Blue Wave feedback

[Jim Tressel's Sweater]

I have some questions about blue wave boats, here's the situation: I love to fish the flats, but I had to get rid of my flats boat (a super skinny skiff) a while back for practical reasons. The wife & I like to go boating & spend lots of time on the lake, & my boat wasn't the best for cruising. So, I am looking for a replacement boat that we can cruise the lake on but I can still fish out of (with some sort of shallow water capabilities). I realize that I won't be able to run most of my favorite holes in POC, but I've seen some blue waves in some of the same areas I used to fish, so I was lookng for feedback on them. Any blue wave owners out there? How do they cruise/handle chop? What kind of holeshot? Any info is helpfull. Thanks!

[Third Wave]

I have the 220 classic...good, but not too skinny even with the jack plate.

Runs shallow but do not stop.

The Super Tunnel is much better. With a 200 you shouldn't have too much trouble.

As far as chop...rides smooth but the spray can and will come back at you in a strong wind.

I like mine. Gets me where I need to go.

[BlueWaver22]

I have a 22ft Bluewave with 175hp Evinrude. With jackplate i can run in 10min to 12 inches of water. Takes about a 15" to get up. Top speed close to 50 mph. The 22 ft is very stable side to side and fairly dry. I did talk to a man and wife that bought a 18 ft V hull that wasn't happy because the boat would lean side to side when stopped and said water would come in the scuppers in the back. Over all a good choice for you and the wife will be happy.

[Jim Tressel's Sweater]

BW22,
Is yours a tunnel? I am specificallt looking at the tunnel hull boats.

[RedXCross]

Hey Jim you have a private message take a look

[thumper]

I have the 19 tunnel. floats in about ten,, Will get up in 12,,, will run in about 6, but don't shut it down.. One major complaint,, ( It doesn't turn good at all) I have tried several props and if you turn REAL SLOW,, you can get by. If you want to ski with it you won't like it. Unless you just ski straight.

[bobber]

I have a bluewave 18' Semi V. No jackplate, 90 yamaha. It needs minium 18" to clear bottom, and thats biting a little mud. Boat drafts about around 10-12". Whenver the depth sounder says 1.8', I have to shut it down, raise the motor and put put. No problem skiing, never pushed it in hard turns though. Jetty slop no problem it can handle chop. Except for hard blowing leward, wind the ride is dry. 4-5 waves and big wakes, you better be moving, and catch them at 45 degrees else you be a submarine.

[RedXCross]

When its rough it be rough , when its calm it is calm.. The 22' I own is a great boat it looks like I might have to keep it after all , almost 1,000 people have looked at it,on classified, with 2 people interestesd , a rig at a **** steal ... Oh well I will do what I have to do .....One could not get financing the other tried to offer me something stupid.. It;s for sale not on sale !!! I do not have to sell it .. Wonderful boat ....

[BlueWave86]

I have a 19' fish special with a 90 yamaha. I love it, and have been impressed many times. Even with no jack plate this boat will run in an honest 8 inches pretty easy. It will get up and go, plenty of storage, and great preformance. I now would have bought the 115 yamaha, but the 90 does ok - even with 4 or five people. Ride the Wave

[BlueWaver22]

No mine is not a tunnel

[BiteEmNBeatEm]

Who's bluewave was is that had twin o/b for sale in the classifieds? LOL....some one had a power trip....j/k

[johnyb777]

Ours is pretty good in choppy conditions, it runs really smooth. But as Third Wave said, you are going to get pretty wet if it gets real rough out there! But that is part of fishing to me. Like everyone else's, ours will run really shallow (easy 6-8inches if planed out and really moving) but DON'T stop. We don't have a jack-plate, but after going to Port Mansfield we will probably get one before next year. Ours is a 2005 22' Delux Pro and it needs about 18 inches to get back up on plane, if you have a few extra fishermen (4-5 big guys total) on board add an inch or two to that. On the lakes it is GREAT as a cruiser for our family, and in Austin that is important! :) With the canopy up we have REALLY enjoyed it on the lakes. It has LOTS of comfy seating for a fishing boat.

