Looking for a clean, Brand New boat with Full Factory Warranty at used boat prices?

  Marine Dynamics of Englewood, Florida has this 2008 Tidewater 1800 Bay Max fully rigged out and ready to fish at just such a price. This is not some stripper or dealer demo, its a perfect condition boat that has a rugged, dependable Evinrude E-tec 90 hanging off the back and both come with full factory warranties.

   Looking at the boat it has the usual livewells and such but the best part of this boat is that it is not just an excellent flats fishing or bay boat it is a nice little boat for taking the family beaching, water skiing or just wandering around the intercoastal waterways checking out all the scenery.

  For snorkeling the shallows, grassflats or shallow reefs, this boat is ideal; The dive ladder platform is generous providing an easily accessible staging area for all your gear and well thought out. Few boats have cleats or readily accessible rings to hang your catch bag on – this is one of the few and everything is within reach. While snorkeling the grassflats, that rear ladder platform is like a walk up step and when in deeper water it requires almost no effort to climb the extra long ladder that pops out from the dive/ski platform.

   Live storage is ample on this boat and made well enough that you can buy 20 dozen pinfish in the morning knowing that come afternoon dang near all of them will still be alive and for several days if need be. A lot of guys on the gulf coast simply hook up a shore charger and feed their baitfish/shrimp with normal flake fish food during the week – not even using their dock mounted bait wells anymore. For the snorkeler or diver keeping a few tropical fish or octocorals these are the livewells to have even if you own another boat (Ed in parts at 941-698-1444 can get you hooked up with a set if you ask him nice) On a full run to the keys from Englewood, 3 days out wandering the keys and 5 hours back to home we were able to keep 50 large tropicals and 24 corals (3 people – we were legal) living with only 1 injury to a coral which did recover. That speaks volumes for a livewells ability to remain toxin free and able to keep more bait alive.

    That E-tec 90 out back is enough to keep 2 skiers up at a time with no problem and even has enough oomph to pull a couple of wakeboards or even a flying tube without straining the engine. For those a bit more redneck… It has enough oomph to pull a bunch of tractor inner tubes at speeds enough to be scary to the mothers watching (even if the kid happens to be 40).

   As a bay boat this is the poor mans dream Fully rigged out, nice center console that is set up to make it easy for even a 5 footer to navigate the grass flats and lighting throughout the boat has been placed by someone who navigates at night on a regular basis. Not one light interferes with forward nighttime navigation.

    All in all this Tidewater 1800 is a good value for the money – basically a brand new boat with no hours and full factory warranty and decked out with all the stuff already there that you would have to add to another boat anyway. A slick little family oriented bay boat with the ability to get the fisherman into the shallows or over the grassflats and good casting platforms to fish from (or comfy seats to sit in while watching the poles and drinking a cold one).

  Give Mark a call at 941-716-4200 to get pricing or arrange a seatrial today!

Now the grassflat in this video is another that had been taken down to barren Sand Wasteland less than a year ago by SeaTow "prop Dredging" a boat off of this spot. Literally there was an area 200 Yards wide by almost 1400 Feet of lush grassflat taken down to nothing but sand. With the assistance of someone who donated the money for fuel to Gulf Coast Crustacean Research (see how at http://myspace.com/tkiergen - over on the left of his page) we were able to not only restore the grassflat to its former beauty.... We were able to run down to the keys and get some plants that used to be in this area and transplanted 3 150 Quart coolers full of what they call "shaving brush" which is a pretty neat plant in that not only does it provide a home for many of the micro crustaceans that used to be normal to the gulf; it exudes calcium into the water and at the same time provides a natural particulate filter that clears up the water so folks can enjoy things better. The shaving brush plant is doing excellent and has covered about 100 yards by close to 1/4 mile so far. Normally this grassflat would have taken about 3 years to recover this far along. Compliments of a donation for fuel and Marine Dynamics of Englewood, Florida (http://www.marinedynamics.com)making sure our boats keep running on the cheap.... This flat has been recovered in just under 1 year - using only species native to Florida. Time invested was a couple of days wandering Florida bay in the keys, a day or so pulling just a few plants from a variety of local grassflats and about 3 weeks straight of replanting the barren wasteland that had been left by SeaTow's irresponsible actions -- total fuel bill was just under 1800 bucks. Restoring these areas is important in that they are the nursery for the gulf - all of the little baby fish you see in the vids stand a better chance of growing up when they have an adequate diet and places to hide as well as good quality water which the filtration action of our Florida grassflats provides.

