2019 Los Angeles Boat Show Report!!

[RiverDave]

Barron.

It's all coming.. You guys realize this boat show report can take upwards of a month to put up right?

I still have to work during the day on things that actually pay the bills. This thing is all for the members to enjoy, but we can't blow our wad in the first week. What would keep ya coming back? .

RD

 

[J&k beer can]

The X Flight isn't going to run the speeds that the cat versions are going to run.. That said they are all tested when they aren't full of 10+ people etc. It won't pull the top end #'s a Cat will in a test, but it won't be affected as much when you do load it up. There's pro's and con's to everything as always.. Medium lake chop a Cat will ride a little smoother.. You get into the big stuff though and the Vee is gonna get you home.

Like I said it's a very practical boat, and one that five years ago I thought was a different and cool concept but would never own one.. Now I'm getting older and three kids etc.. I see that place for the kids to nap, or possibly camp in the thing for a night? That might change things a little. One of the things I love about my 270 is we can actually sleep in the thing.

RD

We are having a mid cabin 29 x-flight built.. love the fact u get deck layout but vee bottom...
I'm sure you have access to a test boat.. we would be willing to take you out and do a full report if that's something your interested in.. the only videos we have seen are older 7/8 years ago..

 

[farmo83]

After watching RD's video with Jake, forgive the stupid question but what is the bussel they mention several times ?

 

[RiverDave]

After watching RD's video with Jake, forgive the stupid question but what is the bussel they mention several times ?

It's an overhang off the transom of the boat that covers the drives etc.. For example the DCB M41 is the same as a DCB 44. The only difference is the 44 has the larger overhang that goes down to the waterline (in that case).

If you go to the In the mold section and check out this thread you can see them tooling one

https://www.riverdavesplace.com/for...-carbon-kevlar-36’-speedster-w-bustle.190172/

 

[RiverDave]

More of you and Andy. Lol

We are having a mid cabin 29 x-flight built.. love the fact u get deck layout but vee bottom...
I'm sure you have access to a test boat.. we would be willing to take you out and do a full report if that's something your interested in.. the only videos we have seen are older 7/8 years ago..

I'd be happy to go out and film the boat! For the official boat tests we are doing those right after the Havasu Boat Show with Alexi / Tres / Bob Brown running the show.

We did test an X Flight the last time we did boat tests.. You can see the results at this link

https://www.riverdavesplace.com/forums/articles/category/boat-tests.3/

RD

 

[RiverDave]

The 270 Python from Cobra! This boat shares the same bottom with the 280 Venom, but that's about where it ends because top side they are completely different. They do share some "similar" styling cues as you can see in this pic, the 270 has a raised body line in the back. I believe the 280 has a little taller sponsons in the front, you can tell the windscreen was raked back a little more, and I can't tell from the photos, but towards the rear where the windshield register meets the top of the hull I believe that's all been changed as well.

One thing that is apparent about the 270 Python is it's not your traditional deck boat. It kind of fits into a category all it's own.

While it does have a small walk off on the front (classifying it as a deck boat) you can tell unlike all the others there's quite a bit of form over functionality here. Almost every other deck boat out there is a straight walk off the front and they make the entrance as wide as possible. On the Cobra it's a small deck, then a step up, and back down to get into the boat.

I kind of view this boat as a guy that needs more functionality than an open bow cat, but isn't quite ready to jump into the deck boat world yet. This boat is a kind of hybrid between a deck and a sport boat.

Most of the other decks are setup to haul as many people as possible and as much gear as possible. The cobra is setup more for two forward facing passengers, even offering leg supports for those passengers. In this picture you will notice something different down in the gunnel. The cupholders themselves aren't lighted, but rather they took three small "pin" LED's and fired them downward to light up the cup holders. I love it when I see things that are cool and different, in this particular case it's not only different but when you think about it more functional as well as it's illuminating the area instead of just having an LED below the rim of the cupholder.

Just another shot of the front of the bow here. In this pic you can also see the walkway between the driver and navigator is more narrow than a traditional deck boat. Don't pay attention to the doors, they were opened slightly when I took the pic which is why they look like that. They sit flush when closed.

This is the door on the passenger side of the boat (slightly opened as in the pic before). Again most decks are trying to put a lot of room between the helms and really use all the storage you can get. This boat while it has some storage is more about the look and feel of a traditional performance boat, but still having some of the functionality of a deck.

I pulled the one seat cushion off and was kind of surprised to see this big sub down in the enclosure. There wasn't any "ports" for the sound to escape (at least that I could see?).. So I guess it's just a big sub down in the sponson? Seems like kind of a waste as you aren't going to hear it, but more just feel it if you are sitting in the front?

There is quite a bit of storage under the front seats for life jackets etc.. You can see the LED lights shining through the drain holes on the cupholders and going down into the sponsons.

The boat overall has more of a sport boat feel to it than a deck.. I can't think of too many decks out there that are running an integrated (non optional) windshield and have seats like this.

This one had a considerable sized stereo in it. I like how they ran the wires off the amps right into the panel so you don't have to look at all the wiring. I think I would've used some sort of bulkhead bezels or collars though.

Not as pretty as some, but still done very nicely.

Pictures came in a little out of order for some reason. We are back in the front at the gunnel inset.. I loved the little cobra emblems they put in there. Doesn't really do anything, but it does add a lot of "class" to the boat. Not sure why I'm so stuck on that, probably because it's just not something you see very often in the Performance Boat World.

This is the passenger side gunnel and it's pretty cool where they placed the head unit and how they angled it so it would be more "natural" to use. One thing I thought was kind of odd, was that they put the Pin LED's right into the cupholders in the front, but they used one and split the difference here. It was driving my OCD a little nuts.

The actual dash itself and flat area where the steering wheel / switch panels are I thought lacked a little personality.. Bare in mind I was just coming off the high of the red 280 though which is visual overload. The canopies were crystal clear though and you can see in this pic they don't really have much if any distortion to them (that's a big thing by the way). The windshield itself also wasn't just for looks, but would deflect the wind off the driver and the passenger.

