Phoenix Boats Questions

[Ray Esboldt]

Southside Marine (Phoenix dealers) has been a sponsor of FM throughout most of the year. Thanks go out to them for keeping are forums alive and kicking.

My question to you - has anyone seen one, touched one, or had a ride in one? They seem to be highly thought of on other forums, but hard to tell if that is just owner fancy or the straight up truth.

[HellaBass]

They had one at NW Show in Mpls, I climbed around in it, seems well designed and well done, but that is just on the trailer

[TR21HP]

I went through the process of buying a new boat in 2010 and narrowed down to Skeeter, Phoenix and Legend. At the time there was no Phoenix dealer locally so I called a friend in Missouri who just bought one and went down there to test drive it. The Phoenix drove vey well, had good holeshot fished well and in speaking to my friend has a similiar relationship between the boat company and the buyer to Bass Cat which is by far the industry standard. When it came down to itI wanted to buy local and had a good relationship with the dealer I bought it from previously so I got the Skeeter. In comparing the 3 boats I looked at there was very little if any differences in the ride, quality and fishability. I can honestly say if the Phoenix was local I probably would have bought it as there was a definite cost savings over the other 2. With that being said I really like the Skeeter and have had zero problems with anything on the boat.

[Larson15]

During my boat buying process I looked at them and thought they were a really nice boat in regards to fit and finish. From what I have read is that they ride very well and are very similar to a Stratos hull since thats where the owners came from. If you look at both a Stratos and a Phoenix you will see a lot of the same characteristics in the hull. I guess the guys at Phoenix did a number of things to the hull that the naked eye would never see for better ride and performance. The downside for me about them is that the 19.5" footer has the same front deck space as there 18 footer. They added the extra foot to the back deck instead.