Great looking boat!
I've been biting my tongue up till now but, for what it's worth, this is what I have to say. And, this is first hand experience, since I own a 23' Bayrunner I think I'm somewhat qualified. First off, these are tough-BACK SIDE boats. Secondly, like all things, they have there limitations. And, like all things, there are trade-offs. Bayrunner's are lighter and less expensive than plate alloy - those can be thought of as attributes. Lightness can also work against you. Most days I do just fine. I've been out in some pretty nasty stuff, not 65mph winds mind you but a solid 25 to 30 with six to eight foot seas. My almost fifty years on this planet have taught me a couple of things and I knew enough to steer the boat around and through - if I had to steer my boat straight into that type of situation I would have to slow way down and I would not make any headway at all while beating the crap out of me and my boat and all my gear. Now, you might say that would be true for almost any vessel in those conditions but I think more so for a light weight aluminum boat. Luckily for me my heading was on a gentler tack. Be smart and pick your days and you will love this boat - it'll give you years of economical, trouble free, and low maintenance enjoyment.
Let me get to specifics.
Pros:
Light - easy to tow and easy on gas
Strong - mine has held up incredibly well
Inexpensive - less cost up front and super economical to run
Quick - my typical cruising speed is 20 - 24 knots at 4mpg
Stable - I had a 17' and with three guys you couldn't move around much but the 23' is super stable
Roomy - tons of deck space. The way I have mine laid out you can fish four easily
Nice ride - great on any tack other than straight on
Dry - surprisingly so considering the non-flared hull design
Low maintenance - what can I say, rinse and go!
Cons:
Light weight - you'll pay on the wrong day out there
Floorboards - the plywood floors could use some improvement
Center console - the console has a habit of cracking on these boats
Not self bailing - since the floor isn't one piece or sealed they aren't self bailing
Now, on to some details:
After seeing this post I contacted Klamath to ask about the new pilot house. They seem like great guys and I want to say, again, that I think this is a great product. My boat was built by Valco and the folks at Klamath said they have made some modifications to improve the design once they ended up with the plans - not sure what those improvements are, still waiting to hear. Anyway, to get to the point, in my boat there are a few things that I set about changing when I went through the re-fit last year. The first was the floor - that plywood floor is a POS! Oh, it'll be pretty strong at first but you wait, it won't take too many years before you have to change it. And, I'm here to tell you that it's going to be a hassle! Also, in my opinion, floor panels are a design flaw. A welded-in floor is certainly going to give the boat more structural integrity and longevity but we get back to the cost issue there so we'll skip it. What I did was lay up some solid NON ALLOY (oops, did I use that word!) floor panels - I'll never have to change them out again. It took more effort but I think it was well worth it.
The other thing I found once I pulled out the old rotten floor boards was that the stringers running fore and aft from bulkhead to bulkhead were not well designed or built and a couple had popped at the weld. This proved to be hard to fix in my neck of the woods. I got them re-welded but since I wasn't confident with the welds or the material I decided to apply some 3M 5200 to the floorboards when I put them in place effectively bonding the floor to the infrastructure of the boat. This may come back to haunt me if I ever have to remove the floor boards. None-the-less, I feel the stringers are a design aspect that should be addressed. Not knowing what Klamath has improved I can't comment - perhaps this has already been addressed.
The other thing these boats are notorious for is the aluminum center console cracking. Mine was really messed up when I bought it and it was a bit of work to get it back in order. This could be attributed to the way the console is attached to the floor and/or bulkheads. It certainly makes me curious to see how the pilothouse is built and attached as the previously mentioned "shudder" effect will certainly takes it toll. Of course, seeing how it is one unit it might be stronger than a console with a T-top attached to it with the top applying all the flex in all the wrong places. When I removed my floor I found the console was lagged into the plywood floor and the thin alloy stringers - nothing else - no backing plates - nothing. I would check to see how they built and attached the pilothouse to the floor.
The fact that they are not self bailing is pretty huge. Let's face it, it's not the best arrangement. Again, I think we are back to a cost issue - you can't weld in a floor that is strong enough to walk on and keep the weight and cost down. I completely understand why they do it but it is a BIG trade-off. It might be the biggest trade-off I made with the purchase of this boat. I always carry an extra bilge pump and really watch my through-hulls.
One more thing, this might be true of every boat out there but the outfitting on both of my bayrunners was poorly done at the distributor. And, in both cases the electrical system was bonded to the hull - a big no-no. I put a switch on the negative battery cable to isolate the power - easy solution.
It may seem like I'm really lambasting these boats but beyond the usual pros and cons associated with any aluminum vessel that floats in salt water I think I've covered most of the less-than-positive aspects I can think of. It's really not that much, as you can see the pros outweigh the cons, and I might just be nitpicking. Like I said, I love mine - I fish the crap out of her. As a matter-of-fact, I think I'll go fishing tomorrow.
Good luck with the purchase, can't wait to hear what you think of the sea-trial. By the way, a 175hp Etec would really make that baby scream and keep the weight down on the transom - just one man's opinion.
the pilot house make it look a bit top heavy though...have you guys run this??
