Freeman 33

[1NO REGRETS]

Great Boat ,nice guy, no B.S boat ride is as advertised by Billy.The ride took place out of gov't cut at the Miami Boat show.Cruising at 4000 doing 40 mph.Put the throttles down ....................62mph..........no sheet.Boat road extremley well, predictable,and smooth as can be.Very little bow rise and extremely quiet on the water as well as going through large boat wakes at 40 plus mph.As silly as it sounds I showed up just when he was getting ready to do a run, introduced myself and he ,Capt Mike and a prospect, as well as Ken from Prop Gods went for a terrific test run.Billy has got a 100% winner with this boat.....Had the yammy 350's and will throw you off if your not holding on.Boat turns well, cuts waves and lands well, time to plane is 4 seconds or less,no bow steer that I could detect,looks great and "feels"great.I am absolutely behind what he has put together.Billy can say what ever he wants about this 33's ride, nothing he can say will be exagerated, it's just true!No I did not place an order and no he did not coach me on saying anything.It happens to be the Hull Truth,believe it or not.If you even think of buying a big cat get on that thing and compare.I'm a cat guy and I can't say enough about the ride of the Freeman 33

get her in 4s and lets see if she is wet. she looked sweet in the water, but need to get her in some seas

[1NO REGRETS]

Did not get wet crossing 2- 65 plus sport boat wakes while we were doing forty.We crossed two sets consecutively about 8, 3-4ft wakes going in different directions.I'M not that easy to give a review,I'm satisfied with my report. I think it would be hard to get wet unless the wind was rippin.There just was not spray being thrown...........today.The boat rides high enough to not throw spray from the front third,.

[GT FISH]

I really wanted to see this boat when i was there..Wife was tired and it was getting dark..How was the storage, fishboxes,and prices etc?

[kerno]

It is a very interesting boat. It is built completely differently than you's expect, since it has plywood laid over a framework of ribs and the fiberglass is laid on the wood. You might refer to it as cold molded construction. The bow is a set of compound curves made with two layers of 3/8 plywood placed at 90 degrees to one another. There's a layer of glass on the inside, a layer between the sheets and then quite a bit of glass on the outside. The hull is very rigid and exhibited no flex. The construction of the hull and the finish work was amazingly good especially since they are a small, low production shop.

To me, the boat is as much a tunnel hull as it is a cat. The insides of the sponsons have a lot of curve which give them a lot of rising rate displacement and the tunnel is rounded rather than having the typical flat wing surface of a cat, so it did not have the sharp impact of hitting a flat surface when the boat "bottomed out" crossing a large wake. Once the boat was up on plane, you could feel the lift generated by the tunnel design and the boat exhibits some of the "hunting" with the bow moving side to side a bit as you'd expect to see in a tunnel hull. There were 11 people on the boat when I was on it and the performance was as promised. The boat is fast and did not seem to care about the weight on board. The only limit to the speed is the available horsepower. It is completely unlike the semi planing and displacement cats. The water was pretty flat, but we did cross a few reasonable wakes in the cut. The first one gave us a pretty good tunnel sneeze, but the ride was generally high and dry.

The downside is that the rib construction seriously limits the amount of underdeck storage. There are twin hatches at the bow for ground tackle, but they are not large. There are two hatches at the stern that have a crosswise shelf under them for a fishbox. There's a livewell in the leaning post, but storage is very limited.

It may not be the right boat for me, but I was impressed with the product. I'd love to take another ride is some serious head seas.


Billy has good reason to be smiling:

[kerno]

I got a PM from Bully that said "We actually left 4 36"x42" spaces covered up." because the customer wanted a clean deck. That would solve the storage problem.

[welder]

Good reports guys , Thanks .

I like the Freeman .

[Lazy_Iguana]

I too hitched a ride on the Freeman. It is a beast of a boat. When we were out there were a lot of other boats out. One hit a wave that caused it to launch out of the water. The Freeman just cruised over the wave at speed without a problem.

Yes, the other boat was a monohull

The Freeman really is a great fishing boat. The wider beam than other mono 33 foot fishing boats really adds to your ability to move around on board. It does not need triple engines, unless 60 mph is not fast enough for you. It eats chop up, and can handle offshore swells as well.

I really liked it. It is a little out of my price range, and size range - and pretty much all other ranges as well. But it is hard core. If you want a no nonsense not playing any games get out and fish monster boat - there is really only one good choice.