I thought it was kinda cool that they tucked the breaker panel down and away in here.

Behind the drivers seat and taking a picture forward of the single piece fiberglass gunnel inserts. Loved the little glove boxes for the back! Perfect for cell phones etc..

So on the dash of the passenger side there's a giant billet lid for a glove box.

The glove box isn't massive, but it's larger than most. I do like the way it opens so it's easy to get in there and find what you need etc.. A lot of traditional (front access) glove boxes things go in, and they never come back out. As you can see they put a power supply in there, as well as a place to hook into the radio.

I don't know who came. out with the hidden bikinis first, but I'm inclined to think it might actually have been cobra? As you can see the Bimini lays inside the engine hatch when the lid is down.

I always enjoy seeing these hydraulic hatch lifts in boats.. It's pretty rare you see manufacturers using them any more because they take quite a bit of skill to install and get it right. Both sides are powered by a single Merc Trim Pump and the hoses are split "T'd" off the front of the pump for up and down.

In this pic you can see the pump and the T.. I'm kind of baffled that they spend so much time on their boats attaining a level of industrial design that is top of the game.. Then when it comes to the wiring and some of the more basic stuff where anybody at this caliber is going out of their way to make it look like art they just kinda throw it in there. I'm referring to the battery wiring and the hydraulic lines if you are wondering.

The one thing that I thought was actually pretty cool about the boat is both on this model and the 280 they have a large detail on the transom of the boat. I originally just saw it and said "That's kind cool they are doing something other than a flat transom." It wasn't until later I realized that they are using that edge to have room to hide a ton of the rigging. As you can see here (and the other pics if you go back and look) all their hoses and wiring running into the transom itself and into that cavity and to the sides of the boat and where it needs to go.

I pulled the rear seat cushion up and saw the hole where they had access to the battery switch. I don't want to bang on anyone too hard, but it's mind boggling to me. It's like in some areas they are swinging for the fences, and then it comes to something like this and it makes ya say.. WTF? I could get it if they were some low end builder and just ignorant to things.. but Cobra is a upper tier builder and they are charging all the money for their boats..

On the other side was this black plastic box.. At first I was like that's a plastic battery box.. Then I said "No way.. they didn't do that." Well sure as shit, that's what it was, was a battery under the seat in a plastic battery box. I was told the owner requested it specifically and wanted that battery right there, and in that box. They are a custom builder so that's what they did. Or so the story goes.. I can't imagine why the guy wouldn't want to just stick it in the bilge next to the other battery and keep everything in there? Who knows.. I wasn't overly impressed with that program. Especially even trying to get that damn thing open to see what it was?

Somehow the rear of this boat escaped without photos being taken. To summarize the whole boat in my opinion it's a true Hybrid between sport boat and our version of deck boats (performance decks). If you aren't ready to make that next step into a performance family wagon, but you need a little more storage and functionality than an open bow cat than I'd take a hard look at the 270.

By the way if you are interested on reading a different perspective on a 270 a long with the performance test, this was Bob Brown's review and test on a 270 that they brought to the RDP Boat Tests a few years ago.

We are bringing back the boat tests in 2019 and really look forward to seeing what Cobra brings with them this year! I'm hoping this 270 with some changes and that sexy red 280!

https://www.riverdavesplace.com/forums/articles/cobra-270-pythron-deck-boat-merc-565-bravo-xr.299/

That concludes the two boats that Cobra brought to the show!

RD

 

[BHC Vic]

The 270 Python from Cobra! This boat shares the same bottom with the 280 Venom, but that's about where it ends because top side they are completely different. They do share some "similar" styling cues as you can see in this pic, the 270 has a raised body line in the back. I believe the 280 has a little taller sponsons in the front, you can tell the windscreen was raked back a little more, and I can't tell from the photos, but towards the rear where the windshield register meets the top of the hull I believe that's all been changed as well.

One thing that is apparent about the 270 Python is it's not your traditional deck boat. It kind of fits into a category all it's own.

View attachment 722628

While it does have a small walk off on the front (classifying it as a deck boat) you can tell unlike all the others there's quite a bit of form over functionality here. Almost every other deck boat out there is a straight walk off the front and they make the entrance as wide as possible. On the Cobra it's a small deck, then a step up, and back down to get into the boat.

I kind of view this boat as a guy that needs more functionality than an open bow cat, but isn't quite ready to jump into the deck boat world yet. This boat is a kind of hybrid between a deck and a sport boat.

View attachment 722629

Most of the other decks are setup to haul as many people as possible and as much gear as possible. The cobra is setup more for two forward facing passengers, even offering leg supports for those passengers. In this picture you will notice something different down in the gunnel. The cupholders themselves aren't lighted, but rather they took three small "pin" LED's and fired them downward to light up the cup holders. I love it when I see things that are cool and different, in this particular case it's not only different but when you think about it more functional as well as it's illuminating the area instead of just having an LED below the rim of the cupholder.

View attachment 722630

Just another shot of the front of the bow here. In this pic you can also see the walkway between the driver and navigator is more narrow than a traditional deck boat. Don't pay attention to the doors, they were opened slightly when I took the pic which is why they look like that. They sit flush when closed.

View attachment 722631

This is the door on the passenger side of the boat (slightly opened as in the pic before). Again most decks are trying to put a lot of room between the helms and really use all the storage you can get. This boat while it has some storage is more about the look and feel of a traditional performance boat, but still having some of the functionality of a deck.

View attachment 722632 View attachment 722633

I pulled the one seat cushion off and was kind of surprised to see this big sub down in the enclosure. There wasn't any "ports" for the sound to escape (at least that I could see?).. So I guess it's just a big sub down in the sponson? Seems like kind of a waste as you aren't going to hear it, but more just feel it if you are sitting in the front?

There is quite a bit of storage under the front seats for life jackets etc.. You can see the LED lights shining through the drain holes on the cupholders and going down into the sponsons.

