wahoohead

I am looking to buy this boat, never own a WellCraft before, after inspecting the boat it seams in excellent shape with only 180 hours on the white twins Yamahas 150's, fully loaded with all electronics, price right and and still under warranty, the only flaw is the diving ladder is opposite from transon door and seating two high to the point that if you lift motors and turn toward ladder it hits the cowlings...I have look other boats in the same category like Cobias and Sportmans and they look flimsy and cheap. anyone with experience on the Wellcraft 242 that can give me some inputs?

J Lightning

Neighbor purchased one last month with a single Yamaha 300. I'm assuming it is the same size. I thought the live well layout wasn't well thought out as when getting bait you are leaning beyond the transom if the bait is towards the back. The t-top seemed overly heavy and likely needed a secondary support by the leaning post.

He was having trouble with 2 issues. Trim tabs needed to be used to keep boat level and it was worse when livewell is full. 2nd is he can't find a leak that is coming thru the console.

Another 2 neighbors have Cobia's- 23 and new 26. I've been on the 26 and thought it was a great mid tier builder. Seemed solid and laid out was great. I think the Cobia is much better.

dobinsonusa

I had the 222, really liked it. The quality and ride is decent but the support is some of the best, also depending who is your dealer. I had an issue with mine that it was the dealers fault. Wellcraft shipped me the correct part at no charge and sent me to Riva where they installed and took care of me.

Plenty of mid tier brands out there and i do agree that Cobia is a good option but to me the off white color and the fact that it's so plain inside doesn't excite me. I would consider a Robalo too, it has a better ride of those 3.

sxracer

Agreed ... Robalo is one of the best riding of the smaller boats out there.

wahoohead

on my price range I also have another completely different route which is a Century 2900, but is a 2007. I know a completely different category but the reason was I started looking at newer boats is just because I am tired of fixing little problems here and there, but I came of a 28.4 Mako which handles very well, and I am very concerned about ride quality on a smaller lighter boat.

dobinsonusa

The Century won't ride any better than the wellcraft. I agree with you on older boats it because more expensive trying to upkeep. I also prefer newer boats with newer engines.

RivaMike

Wahoo -

I worked for a Wellcraft dealership for a few years. The 182 and 242 were/are my favorite Wellcraft designs. I thought the 242 rode better than the 262and it was nice to have the 156 gallon fuel tank.

The only thing I'd suggest, if you do a lot of fishing, is to replace the screws they used to install the rod holders with some backing plates and bolts. An earlier post mentioned the T-top. My recollection is that in 2017 Wellcraft had an issue with some T-tops in that towards the rear of the top they left off a spacer between the top and the frame. That caused some flexing - I think we repaired a top or two and one had a visible crack and Wellcraft sent us a complete brand new T-top to replace it with. Otherwise the T-tops were great and had no issues. I would mention that your engines may be under warranty but the 3 year bow to stern warranty on Wellcrafts did not start until 2018.

With regards to your two questions.I believe the 242 was introduced in either 2016 or 2017. As of 2018, if you ordered twin engines on a 242 it was mandatory to delete the ladder that you have and add the pull-out ladder that was installed on the starboard side - Wellcraft realized that they had a problem with the motors hitting the ladder however I absolutely hate the pull out ladder. I have no idea how you would use and retract that ladder when out on the water. I did a couple of demo rides with Wellcraft's lead designer at one of their dealer meetings and asked why the ladder and transom door were on different sides. It is because the ladder is taller than the deck at the transom and when the new Wellcraft lineup was introduced and dealers took their boats to shows the ladder was in the way of boarding ladders they were using (either from land or dock) - so Wellcraft put their boarding ladder on the other side so boat show visitors could have a straight shot boarding. We asked if they would install the ladder on the other side for boat we ordered and they said they couldn't because the molded non skid pattern (where the ladder is attached) would not match.

Not sure what you are looking at price wise - but when I left last year we had a loaded (everything other than GPS/FF) 2019 242 with twin Merc 150's on a trailer for approx 92K. We also sold a loaded single engine (Yamaha 300) 2018 242 new for mid 70's.

wahoohead

thanks RivaMike
when you mention the T-Top are you saying the fiberglass top or the metal tubes that crack? is that any section that I am suppost to look on this boat or area on the top to check for any problems?

RivaMike

I'm still looking through my photos from new boat listings, but I believe you are good to go. My recollection is that the couple of boats we handled with this issue there was visible openings readily apparent where the missing bolts between the top and frame should have been. They were towards the rear - not far from where the outrigger mounting locations are. Wellcraft often made changes or upgrades during a model year - your T-top looks like the ones I'm seeing in my files from 2018 and newer boats. I think you're fine. If I can find a specific picture of the this issue I'll PM and send it to you.

bryank

Not sure if you pulled the trigger on the Wellcraft 242 or not, but I can tell you that I love mine. I have a single Mercury Verado 350 and it offers awesome power for this boat. The ride is solid... I came out of a Tidewater 230 LXF and the extra weight and rigidity of the Wellcraft is noticeable out on the water. So far, no issues on my end, though the Merc does cause a bit of vibration at idle. Nothing awful, though. We have the pull-out ladder and actually prefer it. I really don't like the design of Wellcraft's ladder where it is completely exposed on the swim platform. Not sure why they didn't design it integrated into the platform with a hatch over it, but it is what it is. Retracting the pull-out ladder in the water isn't a big deal at all.

Happy to answer any questions you may have.