[Maddog]

I have a 22' SuperT Fish, I love it. 150 Yamaha and Jackplate, runs in about 8" floats in ten when loaded and gets up in 12" with plate up and trimed under for hole shot. I fish everywhere from the SLP flats to 20 miles offshore in 3-4' with confidence. When the wind is really getting sideways you will catch the spray. As for the turns forget it, as well as pulling a skier or another boat, the tunnel also has very little reverse power with the plate up.

[TimOub007]

This is for you guys that think that a boat, any boat, without a jackplate and tunnel will run in an honest 6-8 inches. Go outside and measure the length of your lower unit. You will get a number between 12 and 15 inches, probably closer to 15. You physically can not run in less than this amount of water. Even when you trim the motor as you run, you don't change the attitude of the prop and skeg with respect to the water/bottom surface. Trimming changes the attitude of the boat when you are running on plane. If you over trim, your prop will blow out or you will over heat your motor.


Sorry to call bs on you, but the original poster needs to know (and may have already).

Off my box, ready to receive fire...

[gordo]

LOL Nice call Tim, I was wondering when someone was gonna have to say their rig needed like one inch... I really don't know how true or false any of the previous posts are, but they might be true...or not..

I really won't be alot of help as far how much is needed to 'get up'.. or how much it 'drafts'..etc .etc.. I have a general idea of what these terms mean, but I am by far the last one to be giving out errounous numbers, I just honestly would't know how or what to measure as far as how shallow mine will run.... As a new-b bay boat owner I try to stay out of anything that is less than 10ft deep.. shooot when the finder starts reading 5 or 6 I start sweating....

BUT.. Over at Lake Livingston..I did get real close to that little island on the south side of the lake and we were sitting on mud ..I guess about 10 or 12 inches deep... I think we pushed outtthere with some paddles but nothing too bad.... I was wondering though about the whole trim and prop being outta the water.. plus the prop would be pushing the water straight down (if it is tilted too much) and I dont see how your boat would move forward that way....( I figure eventualy it will wanna dig the back end down even more....Wouldn;t it??)


Anyway.. just my $.02 I guess..If anyone has some good specs/numbers on a 244 Bluewaver with a Yami 200 ox66 , I would like to compare and or share thoughts on top end/power/prop....?? Best of luck to the new boat owners, I 'm a happy camper....

[Blackgar]

I have a 22' Bluewave stripper edition with a pocket tunnel & a jack plate. I have never seen fishable water that I couldn't get into. If it's that shallow I don't know what you could catch there, However I would not recommend buying a new BLUEWAVE as thier customer service dept seems overwelmed with their success or taking off early on Friday.

I ordered some swivel seats like the ones that I have in my boat for a customers Quail truck. I was told that the seats were shipped three times. When they did not arrive on time I called each time to hear another excuse. After my card was charged with the amount discussed & the product didn't arrive on timeI placed a call to find out that they closed for a week. I finally placed an order with a different company for double the price to get the same product & was reassured that the charge from Bluewave would be refunded, of which it was thirty days later, They made me look like an idiot & all that they could say was I'm sorry. The boat I bought back in 1998 was thirteen weeks late coming in Due to "drying problems". Now I begin to wonder

I can say that I love my Bluewave, I have never had a better boat, But I have had a lot better service elsewhere. I think that maybe success has dulled their senses about customer service a little. All I can say is that if you want a good boat buy a used Bluewave !!!!!

[RedXCross]

Go getm' Tim , Nuttin like a good, Engineer , I lived with one for a good portion of my life .. ha ha ha... Tim is correct !! I had a Bluewave I tried to get everyone to look at , but sold it last week , the family loves it and what a beauty it was ,( Pristine boat )on my best day in sooooooft mud, 14"................ To jump up in and that was pushing it ... Brad

[bobber]

My 180 Classic needs by measurement 15"-18" to hole shot, and smooth mud is helpful. It drafts somewhere 10-12". I contemplate the worth of the jackplate to gain 3 or 4 inches. Sure running, you skim through 6" of water, which is downright stupid stunt. Cost for a hyd hack, is it worth it for bays. near Houston? Eventually I would like to head soth to Padre and Baffin. I hear everyone has flats boats with jacks.