    Marine Dynamics has been committed to restoring our waterways but like a lot of other marinas cannot afford a whole lot of money so the teamwork with Gulf Coast Crustacean Research works out pretty good for both sides. Gulf Coast Crustacean Research gets parts at cost and Marine Dynamics is able to help improve our waterways which is in fact good for business. When one considers that any marina is in the business of wanting to get people in their boats and on the water, it just makes good sense for Marine Dynamics to want the area around them to be in good shape and pleasant for folks to looks at. If folks have something nice to look at in the water and the fish are attracted so folks can fish for something then marinas do more business. So perhaps it could be said that Marine Dynamics has a business interest but the owners remember a Florida from years past that looked a lot better than our area did a couple of years ago.  If you think about it – The area from Sarasota to Goodland 30 years ago looked pretty close to what the keys look like now (and the keys looked a whole lot better than they do now) So while the average yankee coming down for a vacation is still getting one heck of a beautiful view – it is nothing like what it could/used to be. Marine Dynamics is committed to helping make some of it come back.

   Gulf Coast Crustacean Research Studies Micro Crustaceans on a really limited budget and needs the grassflats to study the natural habitat of the species in question but it goes further than that. Like the owners of Marine Dynamics remember a Florida from yesteryear before it got trashed by a bunch of yankees == The folks at Gulf Coast crustacean research remember wandering Floridas waters with their grand-dads and as kids wandering the grassflats and beaches from the banks in waters that were a lot healthier. All would like to see just a part of the pretty Florida they remember come back even if only small areas are all that can be helped.

  The efforts of Gulf Coast Crustacean Research are responsible for restoring 8 different grassflats in the Englewood/Charlotte Harbor/Venice, Florida areas that were destroyed by irresponsible BoatUS and SeaTow Operators over the past 3 years.

  Other projects include gathering corals out of the washed up dried plants on the beaches. These are either deemed healthy and placed in areas of the intercoastal where most boats are not likely to get to or taken to the tanks hosted at Todd Kiergens House (791 Porpoise Rd) where the folks from Gulf Coast Crustacean Research have been healing some and failing to heal some. The system they use is massive and is not only ideal for the breeding/study of micro-crustaceans but is fairly good for healing corals. Progress of the system at all times can be seen at THIS LINK. If you click over to the last few pages: those are the most current pics up and available. Instructions on how to donate or send water samples are found at http://myspace.com/tkiergen over on the left hand side of the page. Make no mistake about it though – the donations are few and far between as they are too lazy to file for an NPO due to the time and expense involved. Most of what they do comes out of the pockets of 3 people and those are retired guys on limited incomes. Some comes from the raising of Eco-friendly Live Rock (really aqua cultured in tanks – not some jerks doing it in the gulf) and a little from the raising/ propagation of really rare NON-US corals which colonies have been with Todd for a long time.

   Still more projects include building small mini reefs with native species under peoples docks, planting native species corals in marina basins towards the more sheltered spots, converting peoples pools along the intercoastal into coral gardens / seahorse farms which not only gives the owners something beautiful to look at but the redraining into the intercoastal helps repopulate the intercoastal with native species corals that are so lacking in recent years throughout our waterways.  In the past couple of years, other marinas besides Marine Dynamics have stepped forward and donated old boats they had laying around as have individuals and the folks from Gulf Coast Crustacean Research have tended to pass the ones they dont use along to folks who need a place to live (if big enough) or just to folks who want to tinker. The general rule is that if GCCR keeps one then they give one of theirs away – except in some cases where a sawzall and some elbow grease accompanied by a call to the dumpster company has been the best solution.

Looking for that Slick little Center Console boat that will please the whole family while still providing excellent bay and shallows performance? Well over at Marine Dynamics in Englewood, Fl they have at least one that meets the need.

    This 2009 Tidewater 216cc is designed from the beginning to get into water about a foot deep yet has high enough sides you can feel comfortable taking her out in the Gulf for a day of wreck or reef fishing without having to worry about it too much.