View attachment 722634

The boat overall has more of a sport boat feel to it than a deck.. I can't think of too many decks out there that are running an integrated (non optional) windshield and have seats like this.

View attachment 722635

This one had a considerable sized stereo in it. I like how they ran the wires off the amps right into the panel so you don't have to look at all the wiring. I think I would've used some sort of bulkhead bezels or collars though.

View attachment 722636

Not as pretty as some, but still done very nicely.
View attachment 722637

Pictures came in a little out of order for some reason. We are back in the front at the gunnel inset.. I loved the little cobra emblems they put in there. Doesn't really do anything, but it does add a lot of "class" to the boat. Not sure why I'm so stuck on that, probably because it's just not something you see very often in the Performance Boat World.

View attachment 722638

This is the passenger side gunnel and it's pretty cool where they placed the head unit and how they angled it so it would be more "natural" to use. One thing I thought was kind of odd, was that they put the Pin LED's right into the cupholders in the front, but they used one and split the difference here. It was driving my OCD a little nuts.

View attachment 722639
The actual dash itself and flat area where the steering wheel / switch panels are I thought lacked a little personality.. Bare in mind I was just coming off the high of the red 280 though which is visual overload. The canopies were crystal clear though and you can see in this pic they don't really have much if any distortion to them (that's a big thing by the way). The windshield itself also wasn't just for looks, but would deflect the wind off the driver and the passenger.

View attachment 722640

I thought it was kinda cool that they tucked the breaker panel down and away in here.

View attachment 722654

Behind the drivers seat and taking a picture forward of the single piece fiberglass gunnel inserts. Loved the little glove boxes for the back! Perfect for cell phones etc..

View attachment 722642

So on the dash of the passenger side there's a giant billet lid for a glove box.

View attachment 722641

The glove box isn't massive, but it's larger than most. I do like the way it opens so it's easy to get in there and find what you need etc.. A lot of traditional (front access) glove boxes things go in, and they never come back out. As you can see they put a power supply in there, as well as a place to hook into the radio.
View attachment 722643

I don't know who came. out with the hidden bikinis first, but I'm inclined to think it might actually have been cobra? As you can see the Bimini lays inside the engine hatch when the lid is down.
View attachment 722645

I always enjoy seeing these hydraulic hatch lifts in boats.. It's pretty rare you see manufacturers using them any more because they take quite a bit of skill to install and get it right. Both sides are powered by a single Merc Trim Pump and the hoses are split "T'd" off the front of the pump for up and down.

View attachment 722646

In this pic you can see the pump and the T.. I'm kind of baffled that they spend so much time on their boats attaining a level of industrial design that is top of the game.. Then when it comes to the wiring and some of the more basic stuff where anybody at this caliber is going out of their way to make it look like art they just kinda throw it in there. I'm referring to the battery wiring and the hydraulic lines if you are wondering.

View attachment 722648

The one thing that I thought was actually pretty cool about the boat is both on this model and the 280 they have a large detail on the transom of the boat. I originally just saw it and said "That's kind cool they are doing something other than a flat transom." It wasn't until later I realized that they are using that edge to have room to hide a ton of the rigging. As you can see here (and the other pics if you go back and look) all their hoses and wiring running into the transom itself and into that cavity and to the sides of the boat and where it needs to go.

View attachment 722649

I pulled the rear seat cushion up and saw the hole where they had access to the battery switch. I don't want to bang on anyone too hard, but it's mind boggling to me. It's like in some areas they are swinging for the fences, and then it comes to something like this and it makes ya say.. WTF? I could get it if they were some low end builder and just ignorant to things.. but Cobra is a upper tier builder and they are charging all the money for their boats..

View attachment 722650

On the other side was this black plastic box.. At first I was like that's a plastic battery box.. Then I said "No way.. they didn't do that." Well sure as shit, that's what it was, was a battery under the seat in a plastic battery box. I was told the owner requested it specifically and wanted that battery right there, and in that box. They are a custom builder so that's what they did. Or so the story goes.. I can't imagine why the guy wouldn't want to just stick it in the bilge next to the other battery and keep everything in there? Who knows.. I wasn't overly impressed with that program. Especially even trying to get that damn thing open to see what it was?

View attachment 722652

Somehow the rear of this boat escaped without photos being taken. To summarize the whole boat in my opinion it's a true Hybrid between sport boat and our version of deck boats (performance decks). If you aren't ready to make that next step into a performance family wagon, but you need a little more storage and functionality than an open bow cat than I'd take a hard look at the 270.

By the way if you are interested on reading a different perspective on a 270 a long with the performance test, this was Bob Brown's review and test on a 270 that they brought to the RDP Boat Tests a few years ago.

We are bringing back the boat tests in 2019 and really look forward to seeing what Cobra brings with them this year! I'm hoping this 270 with some changes and that sexy red 280!

https://www.riverdavesplace.com/forums/articles/cobra-270-pythron-deck-boat-merc-565-bravo-xr.299/

That concludes the two boats that Cobra brought to the show!

RD

That’s a very nice 270 but I don’t think the nicest one. My next build will either be a 270 or 280. Although I really do love the Barron too.

 

[RiverDave]

Something that kind of caught my eye in a Sea of Pontoon boats at the show was this "Sylvan."

As I mentioned in the first sentence most the pontoon boats out there are "similar." It's nice to see someone kind of step out of the box and try something different. This boat went with more the "Limo" styling cues.. It's got some really cool things about it, that are somewhere between 1980's playboy, and modern day tech.. Needless to say as a huge Hugh Hefner fan (despite his politics RIP) I enjoyed the hell out of it.

The first thing you'll notice is the standard "Limo" color wheel that is shining through the frosted clear sections all throughout the boat. The interior is plush and as you can see from the seat cushions (base) are three dimensional.

The next thing you will notice is the price tag.. I suppose limo's aren't cheap! Good lord the boat show special was a buck thirty?

Honestly I love everything about the styling of this boat.. I can totally see me and Huge sipping on champagne cruising down the lake. (Note Hugh never drank FYI).

