On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:11:11 -0400, HK wrote:

And some of the "flats" and bay boats
built by bass boat companies and others aren't much better in terms of
freeboard or bows built to take on the kind of waves you're likely to
encounter in salt water or bodies of water like the Great Lakes.

Well, maybe.

My Ranger is is 8'6" beam at 19'9" and is flat out stable. That is
what causes the problems - their inherent stability. The fact that
they have scant freeboard isn't true either - my Ranger has 24" of
freeboard in the interior which is sufficient for most seas a small
boat will run in.

The problem is that you can't take a bass boat with limited interior
(read space) and expect it to perform the same as a bay boat in
similar conditions.

With respect to sea keeping abilities, anything short of 3' and I'm
happy. Passengers might not be happy, but I'm perfectly fine with
that. I've fished The Race, shot the Charleston Breachway and run the
East Passage of Narragansett Bay in my Ranger in heavy seas - 3-4'
short period piles of water.

Don't confuse bass boats with bay boats.