Pacific Northwest Boat

[Nomad Willy]

When I think of bayliner I think of lake boats

That would be a waste if it were true.

Edit; Mostly around here (PNW) they are used on Puget Sound .. an inland sea.
Don’t recall them being used on lakes except Lake Washington (on the east side of Seattle).

 

[ssobol]

For what it's worth- it rains way more in Alabama than Washington State, so staying out of the rain isn't a concern solely for those in the PNW. The SE has the highest amount of rain fall. Get's rather hot too...and cold. Being able to operate from a climate controlled protected helm has benefits not matter where one lives....

Yes, Seattle gets a lot less rain than some other places. Nearby Olympia gets close to twice the rain Seattle does. Everett gets more rain than Seattle or Bellingham (it's between them). Birmingham AL gets the same amount of annual rain as Olympia WA. The difference is that in Birmingham that rain comes down a lot faster than in Olympia, so the actual number of rainy days in Birmingham is a lot less than in Olympia. In Birmingham you get on average 112 rainy days a year. In Olympia it is 167.

 

[tozz]

That would be a waste if it were true.

Edit; Mostly around here (PNW) they are used on Puget Sound .. an inland sea.
Don’t recall them being used on lakes except Lake Washington (on the east side of Seattle).

Truth. We know several people that have run their Bayliners all over the Salish Sea and up and down to Alaska every year without issues. They are popular and great value depending on your boating needs and requirements. Some days it seems like every other boat we encounter is a 4588/4788 around here!

-tozz

 

[ksanders]

When I think of bayliner I think of lake boats

Yes! Bayliner made their name making Runabouts at a reasonable price.

But... Just like a automobile manufacturer they made a wide variety of models for different demographics and intended uses.

Chevrolet for example makes inexpensive urban vehicles, and the top of the line Suburban High Country, a $80,000 luxury SUV.

Did you know that Bayliner also made a motoryacht line?

My 4788 Bayliner Pilothouse Cruiser, like your Willard was made in America, in our case Arlington Washington.

Did you know that in terms of numbers made it is the most popular pilothouse cruiser ever made in its size class?


At 47' it has a decent keel, rounded chines and is a very capable semi displacement ocean going vessel. Pretty much on par with the other semi displacement vessels I have seen in similar sea states.

We boat in Alaska, and I have every intention that in 2022 when I retire we will make our way down the Pacific Coast at least to La Paz, to explore the Sea of Cortez.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Truth. We know several people that have run their Bayliners all over the Salish Sea and up and down to Alaska every year without issues. They are popular and great value depending on your boating needs and requirements. Some days it seems like every other boat we encounter is a 4588/4788 around here!

-tozz

We do too. Nothing wrong with Bayliners. These boats introduced cruising to families at a reasonable price. Cookie cutter design, well yes that is why the price was a lot less than a Norty.......

 

[ksanders]

We do too. Nothing wrong with Bayliners. These boats introduced cruising to families at a reasonable price. Cookie cutter design, well yes that is why the price was a lot less than a Norty.......

From a marketing standpoint Bayliner's approach was fantastic.

As you posted, they introduced folks to boating at a reasonable price.

Some of those folks migrated to cruisers as their stage of life changed.

Some eventually moved to motoryachts.

The brand name loyalty that Bayliner gained with their entry level runabouts drove larger boat sales in my opinion.

Then in 2003 they spun off the motoryacht division and re-branded it Meridian. Why... I think they decided that perhaps the association with the entry level product was actually hurting sales of the motoryachts.

Then came the crash of 2007-2008 Many manufacturers suffered, some to never recover.

 

[rsn48]

From pasts threads on Bayliners, the thinking was that on the larger Bayliners the quality was there, on smaller (lake boat types - runabouts) the quality wasn't there. Just minutes ago I watched a video on runabout type Bayliners relating to their quality. The short answer is - the runabouts are a price point boat so short cuts were taken results in issues. One cheaper production method was to use "chopper gun" fiberglass installation. Now I'm not familiar with this method in runabouts but I am familiar with it in canoes. And in canoes, chopper gun is to be avoided.

 

[menzies]

From pasts threads on Bayliners, ...

This is a past thread on Bayliners....

 

[rsn48]

This is a past thread on Bayliners....

You know those guys who tell other guys to use the search function. Well I have been guilty of this, you do the search, up pops something interesting and comment worthy. You make your comment only to have some one point out the thread was posted 10 years ago, been there, done that.

 

[menzies]

This guy is resurrecting dozens of old threads and really screwing up the forum. New threads are bring driven off the front page near immediately.