I love the gloss black everywhere, and the color combo's look rich. Most Toon's only have the storage compartment in front of the helm on the drivers side and they use the passenger side for a gate, or more seating etc. This is a dual helm with cabinets on both sides of the isle.

All of these upper end Pontoons have bad as helms in them with the latest switches / simrad / etc.. There is one little switch if you look just below the right spoke of the steering wheel that I haven't seen before.

This little billet knob is the color wheel deal.. You can push it and it stops on colors, twist it to set colors, and a 100 other different things that I couldn't figure out in the 20 seconds I messed with it.

Passenger side is simple but classy. I like the sporty windshields and they don't really interrupt the flow of the "classy / limo" look.

And stop the presses ladies and gentlemen.. This my friends looks like it has some serious potential! Love the wood cabinets blended in with the black and the grey granite look! If we open those and there's bottle holders and finished out cabinets we got a winner..

A freakin wine rack integrated right into the fiberglass. I gotta admit I love it!

Unfortunately that's where the love ends.. I'm missing the pictures, but I opened up those wood cabinets and there's literally nothing in them. You are looking at the backside of a subwoofer, wires dangling down everywhere.. In the other one the holding tank for the fresh water tank for the sink etc.. I wanted to open those cabinets and see finished out bottle holders, maybe some shelves, anything.. It was a pretty big let down and I was thinking "Damn so close.." Honestly I liked the boat enough that if I lived in Oregon or some cooler climate I could imagine an owner just having that work done after the fact (it wouldn't be that big of a deal).

Now we walk out onto the transom of the boat and find ourselves a nice little cozy love seat! It's off to the side and the boat is laid out like no pontoon I have seen before! Really giving these guys an A+ on thinking out of the box and standing apart from everyone else!

Parting shot of the little color wheel still spinning around.. This frosted clear was literally everywhere throughout the boat just like a Limo.

Overall pretty cool boat and nice to see some people trying to do different things and cater to different markets.. Hugh Hefner would've stroked a check for it and his team would've finished out hose cabinets.

 

[ductape1000]

I’m a big fan of the dual console pontoon boats. I like symmetry and these really help with that. Also, putting my wife behind the same windshield I have really helps with her comfort level. That is a plus that might actually get her to be ok with an old people’s boat. Lol


Sent from a van down by the river. [emoji3577][emoji41]

 

[RiverDave]

Just something random and cool at the Boat Show. The guy that builds the "Air Boom" Towers also likes to build chopper style bicycles.. This one is an electric bike that is 7 speed had a radius of I believe 40 miles?

The handle bar brake to a drag brake connected to the hub via a chain was bad ass!!

I can't remember how much he wanted for it now, but I want to say like 3K? Definitely didn't cover the amount of hours and labor in it.

RD

 

[RiverDave]

Shockwave Custom Boats!

I said it last year and I'll say it again these 21' open bows always bring a smile to my face! There's nothing that says fun family boating more to me than this model boat. Back in the early 2000's a handful of manufacturers were making more or less this same model, they were affordable, and great for taking family out on the river during the mornings and afternoon, but at the same time could haul a group to the bars at night.

The only real downfall to these 21's is they were never great rough water boats, so in modern times they are primarily being built for the lower river, or people that spend their time on the water mid week. As you can see here this one is rigged as a jet, so my guess is it's most likely a lower river program.

It would appear this boat has a pretty decent sound system in it. You can see speakers everywhere, and a sub behind the driver. Only because I've been down this road a couple of times I'd suggest putting the sub either in front of the driver in a box, or on the passenger side (or both if ya like "Boom!"). One thing I did notice is they didn't put any tower speakers on it, which if you are gonna have a tower... You might as well be loud!

I love the L shaped bench in this boat, and it really opens up the seating arrangements. These style boats were built with 2 buckets and a bench, 2 buckets / 2 jump seats no the backside and a bench, 2 buckets / 1 jump seat one padded cooler and a bench and ultimately this L shape. The L shape has always been my favorite of all the configurations, and if you add in one of those stainless Coleman extreme coolers behind the drivers seat with the sea deck on the top (step into the boat) I'd say this is about as dialed as you can get for this program. Note I'd skip the padding and do the sea deack after all, who wants to sit on a cooler?

You can see the insets on these are actually all hand built out of wood and upholstered. In looking at all the architecture that's involved with that it makes ya wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to just have some more "generic" style fiberglass pods that you can use across multiple models of boats. This is what most the other guys are doing now, and ironically enough it's considered an upgrade.

Years ago when I wrote one of these up I mentioned that I'd put all the batteries on one side to leave the other side for storage. It looks like that was done here which does increase the storage abilities. It looks like they chose the starboard side to better fit the batteries in the engine bay length wise because the pump for the trim on the jet is on the port side. This is all going to balance out fine when the boat is empty with the driver in it as he's going to offset the weight of the batteries. I don't know the owner of the boat that well, but if they are planning on running large groups of people and running the boat heavy, they might consider adding trim tabs as both the batteries and the L bench are on the same side.

Still trips me out to see OBD sensors in boats.

Overall I gotta say I still love these little 21's, and someday when I'm old and retired my dream is to have a little place down on the lower river with something like this or an outboard. That section of the river is laid back, and truly takes me back to the times when going to the river meant "Going to the River."

RD

 

[RCDave]

RD, you should ask Bob for a ride in a 21' step skier. It has a significantly deeper V and rides much better than the 18 degree rounded keel bottom. I've ridden in a step skier in heavy chop and IMO is one of the better riding 21's on the west coast. Plus they have a bit more freeboard

 

[RiverDave]

28' Shockwave Deck with a Merc 600

Shockwave has a styling that is all their own, the boat itself is has both chiseled lines and large radius' as you can see on the helms. The one thing I've always liked about the shockwaves is the deck itself on the front is substantial, and you'll notice it's as high up as they can get it nearly at the top of the gunnels. Higher deck means less chances of back spray into the cabin, and in this particular boat which was based off the Talon bottom (like many of the others), the less chance of splitting a wave and having water outright come into the cabin.

