merry fisher - lots of questions, especially about fishing

[incoming]

Hi,

I'm in the market for an 855 or 895. It will be mostly family cruising and fishing in the Chesapeake, but I'd also like to take it offshore occasionally.

We just looked at an 855 and I'm having a hard time picturing where to add rod holders since it only seems to come with two. I'd like to add rocket launchers to the top but it seems like it would interfere with the awning​. Is there an easy fix there?

What about on the gunnels? They don't look wide enough for flush mount holders (except the location where they already have them). Suggestions?

Anybody add fish boxes? Or you just bring coolers? Any tips for keeping them out of the way in an already cramped (for fishing) cockpit?

Finally, can anyone comment on the rough water handling? Can she handle 3' chop and still run on plane at 18-20 kts and not beat you to death?

[knotallmine]

Have owned for a month and so far so good.  You sound kinda like me.  With this boat I plan to Cruise 80% of the time and fish the other 20%.  I've been in 3' offshore  afternoon windy slop and the boat handles very well.   Here is a rod idea that I'm going to follow:  

This boat will cruise 8, sleep 4 (adults), and fish 3.

This is the bait tank I'm thinking of.  The seats in the cockpit with the exception of the aft seat is removable.  Bring an ice chest and store your catch in that.  Let me know if you got any other questions.

[knotallmine]

oops...forgot to list the live well:  www.hobie.com/accessories/livewell-xl/

[incoming]

May 31, 2017 4:42:47 GMT knotallmine said:

Have owned for a month and so far so good.  You sound kinda like me.  With this boat I plan to Cruise 80% of the time and fish the other 20%.  I've been in 3' offshore  afternoon windy slop and the boat handles very well.   Here is a rod idea that I'm going to follow:  

This boat will cruise 8, sleep 4 (adults), and fish 3.

This is the bait tank I'm thinking of.  The seats in the cockpit with the exception of the aft seat is removable.  Bring an ice chest and store your catch in that.  Let me know if you got any other questions.

Yes that's perfect! At least for transom rod holders. Any idea if that was a custom job or available online somewhere?  I was also thinking about maybe clamp on holders on the rail on either side of the pilot house. I mostly troll, so i need a spread.  But that transom mount plus the existing flush mounts and then two clamped to the rail should work nicely.  Then i could add outriggers to the top at some point and I'm really in business.  Also will look at the livewell although we don't use a lot of live bait right now.  Was thinking the port swim platform would be a good location since it doesn't seem to really be useable for much else.

Thanks for the ideas. 

Curious - what power option did you go with?  I'm strongly leaning toward the twin 200's but wondering if the 300 or 350 plus bow thruster would be more economical and still provide good enough performance.

[knotallmine]

I spoke to the owner of that boat. He stated it was a custom rod rack. And yes a removable livewell on the port swim step since it has little to no other use. I went with the offshore model which is a couple hundred more pounds heavier and comes with twin 200's. 

[incoming]

Just wondered if any 855 or 895 owners out there had any more comments on the ride in 2-3' short period chop. I'm getting very close to pulling the trigger, but haven't been able to sea trial one yet (I will no matter what before closing, but want to save a lot of travel time and trouble if I'm headed in the wrong direction). 

Seems like most folks on the posts I've come across are pleased. But I was checking out this video review and got a little worried (skip to about 2:15 for the sea trial):



When he's running around 30kts it seems to pound and slam quite a bit, and even when he throttles back to 25kts it still seems to land hard every few seconds, and that looks to be in fairly light seas (maybe 1-2' max?)

Maybe he doesn't have the trim dialed in properly, or maybe the seas are worse than it looks...?

My current boat is a 1st gen tiara 31 and although the deadrise is very modest (~14 degrees), with the right tab settings i can get it pretty comfortable in 2-3's at around 20kts.  I'd hoped this boat with it's more modern hull would perform at least as well. The wife and kids just really don't enjoy being bounced around, and the chesapeake bay being what it is if i'm limited to flat calm days I'm going to be spending a lot of weekends in my slip.  

Any thoughts?