I am looking at buying a 23' Gulf Coast Variside w/ a 200 H.O. e-tec. How does this boat handle rough and shallow water and how shallow?
jhubenak
23 Variside
I own a 23' Variside with a 200 Yamaha HPDI. Like LongRodMaster posted, there are boats that run shallower but they also run rougher. In my humble opinion, the Gulfcoast is a good compromise. The boat will float in less than a foot of water. I can run the jack plate at it's extreme height and have no overheating or water pressure issues, so I can see where running in 10" is not unrealistic when you are up on plane. I have not tried it this shallow as I hate getting stuck. (Been there, done that in my brother's Custom Flats.) The boat is not big on storage, but it is big on fishing room. Storage is sufficient unless you like to take a whole lot of stuff along. With a 3 blade prop The boat will top out at 41.4 mph (GPS) and I usually cruise at 36-3800 rpm @ 27-29 mph. At cruise it gets 3.5 miles per gallon. No speed demon but what tunnel boat is? It handles rough water reasonably well. The front of the boat with higher sides rides on top of the waves unless you spear a rather large wake from an offshore boat. It will handle rough water well as long as you operate the boat with prudence and don't try to beat the v-hulls to the dock. (not that you could.) I have had one issue with a crack in the liner near the transom. I took the boat to the shop on Strawberry road in Pasadena. Susan and Mike Gilley where very curteous and fixed the problem with no qualms. I also met the "new' owner but I can not remember his name. They stand behind their product. My only regret is I didn't buy one sooner.
I own a 23' Variside with a 200 Yamaha HPDI. Like LongRodMaster posted, there are boats that run shallower but they also run rougher. In my humble opinion, the Gulfcoast is a good compromise. The boat will float in less than a foot of water. I can run the jack plate at it's extreme height and have no overheating or water pressure issues, so I can see where running in 10" is not unrealistic when you are up on plane. I have not tried it this shallow as I hate getting stuck. (Been there, done that in my brother's Custom Flats.) The boat is not big on storage, but it is big on fishing room. Storage is sufficient unless you like to take a whole lot of stuff along. With a 3 blade prop The boat will top out at 41.4 mph (GPS) and I usually cruise at 36-3800 rpm @ 27-29 mph. At cruise it gets 3.5 miles per gallon. No speed demon but what tunnel boat is? It handles rough water reasonably well. The front of the boat with higher sides rides on top of the waves unless you spear a rather large wake from an offshore boat. It will handle rough water well as long as you operate the boat with prudence and don't try to beat the v-hulls to the dock. (not that you could.) I have had one issue with a crack in the liner near the transom. I took the boat to the shop on Strawberry road in Pasadena. Susan and Mike Gilley where very curteous and fixed the problem with no qualms. I also met the "new' owner but I can not remember his name. They stand behind their product. My only regret is I didn't buy one sooner.
Read a another post that they were having problems w/ the 200 HO etec on tunnel hull boats. Just thought I'd let you know in case you hadn't heard the same thing.
I was told by a dealer that all the ETECs have water pressure issues on tunnel hulls. I know Tran is putting Bob's low water pick ups on the ones he sales to keep them from overheating.
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