On the rear of the boat you will again notice the chiseled lines of the engine hatch, flat panels on the backs of the seats, and then blended in with radius' on either side of the swim platform. The boat itself does have a fairly significantly high wall across the back of it which will aid in keeping waves from coming over the back and down the stairs. Back when these deck boats were first getting popular a few of the models had a flat walk off right onto the swim platform. Over the years the manufacturers did everything from little doors, to a couple inch raised lip to try and prevent that. When shockwave tooled this boat they addressed the problem head on.

The swim step itself is oversized and as quite a few of the RDP members that own these boats will tell you are large enough and comfortable enough to hang out on for as long as you want. Everyone that I have ever seen comes with retractable swim ladders on either side of the drive.

Shockwave has never been known to have the "flashiest" interior in the industry, but there's no disputing the fact that they will stand the test of time. They use a firmer closed cell foam than most manufacturers so the seats feel a little firmer in the beginning, but will continue to hold their shape and not break down 5 & even 10 years down the road. That said each year they do a little more with their interiors and they always come up with simple schemes that really compliment the boat. (More isn't always better on the interior front.. Case In point the muscle boat speedster at the beginning of the thread).

On this boat you can see they incorporated the single stitch diamond pattern that has been popular for awhile now, but also incorporated some solid colors. I liked the side panels in the boat being all white with just accent piping. I think adding anything more than that would've detracted from the look of the boat in this particular case. The fiberglass seat panels are a nice touch to add some character in the boat, but I wish they just had some definition to them or surfaces. They have always just looked kind of big and flat to me. Even a rib down the center of them or something? Either way that's aesthetics and again neither here nor there it's just opinions. I'm quite sure that if you asked Shockwave for something, they would have no problems rising to the occasion and building your seat backs however you'd like.

Since we are at this vantage point you should take a look down the isle way and notice that the Shockwave has one of larger walkways and interiors.

When the Merc 600 came out I kind of imagined them in 26-28' cats.. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be the "staple" for the 28-29' Deckboat market.. Seems like everyone I know that has a deck though has this motor! Absolute Speed and Marine has got quite the reputation for doing the Stage 1,2,&3 upgrades on them too putting virtually all of them in the 100'ish mph range!

You can see Shockwave went all out on the engine hatch on the gel front. Even in this pic you can see the metal flake in the silver popping out.

That said it's better than last year (If my memory isn't fading), but again we see a large wire just dangling out of the top of the engine hatch? I have no idea why you'd need to run power up there, but if you are going too there's a 100 different ways of doing it better than this. You could run it up one of the hinges, you could run it to the back of the hatch and then into the top of the boat, etc.. etc.. Or you could just figure out what you are needing to power up there and move it so you don't have to run power up there. I'm guessing it's a light on the engine hatch somewhere to illuminate the motor, which again could be done a variety of different ways.

I'm digging those battery boxes (smooth top) and I like how they made a secondary pod for the amplifiers to sit in! If you are going to put them in the engine bay that's a pretty cool way to do it!

The blower hose across the exhaust though (to me anyways) represents a crazy fire hazard. It can be argued that it doesn't get hot, when everything is working properly anyways. However WHEN not "IF" you lose an impeller that entire exhaust system goes from "warm" to crazy hot in seconds. It's hot enough to burn up the rubber couplers between the headers and the exhaust tips (happens all the time), hot enough to discolor the stainless and turn them gold / blue etc.. It's hot enough to light a cigarette off of easily, and to throw in the kicker that blower hose is crazy flammable (In my experience). Don't fret guys that whole problem is all of about 2 minutes to fix.. Just run the blower hose across the top of the transom and then turn it down into the bilge behind the motor, or other variations.

On a more positive note you can see that they spent the time to finish out the bilge to match the engine hatch and did a great job of it!

Just another shot of that amp rack that I thought was pretty cool. There's a lot of opportunity here for aesthetics if they wanted to go that route.

One of the trim pumps is for the engine hatches if you are wondering why there is two. While the battery switch is way back on the transom it is easily accessible via a hatch on the stair case of the walk off.

At the command center you have the option of a screen or gauges, both work well with this dash as it's setup to be pretty universal. I have always liked the fact that shockwave tooled in a cupholder for the driver and it isn't an afterthought that it put down by your feet or something. Overall though it's beautiful with the Isotta Carlotta steering wheel, and I believe Shockwave's come standard with the upgraded Livorsi shifter / throttle as well.

One of the things that Shockwave does do better than just about anyone in the deck boat world is their hatches / latches / doors etc.. They call them "compression" rings, but they are basically a firm rubber on every mating part that is ultra thick. Most manufacturers will have some kind of rubber around areas that contact, but nobodies is like Shockwaves. It's thick and you have to push the hatch down and then latch it regardless if it's a door or a hatch etc. It's kind of weird at first walking through the boat because you will step on a hatch and it will actually go down a 1/4 of an inch or so when you step on it. That said in most cases these hatches will "rattle" when underway when you get into any kind of conditions. I haven't been in a lot of them, but I can say that I have never been in a Shockwave deck that rattled.

I've always thought these hinges were a little overkill, but they look pretty cool and Shockwave has been using them forever. That said I looked these up and while they are pricey there not as bad as you would think considering the amount of machining and labor that goes into assembling them. (590.00 retail in case you are wondering) In this photo below you can see the thick rubber (almost looks like automotive weather stripping) they use to seal the compartments and make sure they don't rattle.

Shockwave's compartments are "cavernous" for lack of a better term. They are extremely deep and run all the way down to the tunnels. They incorporated these boards in the bottom of them so that you can load coolers and easily remove them if necessary. It's also nice because you can throw things that you don't use very often underneath the boards. For example if you have young kids (like I do) we try to carry spare kids life jackets in case of friends that show up etc..

The second thing you will see is the "reverse glove box" lid that shockwave installs to make it easy to access the gauge cluster and fix problems down the road should they arise.

