We bought a boat!
The finger-crossing and sleepless nights are over. The titles came in, the inspection was clean, the deal is done and the boat is home.
Freshly inspected and tuned up at Redwing Boat Co. here in Houston is our 2005 Parker Big Bay 2100, repowered with a 200hp VMax SHO, fitted new in 2020.
She’s got a power pole, spotlock trolling motor with 36v LiOn battery, blue tops for house and starting power, Garmin Ultramap at the helm, T-top + burn bar, and is very clean.
Even the yellow hull color is unique from what I understand, and looks great.
You are probably thinking, “that’s not a bass boat”. And you would be right.
I looked long and hard at it, especially as the used bass boats typically came fitted with ALL of the gear – including full sonar setups with bow screens. But the limitations and our use case just didn’t make sense.
Yes we are tournament bass fishing. For now. But living so close to the coast means that we also want to run the bays and even go further offshore when the weather cooperates. While this boat may not be the perfect choice for either bass or offshore fishing, I feel that it will do both well enough.
I had looked at a number of different makes and models, from tunnel hulls to deep v’s. We water-tested some, including a Blue Wave and ultimately found them to be too small or too light. And in more than one case the boats were very misrepresented online…
Both my son and I loved it at first sight and could tell it was the one for us, which is why we were willing to wait and struggle through to close this deal.
The Parker is a heavy boat.
They are constructed with wooden stringers, which add to the weight and therefore the stability. There are many reports of their capabilities offshore, while maintaining a shallow enough draft to run the bays and chase redfish.
The layout is uncluttered, and incredibly clean. With a wide 8ft beam that extends parallel through the middle it gives us a ton of room, and makes the boat feel larger than its 21-feet would indicate. There are fewer storage areas than other models, such as the Pathfinder 2200, but careful gear management will keep everything ship shape.
That same 21-feet also made our first tow back to the house a breeze. The trailer tows easily and I have zero reservations about handling at the boat launch.
Future Upgrades
I can’t stress enough how clean this boat is. But even so, there are a few small projects that would get it back to as-new condition.
Things like a hull polish (and bottom paint), fuel filter housing, and some other small items need doing. I like my gear to be clean and work as designed.
But the first major upgrade will be a Garmin Livescope system.
Forward facing sonar is legal for use per tournament rules and not having one will put us at a disadvantage. Garmin recently came out with the latest generation system, which means there are good deals on the previous generation. I’ll be getting one of those installed ASAP.
We are officially one step closer to fishing our first tournament. Make sure to follow along and see how we do.