So what about the ride? Well there was an older man on the boat with me. He was seated on the coffin box in front of the console. The boat would hit wake from large boats at 40+ mph and the guy was NOT bounced off the box. I was a little worried at one point - but there was no problem. Billy did slow down and check however

[bully]

What a blast down in Miami. Sure is fun taking people out for rides. Makes it worth the time just to see the look on their faces afterwards, not to mention being in Miami in absolutely perfect weather.

We will be at the Show again today and will then head over to Bimini for a night or two.

Thanks for all the kind words. We tried our best to give people the best experience and see what the Freeman 33 will do. It still blows me away that the boat will still run 61mph with 13 people and 200 gallons of fuel on board. Yesterday we took a trial late in the day with a couple from Louisiana..... We were lite with around 150 gallons and 4 of us on board. I think we got his attention with 65mph running through Govt cut. He was very surprised to see that he could high cruise at 50mph with no strain on the engines.

Kerno..... It was good meeting you and Darbikrash. I know your standards are high, I was glad to see that I could come fairly close to meeting them!!!! The Freemans will only get better and better.

No regrets.... it was a pleasure as well. Cant remember who Lazy Iguana was..... sorry.



Billy

[prockvoan]

Outstanding reports guys.If I were in the market for a new boat of this size,this one would be it.My needs are a trailer boat without permits or restrictions of traileing at night.Wet slipping would be great.

Billy,she is a beast,hardcore fishing boat.

[captwells]

As a freeman owner I can assure you 4 footers are no problem. I got my boat in May and already have almost 1000 hours on it. Four footers with 20 knots of wind on your beam will get you wet but I'd like to see a boat that will keep you dry in those conditions because I certainly haven't yet. Even then it isn't a soaking but you will take some spray. You can't believe this boat till you ride on it, I know you think you do but you can't till you ride on it, I know this because I felt the same way until I rode on it.

[Lazy_Iguana]

I was undercover

Really nice boat you have there. I have been on a 32 Whitewater and a similar size Contender. If I were shopping for a boat in this size range, the Freeman would win out over either other boat I have been in. And that is not just because I am a cat fan. The ride is better, there is a lot more room, I could have it customized from the factory, and so on.

I hope you can sell a lot of them. You have a real winner.

[Tireless]

What was the list price of the 33?

[1NO REGRETS]

Billy, how did you like the ocean today??Are you still doing Bimini??

[finbox]

I went on a ride as well, and was very impressed 61.8 mph 6 big guys one of the smoothest rides I have EVER been on. 40mph at around 25-27 GPH

Mid throttle and you hammer the gas and you can feel it take off! you better hold on.

UNBELIEVABLE!!

Good job Billy.... now make a 28-30 ft Wide beam cat!!

[King Neptune]

As a owner of a monohull and never ridden in a cat, I was extremely impressed.

I watched like others as this boat was built. The thought of having the opportunity to ride this boat, in my back yard, (350 miles south) was worth the time spent traveling to South Beach to share one man's dream of taking his ideas and dreams to a reality.

For the people that want a true fishing boat that is dedicated to the hard core fisherman, you will not go wrong with what Billy has to offer.

Fisherman or Divers, this is a platform that will take care of you for many years.

BTW, I hope you guys hook them up in the Bahamas.

And as others have said, large wakes from passing boats were never a problem, even with bruised ribs!

Tight Lines,

19th Hole (J-Ville)

[Luke 1386]

I also got a ride on the Freeman 33 down in Miami. Very, very impressive. The ride and stability of the boat were great. The wide beam afforded a ton of deck space. Having never been on a cat before, I wasn't used to the yawing and outward leaning in turns, however, which was an interesting experience. If you're in the market for a lower thirties CC sportfish, this is definitely one to get aboard!

[ken2]

I rode on the Freeman as well.
Very impressive speed and economy for that size boat/motor combo.
Went across any chop we could find effortlessly.

Before riding the freeman, we rode on a 28ft mono with the same power (twin F350's). We were burning more fuel, going slower, and getting bounced around a little bit.

Awsome boat !!

[Shin-Dig]

I went for two rides on the Freeman in Miami and it was my third time overall. The seas were relatively calm outside of the cut, but I have ridden it in true 4-5's before. I will be getting with Billy next week after he has recovered so I can begin the process of replacing my Contender with a much better ride and able to retain my need for speed.

It was certainly fun racing a triple engine Midnight Express and watching their look of disgust when they had to slow down for the same wakes that we just sliced through. They even gave us a thumbs-up wave of acknowledgement.

The great thing is that Billy will rig the boat the way I want it and I will make significant modifications to suit my preferences.

[1NO REGRETS]

Billy, Please give the Bimini crossing Report.....