Everything on the back of the dash is tight and nice. I'm not sure what the those connections are up on the shelf to be honest.. (I'm not a boat rigger). You are never going to open this as a customer unless you are chasing a problem though.

One upgrade I can tell you that they started doing to their boats since last year is to incorporate speaker boxes! (Was my big complaint last year). I haven't heard these compared to the old systems, but if they ditched the free air subs and put boxes in I guarantee you these are going to be three times louder. With 4 10's I'd bet this thing pounds.

Overall I think Shockwave did an awesome job on this boat, and every year their boats get better and better! I'd have no problem owning one of their 28 Decks!

RD

 

[RiverDave]

RD, you should ask Bob for a ride in a 21' step skier. It has a significantly deeper V and rides much better than the 18 degree rounded keel bottom. I've ridden in a step skier in heavy chop and IMO is one of the better riding 21's on the west coast. Plus they have a bit more freeboard

I always thought they were basically the same bottom but they added a little step? Good to know they are different.

Actually just even looking at them in the pic above where you can see them SXS you can see they are different.

Were the original 21 Step Skiers based on the normal 21? That Step Skier looks like it might have their old 22 bottom on it? I rode in Harry's a handful of times years ago with the Whipple setup and the boat ripped and rode great!

I've never looked it up, but are those bottoms really 18 degrees? I would've thought they were less than that?

RD

 

[RCDave]

The step skier was a new shockwave bottom. 21 degree with a step. The bottom has more freeboard

 

[farmo83]

Is it common to put amps in the engine bay ? That's a cool idea and it would save a ton of space. When I first read that my first thought was too worry about them getting hot or wet, however if they they do get hot or wet you will have more pressing issues to worry about.

 

[RiverDave]

The step skier was a new shockwave bottom. 21 degree with a step. The bottom has more freeboard

Thought I responded to this earlier but I guess not. Yes looking at the pics above side by side it's pretty apparent they are different! Any idea if that came off the ole 22 bottom like Shockwave Harry used to have?

Is it common to put amps in the engine bay ? That's a cool idea and it would save a ton of space. When I first read that my first thought was too worry about them getting hot or wet, however if they they do get hot or wet you will have more pressing issues to worry about.

Only real problem with putting them back there is heat. It's been done off and on over the years by stereo shops and mfg's. I think with the new digital amps it would probably better than the old ones as they don't seem to get so hot.

RD

 

[RiverDave]

The Barron 290

The Barron 290 is the most divisive boat that we are going to cover in the boat show report. If you were to search the word Barron on RDP you are basically going to find two types of responses on this boat. The first is "It's my new favorite deck boat" and the second is "I hate it." I understand we all have different tastes in boats and life, but it's pretty rare that a boat speaks to people so divisively like this. I can think of a few examples from the past that are similar in that regard (old Sanger day cruisers etc...) but lets stay on task with the boat.

For myself I look at it at certain angles and I think it's fantastic and in others not so much. This picture is one of the angles that I think the boat looks great which is why I took the pic. Just in this photo you can see it's a twin step design, and the aesthetics of the boat are extremely angular and chiseled. You can tell someone spent an awful lot of time to make sure the gel design accents the lines of the boat. One of the only problems with having a boat that is so "defined" and angular is I don't see a lot of customers coming in and just drawing random gel designs that are going to look good on it. It's going to take a pretty specific style to make the boat look good.

The red 290 was equipped with one of the large oversized swim steps that are becoming more and more popular across not only decks but a lot of different styles of boats. One thing I noticed walking up to the side of the boat is the absence of the large stainless support poles that are always accompanied with these giant swim steps. You can see Barron tooled their own (instead of purchased like most others) and actually ran a kind of stringer system underneath it.

It does look like the swim step interferes with the ability to trim the drive up into trailer mode. That really isn't a problem on the trailers for these decks in most cases because the trailers are tall enough that you can leave the drive down if you want when you trailer it. My only concern and why I brought it up is sometimes when you are beaching if the beach has a shallow angle the drives will get hung up in the sand before because you can't trim them all the way up.

It should be noted that this swim step is an option and the boat could be ordered with or without it.

Most of the oversized swim steps on boats will cover the outdrive completely to add some functionality and a level of safety to the boat. That said the Barron's oversized step not only covers the drive but goes adds a considerable overhang past it as you can see in the pic. Something else you can see in this pic is they didn't put a trim limiter in the drive and you if you look above the steering bracket on the drive you can see where it's hitting the bottom of the swim step.

This particular boat came has a 540 with an XR drive and dual hydraulic steering. You can also see the lenco trim tabs and underwater lights on the transom.

Top side you can see they did a triple layer sea deck on the swim step to get the grey / black / red colors. I'm not sure if they did the whole boat in this to maintain thickness of the sea deck or if they used two layer because most of the rest of the sea deck is going to just be grey with the black trim color.

If you haven't figured out how they do that, they just layer different materials and then router out each layer to the next to get to the next color.

The fuel fills on the transom used to be the argument of the ages on the forums. Back in the day they used to be vented systems and they would seep fuel quite a bit when trailering, and getting on plane etc. With the new CARB (BS regulations I might add) I don't suspect that would be a problem anymore. So I guess if there's one thing positive that came out of those regulations it could be that.

The upside of the fuel fills on the transom like this is it makes it exponentially easier to fill up the boat at a gas station. One pump will reach both fuel fills without issue.

The walk way looks narrow in the pics, but is as wide if not wider than most. The looks are deceiving because the boat is deeper than most in the rear in this size range (due to the high gunwales), which is something I personally liked.

Walking down into the boat I noticed this little cover which was the onboard 110V charging system for the boat.

As we get down into the boat you can gain some perspective of how deep it actually is in the back. You can see the side panel that has a large cutout for a fiberglass insert, this is much taller and larger than most anything you are going to find in most traditional decks. Below the inset you can see a large cubby (storage) that you can put a variety of supplies for the day.

The second visual clue of the depth is the height of the seat base for the passenger and driver. Those are much taller than what you would normally see in a deck. That said those seat bases look out of place to me largely because they are so close together, the height vs depth, and mostly because I have the same seat bases in my 1998 Hallett 270.

