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Okay, now we're going to look at the Robalo 246 Cayman
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and when I look at this bay boat,
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the only thing I can think of is
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it's the Swiss Army knife of bay boats.
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It's got the offshore coming inshore part covered,
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plenty of freeboard, lots of offshore features
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Boat's ready to fish.
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Well, we're beached in a sandbar right now
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and if you look at the bow layout
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and the way they've got the cushions
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that can make it a big sundeck
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or you have bow seating,
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if you're going to take your family on this boat
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which many people are gonna do on a 24-foot bay boat,
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that's where they're gonna spend all their time
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and they've made provisions for that.
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So, if the fisherman wants to be happy offshore,
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the fisherman wants to be happy inshore,
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or if he's gonna take the family out to the sandbar,
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they've got all the bases covered.
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They do.
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This one actually screams family to me,
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maybe more than some of the others.
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There's that front-forward seating like
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that gives you room for additional passengers.
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This boat does a lot of things,
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but it can do it with more people
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then maybe some of the other 24's we've looked at.
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Well, it can cause just the displacement of the boat.
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It's using a nine-foot beam and, very often,
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you don't find a nine-foot beam on a 24-foot boat,
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especially a bay boat.
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But this boat carries that very well.
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The sheer line looks good.
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The size of the boat looks really good.
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Let's look at some of the features
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that really sets this boat apart.
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Alright, we talked about comfortable bow seating.
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When was the last time you saw a bay boat
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that was this comfortable
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and this amount of cushions up in the front?
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Hey, y'all bring me a Coke, will you?
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This is flipping high up here, isn't it?
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Well, here again, if you're gonna bring the family out,
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this is where they're gonna wanna sit,
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but if we're gonna fish,
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they've also made provisions for that.
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A place to put my Trola motor
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and the seat up here on the front,
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I know you say that's a bass boat thing,
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but it's really not.
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If I'm gonna move along one of these mangrove shorelines
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and throw a plug at a snook or something,
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that is so much more comfortable.
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Not only that, if a boat goes by and you get a wake,
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or if it's rough,
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having something you can lean against
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makes it much much more stable.
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I love picking on you about 'em,
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but they're really very functional.
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I'll give you another thing that's functional right here too
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is having the live well up here where you don't have
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to go to the back of the boat and get bait every time.
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Well, we're sitting on two rod boxes
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and I like the fact that they open the lids forward.
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It's a lot easier to come in from the back
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and feed it in then it is to try and get a side hatch
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that opens up this way.
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They put a lot of thought
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into the way they've laid out this bow.
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They have a filler piece that can go in here.
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Now you've got a huge casting deck
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that three anglers can get up on one time
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or you drop in the cushions
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and you have a great big sundeck for the family.
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Well you know I like this area here
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where it's raised and you can fish from it,
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but it's recessed so you don't feel unstable
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when you're up here.
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Robalo's been at it a long time, Dave.
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My first boat I ever had was the 1971 Robalo.
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They've been around the block a few times.
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We talked earlier about how
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this boat really has a lot of family features.
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Another one that I really like is this extra-large console
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with a front-opening door.
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The truth is, it makes for an awful lot of room.
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It makes it so much easier to get to your gear down here.
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The more access you've got to it, the better.
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I tell you, another feature I really like they did
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that screams big boat to me.
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It takes me back to my old charter boat mate days.
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You wanna get from the front to the back in a hurry?
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Take the gunnel route.
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It's so easy to walk on these wider gunnels
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when you need to get to the back and you gotta fish on 'em.
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In fact, look at that school of bait.
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We're back here, we throw the net right there
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and we'd be loaded for the day.
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Well, back here in this casting platform,
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we've got two 30-gallon live release wells
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and there's another one in the front.
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This is the only bay boat that I know
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that has three 30-gallon wells
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that can either be a live well or a release well.
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If you're gonna turn it, fish for red fish
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or you need a lot of volume,
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one can double as a fish box.
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The other one can be a live well.
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There's a lot of room for water in this boat.
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There is and it's become so important.
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You can even take an IGFA record now,
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live in a release well, get the proper measurements
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and everything back on dry land,
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and release the fish.
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It's almost become a necessity
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if you're a serious fisherman.
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Alright, you know what, sometimes simple is just better.
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I love the way they've done the helm seat.
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It doesn't flip, it doesn't flop.
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It's stationery, but it's easy to lean against.
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It's easy to sit on.
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You don't have to worry about any hinges
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or anything like that.
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It's nice and clean.
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It just kinda fits the boat.
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Very functional.
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Gives you room for four more rods,
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but let me tell you, this console.
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We can call this console Goldilocks.
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We see some consoles that are so big,
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we can't walk past them.
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We see some consoles that are so small,
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you can't put a big screen on.
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This one fits this boat the way it should.
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Well, whether you're sitting down
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or, obviously, when you're standing up,
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you can easily see over it.
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You don't have a lot of bow rise with this boat,
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so you're never going to lose your horizon.
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I think that's really important,
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especially in congested areas or you're running a channel
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that's really tight with mangroves on both sides
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or flats on both sides.
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You need to always be able to see out in front of the boat.
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Earlier, one of the staff guys
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that are out here with us today called
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this boat a transformer.
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Really, that describes it pretty well.
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It can handle the fisherman.
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It can handle the family.
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It's laid out really really well.
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The Robalo Cayman series of boats,
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this one just kind of encompasses all the stuff
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that they've designed into their boats,
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I love this 246.
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Be sure to join us next week
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as we look at pontoon boats that are designed
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for use in saltwater on Florida Sportsman Best Boat.
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(dramatic music playing)