the boat let me know in a week if you still need the dimensions on the dash compartment. Also congrats to Tidewater looks like they have been working on upgrading the website a little. Which is about the only department that Tidewater is lacking in. Congrats Again![img]../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif[/img]

[jets]

Congratulations on the new boat . What other bay boats in that price range did you consider? Thanks

[Onewolf]

We looked at the 19-21 bay boats from Sea Pro, Nautic Star, Sea Hunt, Clearwater, Key West, Sundance (as well as brands that were outside the price range just so we had a point of comparison (like Pathfinder, Scout, Century, Shearwater, Everglades, etc)).

The layout, features, construction, components, fit/finish, and price lead us to choose the Tidewater. It seems like Tidewater is pricing their boats pretty aggressively in order to build market share and dealer 'mindshare'. I assume that they will probably start ramping up prices to be closer to their competitors in the next year or two. I showed my wife some of the rolled gunnel splatter-finish boats, but she would have none of that! She's more of the Lexus type person than the Dodge type. But she insisted on the 21 rather than a 19, so I think I'll keep her.

Doug

[Stretch]

Onewolf, what options did you order on the Tidewater? Walk-in console? Aft bench seat? Leaning post helm seating?

[jets]

Thanks, Doug. PM sent.
Jorge

[Salty-Cracker]

Congrats just picked mine up last week my wife did the same thing we were looking at the 19 but as soon as she got on the 21 she said this was it then I tried to save some money by going to a 2 stroke she said no she was tired of smelling yamalube I think I keep her too

[cattywampus]

i am sure you will love it, a friend just got the 19', for island hopping and some fishing, they love it thus far. i have looked hard at them myself, but bought a house instead, so the 18 foot Sea Pro is gonna have to give me a couple more seasons.

[Onewolf]

Stretch,

We ordered a very basic boat: colored hull, pkg #3 (compass, swim step/ladder, 2nd battery/switch), stainless flippy helm seat with 94 qt cooler, _no_ dash glove box, aluminum tandem axle Road King trailer.

The walkin console would make it too tall to fit in the garage and with the existing helm seating, and forward seating we didn't think we would need the aft bench seat.

At some point I will probably add trim tabs myself. My wife assumes we will also be having a bimini installed.

Doug

[swamppro]

congrats..... Very nice boat. We are waiting alittle while on ours with the new born and all. No time to get down there and see one. Also, go with the 28c better unit less problems

[Afishinado]

Doug Congrats and best of luck with it. You might want to look at some of the delete options I ordered when I had my Sea Pro built, in my photo album. I have never had plug in nav or anchor lights that were worth a sh!t, so I had them just run the wiring and I did my own lights hard wired. Like you I opted to do without the E-box.... I strongly recommend you have them put a leaning post of some sort instead of the flip seat, a major improvement that you will greatly appreciate.... Again, best of luck with it, keep us tuned in!

[Sprockets]

Congrats on the new ride. Is there a dealer in the area?

[Onewolf]

I strongly recommend you have them put a leaning post of some sort instead of the flip seat, a major improvement that you will greatly appreciate....

Swapping out the helm seat for a leaning post is one of the things I may do eventually. In order to squeeze the 21 foot boat into the "19 foot budget" I went very light on the options.

Thanks for all replies/comments.

Doug

[Onewolf]

Is there a dealer in the area?

The closest dealer to us is Pelican Harbor Marina in Palm Bay. There are also dealers in Gibsonton (Alafia Marine), and Ft Myers (San Carlos Marine. There are dealers in VA and South Carolina who have much better pricing than the local dealers if you're willing to travel to purchase a boat.

Doug

[doolittle3701]

Onewolf: Did you get yoiur new Tidewater yet. I see from your post that you left the glovebox out. Did you do that in order to put a panel mount GPS in later?
Bob

[Onewolf]

Supposedly our boat will be ready to take delivery around the second week of August. We chose to omit the dash glovebox so that we can flush mount electronics (GPS/FF combo, VHF) in the dash.

Doug

[Paul Barnard]

Onewolf - 7/28/2007 10:29 AM

Supposedly our boat will be ready to take delivery around the second week of August. We chose to omit the dash glovebox so that we can flush mount electronics (GPS/FF combo, VHF) in the dash.

Doug

I bought a new Tidewater 19 Bay a few weeks ago and have been very pleased with it so far. Congrats on the purchase. I think it will be well worth the wait.

[doolittle3701]

Onewolf: Thanks for replying to all the questions about your new Tidewater. Have you picked out any electronics as yet? I think your new boat will be the most publicized and followed purchase on THT. I don't have an admiral ( have a wife, but she doesn't fish or boat), but when I saw the 19 and 21 side by side, I came to the same conclusion as your admiral.
Bob