I'm not a huge advocate of using billet "just to use billet" where so many manufacturers went crazy overboard with it in the mid 2000's, but I think a set of billet bases with the right design would've looked a lot better here. Or possibly even a fiberglass pedestal and they could've doubled that for a small storage locker, speaker placement, rotating seat or a 100 other things. Since I'm on the old school "theme" with the seat bases, I suppose now would be a good time to point out the stainless hand rails everywhere. They also scream 1990's Hallett. I have no idea why they put a handle on the back of the seats themselves or on the side panels.

On a more positive note I liked the fiberglass seat backs and the angular designs that were put in them to match the rest of the styling of the boat. Might even consider doing a small vinyl patch towards the bottom of that indentation and running elastic and some netting and incorporating a little place to put cell phones etc.

The passenger has his own fiberglass gunnel insert with a cupholder and a speaker. I thought they could have done a little more with that (and the ones in the rear too) if they would've put some thought into it. I can think of plenty of boats that don't have the large cutout or height advantages this boat does, and they managed to fit everything from multiple cup holders, to singles with glove boxes, etc..

The boat is setup to be a dual helm style instead of the original single helm with a bench on the passenger side. (Think Top Cat 1, Vs Top Cat 2 Conquest). The passenger side helm on this boat was pretty basic and clean. I gotta be honest I really am not a fan of the small square glove box, it just kinda looks "off" to me, but I understand they had to do it because of the tooling angles etc. As well the foot well seems kind of narrow to me, but again all those tooling angles make the center of the helm pretty narrow.

The dash of the boat has a nice look to it, but upon closer inspection and sitting in the drivers seat it could use a lot of improvements ergonomically. Several of the members loved the boat at the boat show until they sat in the drivers seat and the steering wheel was bumping their right leg (even with the wheel tilted up more). For myself I didn't have that problem sitting in the boat, but what I did have a problem with was having to lean forward to reach the throttle and the shifter. That said the steering wheel also being off center to the seat didn't bother me either, but it was a common complaint brought up in the forums after the boat show.

It's hard to tell how wide the helm is in this picture because of the multiple angles where you transfer from the walkway to the helm, and then angles down into the dash etc. I bring it up because it's going to be referenced later.

You aren't going to be able to tell in the pictures, but the seats are extremely wide. When I say wide, I was 220 lbs when I sat in it and I could easily slide back and forth on the base and bolsters a couple of inches. I don't know who designed the seats, but unless it was a custom order for a more "portly" individual I can't see why you'd want them that big. On the aesthetics front (again subjective) I liked the rest of the interior in the boat, but I just wasn't a fan of these buckets. With them having the wider front and narrower back, and just the shape of the base cushion and bottom of the back cushion it just felt kinda 1980's Star Wars to me. Again that is subjective and not a knock on the boat, but rather my personal opinion. I also thought by having that trapezoid design it really wastes a lot of space and pushes the seat away from the gunwale, which probably didn't help their offset steering wheel cause too much.

The helm itself aesthetically looks good, but as mentioned before there's some problems with the ergonomics of it. You can see the controls for the Lenco's are behind the steering wheel on the left, and a secondary switch panel behind the steering wheel on the right.

This is a close up of the switches on the right behind the wheel. To be honest sitting in the drivers seat I couldn't see what they were and actually had to move the wheel and kind of contort to see what they were to open the engine hatch. The upside is it's one of Jerry's boats (and in a lot of boats you will find) the engine hatch switch is always going to be at one end or the other. I guessed at it and it was the top one and as soon as I clicked it I heard the actuators try to move, so I just hit the other side and it opened right up.

I know it's easier said than done, but if I was Barron Boats, I'd take a hard look at redesigning the Helm and the passenger side helm to match. I'd also take a good look at some other seat designs to better take advantage of the space on both fronts, and make the boat more ergonomic in those areas. That's not to say it's not drivable or anything the way it sits, it's just really not a good use of space.

To finish on that point here you get a really good idea of how big and wide this boat actually is, and how wide those helms are. With a helm that wide and that deep I don't quite understand how you end up in a situation where the steering wheel is crowded into the corner, there's hardly any room for gauges or switches, and you have to lean forward to reach the throttle/shifter and the narrow footwell being the kicker. (Pun Intended) I think they are going to be battling that no matter how you rig it going forward forever, which is why I'd just cut my losses and redesign it.

The open bow of the bow of the boat is HUGE! You can see that the seat backs have some depth to them so you don't feel like you are going to fall out of the boat when you are sitting sideways in them. I was surprised at how much depth they were able to get out of them actually being the deck of the boat is pretty flat from the bow leading to the helms. You can also see the width between the seats everyone will have plenty of legroom even if you load the boat full.

You can see they did a kind of three dimensional design on the front seat cushions, and then left the rear seat (base) cushions at the upper height. I think it's cool that they are trying different things and attempting to carve their own niche with their own style. It seems fairly obvious to me that someone is rendering these things in some kind of CAD program and spitting out renderings to come up with these designs. Some of it's working out very well, and adding a level of industrial design we don't see often in the boat world, and to be frank some of it isn't working out.

One example of where it is working is the little details like the slightly different colored panel that starts above the cupholders and runs back. That's a detail that 99.9999% of guys making a boat interior wouldn't have done, and it looks pretty cool and helps to break things up, I also like how they put an accent color at the rear of the of the cupholders on the seat backs.

That said there's the inverse of that where sometimes things look great on a screen and just don't pan in the final product, like the bucket seats, and I'm going to throw the rear seat cushions and the seat backs in that same category.

Little better close up of their fiberglass gunwale inserts.

All of the inserts in the Barron had charging ports. In this pic you get a little better idea of the height of these cut outs. In a lot of boats they are so short you actually have to tilt the can to get them in and out, you won't have that problem in the Barron.