[TimOub007]

bobber,

There is no way you will "skim through 6 inches of water." Like I said, measure your lower unit and tell me how you are going to get that above the bottom of your hull without a tunnel and a jackplate. Trimming it will only move the boat, to a point, and then will pull the prop/skeg out of the water. At the point the prop & skeg are out of the water, you will not be going anywhere anymore.

Tim

[thumper]

Tim,,, If the tunnel didn't work, they wouldn't sell them. You are measuring the wrong thing by looking only at the motor. If you measure from the bottom of the hull to the bottom of the motor you will understand the difference. The hull planes out in about the same ammount of water. The difference is that the hull forces water into the tunnel allowing you to run the motor ten inches higher than on a regular hull.

[TimOub007]

thumper, I know exactly what a tunnel does. I own two of them and am currently building a third.

The boats I am discussing are specifically the BW's w/o the tunnel or jackplate. There are a few claims early in this post that suggest these boats can run in 6" of what. I disagree and say it is physically impossible.

Tim

[AggyCat]

Go with a cat hull (I'm partial to FlatsCat). Runs super shallow and handles the rough stuff better than any Blue Wave. I fish with mine primarily on Sam Rayburn which has a tendancy to get pretty rough at times. Also overtook a Blue Wave on the way into Port Mansfield Harbor one vigorous afternoon- they looked pretty miserable while we were high and dry. And the FlatsCat is very economical compared to a 22' Blue Wave. The TransCat is also a great hull for slightly more bucks. If you want to a smooth, shallow and dry all purpose boat- go with a cat.

[100% Texan]

If you buy the blue wave 2 things will happen 1 you will own for life because no one else will buy it from you 2 buy a couple of rain coats because your going to get wet

[RedXCross]

I have owned 2 Bluewaves and now I own a 21' FlatsCat 05' , I had a 22' Behnke pro it was the best and Prettiest boat I have ever owned and dry as Shiat , 550 hours on last hull, 4 years old! Mine evidently was set up a little different than most because I could take fairly heavy chop and never get wet like a BayStealth ! The main thing is buy what you are comfortable with, I could get 10 people on this site and they would have driven that boat 10 different ways and got all kind of responses , I found the sweet spot and it worked. Brad

[Newbomb Turk]

I currently have the 190D BW and do not like venturing in anything less than 18 inches, although mine is a little stern heavy carrying 4 batteries for trolling and running the bait pumps. Great ride in the bay chop and mine is very dry, I do plug the rear scuppers to keep it dry....Experience in pushing off a couple of sand bars along with a bad foot keep me from ever trying to get too skinny. Good boat overall....Also mine is the pocket tunnel, as Tim said, 6" is physically impossible...

[SABlueWave]

Blackgar, In response to the customer service: I assume that every tree has a few bad apples, but I've had great customer service with blue wave. I've got a 1995 model that I am slowly re-finishing the hull on. I ordered the outside decals for the boat, thinking that the 1995 stickers were the same as the 2005. It turns out the decals in '05 were larger than in '95. I called the BW people and told them. They said keep the decal, and they'd send me the 'correct' one free of charge. Turns out they no longer stocked the correct decal, but they had it on their computer system. So, they emailed the graphic file to a local vinyl guy and paid him to cut it for me. I picked it up locally, awesome! This was just a few months ago (they were already 'successful'). I've also ordered several other small parts, including a complete rubrail and fasteners, same great service.

As for my boat: I've got a 189T (19' Tunnel). My only complaint is reverse. The tunnel makes backing up a little difficult. However, I can run shallow enough to worry me...and the birds I am flying by as they stand on the flats....which is the reason I got the tunnel. I bought my boat used at a great price, and like it much better than the others I test drove. Even being 10yrs old, the original wiring and hardware is in great shape. I tore all of the carpet out and was able to see the construction of the boat through the gel-caot. The cloth/biax they use on the hull sides is a LOT better then most high-production bay boats they make today. Walk up to a 'comparable' rolled-edge boat and twist the gunnel right where the rub-rail is. You'll be able to twist the whole side of the boat. Try it on a blue wave, nada.

