Home Forums Fishing Saltwater Tell me about West Coast Saltwater boats.

The cooler on the transom looks like a good idea. In practice though with an outboard it's not a realistic idea. With the motor turning there is no good space for the cooler. However there is a new Yeti Cooler that is like a huge duffle bag. that one is perfect for the transom.

The Transom for me is brilliant for many reasons. For starters it creates the space for the giant Live well and what becomes a work table to get fishing things done. Baiting and setting up gear. It's also lockable so if you leave the boat on the dock over night it's a huge space for lockable storage.

It's very easy to board and exit the boat when in the water. The swim ladder folds down and allows easy retrieval of the folks swimming. I had a 6 year old with a life jacket jumping in and climbing back onto the transom with the swim ladder. The Big one for me is the splash back when decelerating. With a wet transom all that water fills into the back. With the solid wall and extended transom you will never get that water in.

The Transom is also out of the water by 4-5 inches. I keep a 5 gallon bucket there for bait and for the emergency needs of anyone needing an emergency bio break! It's tied off to the grab bar. I have run up river for miles and set up to fish, only then noticing that I have set items on the transom and forgot to get them into the boat.

At 15-30 MPH for miles going up river the gear was still sitting there, and still dry! That's amazing! A unique design to the extended transom with the Hewes, is that it's part of the bottom of the boat and a completely sealed buoyant part of the boat. It's not a shelf, its a full length sealed part of the hull. All the bilge and wash down pumps are under there. It's usable space for both my batteries on board charger,and the Live well pump. Plus I have two spare props, and a 50 foot section of Hose for washing down with fresh water at the dock. This extended transom is a brilliant design compared to just having a Big shelf sticking out the back without the additional buoyancy and the storage area.

For water sports, I never used it for Skiing, only for those big float rafts and an inflatable raft. It's worked as well as I hoped, but I am the most paranoid guy ever with a prop and a kid in the water at the same time. The swim ladder and the transom are mandatory for this in my opinion.