I pulled up the cushion to see what was underneath and to my surprise a cooler lid came open with it. My first thought was "Well that's convenient." I'm going to say there's some upsides and downsides to this as a whole. Most integrated coolers in boats really don't have much insulation in them and they don't hold ice very well. The idea of putting an actual igloo under a seat from that perspective is a dream come true. That said there's some downsides as well, you can see they installed an actual little drain in the back of the cooler to drain into the sponsons. There's about an inch from the bottom of that drain to the bottom of the actual cooler which means there is always going to be water left over in it at the end of a boating trip. No problem we will just lift the cooler out and dump it right? Incorrect because you can't reach the handles on the side of the cooler to lift it out, and even if you could the thing is strapped to the bottom of the seat cushion via that vinyl strap.

Some some quick fixes on this off the top of my head would be to have cutouts on either side of the drop in cooler so you can reach handles on the cooler. Ditch the strap from the seat cushion to the top of the cooler and do a strap on the cooler lid just like you did on the seat cushion, but just have it lay on top of the cooler. That's one of about four different ways to attack the problem and make it more functional and a little less "cheesy" than a vinyl strap to the bottom of the seat cushion.

Overall I think it was a good idea, because who really needs the amount of storage that is under the front seats of all these deck boats. I like the idea of having the coolers here better than in the storage bins in the helms like some are trying to do, and I like it better than putting them up in the very bow of the boat in the sponsons from a performance perspective.

There's still plenty of storage for life jackets and other items under the front seat cushion.

On the drivers side we instantly run into a problem of having this thing attached to the cushion. The drain is on the wrong side of the cooler and when the boat is at rest it's going to leave a ton of water in there that you have no good way of removing. Great concept, but it needs a little dial in, that should be fairly easy to do on future builds, or even retrofit into this boat.

I wish I had a picture of the rear seat down. I actually liked the simplicity of the design of the rear seat, and thought this was an example where the CAD met reality and they came together beautifully.

You can see this is where they put the batteries and the battery switch. I'm not sure I'd give up the traditional storage space to put them in here, over where most are putting them (under a hatch on the walk off usually), but it's a choice they made. At least on this boat you'll never have to pull a hatch ram pin to get the hatch open. That said with an onboard charger integrated into the boat that's almost a thing of the past anyways.

I can't say that I've ever seen a wiring block like that on a transom, and I'm a bit curious as to what it is and why it's there?

In this photo you can just catch the edge of the onboard charger, and you can see where it is mounted in the walk off of the boat.

That is going to conclude the tour of the red Barron 290S.

Overall the boat is about what I expected for the first boat produced of their first model. I don't care what boat it is they don't come out of the gate 100% perfect and they all need a little fine tuning to get them to where they need to be. I hope the constructive criticism wasn't taken too harshly and I'd be quick to point out to everyone that most models in the show have been built for 10 - 20 years now so they've had plenty of time to fix the little things and make their subtle changes over time. For the first time up to plate with a new boat company I'd say it's a definite base hit, and with some changes, and massaging here and there I think it's a viable product.

 

[RiverDave]

The Blue Barron 290S was there and rigged ready for power. I included these photos to show some different angles of the boat and to show that they did a different interior scheme on boat number two etc. (If it was me and I was interested in one of these, I'd remove those docking lights between the Nav Light and the pop up cleat). Note the 1/2 cap on the front (I'm not sure if the red one was done this way or not).

Just different angles to show the lines of the boat.

This particular boat doesn't have the oversized swim step on the back of it, and I really like the way it looks without it.

Another good pic to show the depth in the cabin of the 290. It's got a couple inches on most boats in this class, and while that might not sound like much, inches makes a big differences in boat interiors.

Even though the upholstery is different my feelings are still the same on the buckets. The back seat in this boat was actually my favorite part of the interior, same as the red boat, even though they are different patterns.

 

[RiverDave]

Interview with Glenn from Barron Boats so we can get his take on the company, the styling, and where it's heading into the future!

 

[DWC]

The Blue Barron 290S was there and rigged ready for power. I included these photos to show some different angles of the boat and to show that they did a different interior scheme on boat number two etc. (If it was me and I was interested in one of these, I'd remove those docking lights between the Nav Light and the pop up cleat). Note the 1/2 cap on the front (I'm not sure if the red one was done this way or not).

View attachment 726837

Just different angles to show the lines of the boat.

View attachment 726838

This particular boat doesn't have the oversized swim step on the back of it, and I really like the way it looks without it.

View attachment 726839 View attachment 726840 View attachment 726841 View attachment 726842 View attachment 726843

Another good pic to show the depth in the cabin of the 290. It's got a couple inches on most boats in this class, and while that might not sound like much, inches makes a big differences in boat interiors.

View attachment 726844

Even though the upholstery is different my feelings are still the same on the buckets. The back seat in this boat was actually my favorite part of the interior, same as the red boat, even though they are different patterns.

View attachment 726845 View attachment 726846 View attachment 726847 View attachment 726848 View attachment 726849 View attachment 726850 View attachment 726851 View attachment 726852 View attachment 726853 View attachment 726854 View attachment 726855 View attachment 726856 View attachment 726857 View attachment 726858 View attachment 726859 View attachment 726860

Any performance reviews on this boat?

 

[RiverDave]

Any performance reviews on this boat?

I heard it ran 74 with a 540 in it. I haven't seen the test reports on it, but Speed boat did one. RDP will be doing our boat tests right after the Havasu Boat show and it will be there.

RD

 

[Rajobigguy]

Jerry and his crew have put together a really good looking boat. I hope the new company does well, it's exciting to see this coming together.

 

[RiverDave]

Up Next the infamous Lavey Craft!

 

[RaceTec]

Was there pictures of the Lavey's?

 

[RiverDave]

Was there pictures of the Lavey's?

Things are coming! I'm not even 1/2 way through the boat show report yet. It can take awhile to get it all up. I have been covering a lot of ground lately, and putting up all the pics (no reviews) of Miami. Going to another boat show next week, etc... I'm hoping to get caught up on a bunch of stuff this weekend.

RD