My boat only has a 88SPL Evinrude ('budget-package'). It still runs 35mph with 4ppl and gets up quick. It performs outstanding for the lack of power. I was concerned that the 88 wouldn't push it when I first test drove it.

I'll be buying another once I retire this one. I know there are better boats on the market, like JH, Majek, Pathfinder, Mowdy, etc...But I could buy 2 Blue Waves for the price of one of them.

SQ

[johnyb777]

Tim I do take offense to your claim that we are telling the original poster stories. I too am an engineer and I know for a fact that you can RUN, PLANED OUT, through 6 inches of water in my boat. I did it to get across a spoil area on the edge of a channel... it was only about 50 feet wide and I could see that by the way that the waves were breaking, so there was no real danger... but I still sweated it until I got across. At the end, we wadefished in about 14 inches of water and couldn't get the boat back up. On the way back through, with the trolling motor, I could easily tell the depth of the water I had just run through and it was no more than 6-7 inches, in fact the trolling motor blades were ALMOST touching bottom.

Again, I too am an engineer and after I got the boat out of the water I too wondered "how the heck... the motor sticks down x inches and trim only adjusts the boat y degrees and the La Place transform of the Eigen vector..." :) but real world experience sometimes trumps logic in engineering.

[profishman]

Buy a Kenner!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[fishnlab]

[QUOTE=johnyb777]Tim I do take offense to your claim that we are telling the original poster stories. I too am an engineer and I know for a fact that you can RUN, PLANED OUT, through 6 inches of water in my boat. I did it to get across a spoil area on the edge of a channel... it was only about 50 feet wide and I could see that by the way that the waves were breaking, so there was no real danger... but I still sweated it until I got across. At the end, we wadefished in about 14 inches of water and couldn't get the boat back up. On the way back through, with the trolling motor, I could easily tell the depth of the water I had just run through and it was no more than 6-7 inches, in fact the trolling motor blades were ALMOST touching bottom.



Uh, I think we forget just how shallow 6 inches is. Perhaps it was "really shallow" and you are just calling it "6 inches"? Blue wave claims that your rig has a 8-10" draft. I'd be pretty impressed if your trolling motor pushed you across a spoil in 6" of water. Just a thought. Not meant ot offend in any way.

[TimOub007]

I know for a fact that you can RUN, PLANED OUT, through 6 inches of water in my boat. I did it to get across a spoil area on the edge of a channel...

Again, I too am an engineer and after I got the boat out of the water I too wondered "how the heck... the motor sticks down x inches and trim only adjusts the boat y degrees and the La Place transform of the Eigen vector..." :) but real world experience sometimes trumps logic in engineering.Take offense and wonder all you want, but the answer is in your quote. If it was a spoil area, chances are that the bottom was quite soft. Thus you might have been in 6" of water (which I still doubt too Fishnlab) but the motor was dragging through the soft bottom.

You can't beat reality, regardless of what an operator tells you. :)
If there is 12" of motor sticking below the boat, you need 12" of water &/or soft bottom to push the boat through.

Oh, and unless your trolling motor prop was coming out of the water (which isn't likely since you said you were fishing and it would spook fish) you need about 8" to run the troller. That would fit well with your boat drafting 8-10". If your boat was not dragging bottom with the troller, that also tells you that you were floating through more than 8-10" of water.

Your story, I'm just pointing out the facts you stated.
Tim

[Hog-tied]

I have a 1996 Blue Wave 189 Super Tunnel 112 Johnson with a jackplate. I've been fishing all over POC for about 5 years no problem. My motor is rigged so that with the jack plate up the bottom of the lower unit is above the bottom of the hull so if you look at the boat from the side there is no motor hanging below the hull. This boat on plane will run in 6" easy, but make sure you don't stop or you'll stick it good. On one occasion at Greens Bayou, I accidentally drove across a flat in 'ankle bone' deep water for 200 yards, but kept it moving until I got to deeper water. I did go back and walk across what I just drove the boat over and the water was only ankle bone deep (4") with scattered shell. Hole shot needs at least 12" on soft bottom or 18" on sand/shell. Handles choppy water well, but if the wind is blowing hard you'll get wet. Not a big deal for me since I'm a wade fisherman. Hope this helps.

[RedXCross]

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