   This boat has all the usual amenities to make the wife and kids happy, roomy, recessed Vee bow at the front with cushions and a rear deck with seats and cushions as well. Take a closer look and you will see a nice, well made dive ladder that is made for skiers as well as divers and rugged enough to last till your grand kids inherit the boat. Tidewater paid good attention to how people actually use the ladder too, there are rear cleats within easy reach for hanging your BCD and tanks while you get on the boat, the ladder itself is located in just the right position to where grabbing on the boat and climbing up is easy enough for a little girl while at the same time your 6’4” teenager (or aging redneck uncle) wont have to bend over at some ungodly angle to climb back aboard – pretty much just a “walk it right up” sort of a thing. When your family is done skiing, sure you can hand up the skis but just in case its one of those days when you have a couple of skiers in the water and only one person onboard, the rear deck is convenient enough to slide a couple of sets up on. At the same time that rear deck was made to be a casting platform for when you have your buddies out fishing with you so if you found that big treasure on the wreck you were diving you wont mess up your rear deck or have to fight the transom to get it aboard.

    The stereo on this boat is even well thought out. Rugged, waterproof speakers that produce a sound quality that is on par with some of the better car audio systems. Tidewater has taken it a few steps further though…..This is that rare system that sounds good outdoors whether you are at the beach or running at cruising speeds out on the water This is one good sounding stereo. Worth noting is that Tidewater placed the speakers in such a way that you wont have to worry about your larger cousin Bertha sitting in front of the speakers, blocking the sound. Everything was thought out.

   Now fishing one of these boats is just a dream, whether you troll, fish the flats, fish the lakes and rivers, fish the gulf or even if you are one of those folks who gets out there and drifts around with a pole in the water out to catch “whatever bites the hook”. This is a nicely rigged out boat.

    Lets take a look first at the Gulf fishing folks….. This boat is a respectable handler with High hard sides that wont have you soaked and miserable the first few hours like a lot of other boats. She is made from the beginning to keep you dry and while we sincerely hope you are not out fishing the gulf when its rough…. its nice to know its going to take a lot more wave to come over the side than your Dads Scout Bay boat would. She does have some excellent deck drains for those days when you stayed out there a little too long and have to run in in the rough stuff but she is a stable enough handler that you should not need them.

     Running out in the gulf in this boat is excellent. Sure you know you are over those swells but you don't feel them as much. Back off the throttle a bit, find that sweet cruise spot around 30 or 35 and you can enjoy the day without a lot of bone jarring bounce and pound.

   In the bays and inter-coastal this boat handles pretty sharp. That little 150 on the back aint gonna set any water speed record or anything but there is enough juice to make her move along at a comfy 40 or so without having to strain her every bolt. Handling in the rough stuff is adequate for most conditions the average person would have the guts to be out in and she can easily handle “just a bit more”

   Backwater fishing in the grassflats/shallows around the Charlotte harbor area has shown these boats (don’t worry I didn’t use this exact one) to be a dream. Sure that cooler holds enough food, sodas and such for a families weekend beach getaway but did you know that same cooler will hold a weekends worth of beer too? Yup it will!. Getting her into the shallows is slick – even short folks can stand the center console and see perfectly in front making navigation in a foot of water not just safe on the boat but a lot easier on the average rednecks nerves because you can put your little girl at the wheel, knowing she can see well enough to steer through the shallows – heck if you’re raising the kid right you wont even have to push the thing off the flats.

   If you leave all the wife pleasers (cushions) in the truck (or better the garage) you will find that the forward deck makes for one heck of a nicely laid out casting platform. If you happen to be in the gulf it is a wonderful thing to be able to sit down and get to those tackle boxes that Tidewater was nice enough to integrate into the hull. Pretty much anyone 5 foot nothing or bigger aint even got to lean over or stretch too far to get into them and that just makes it slicker than greased butter-bread on those days when you are anchored out over a wreck in some good swells. The folks at Tidewater were nice enough to pay attention to that extra detail and made the surface of this wonderful casting platform with something that is grippy and part of it (not some cheesy surface paint with sand in it like a lot of other boats – this stuff is part of the fiberglass). They had good sense with the forward livewell too… While you are sitting on the back of the casting platform you can reach into that livewell at the front of the console pretty easy – So’s you can get some bait on the hook you just had to re-rig ‘cause you forgot the wire leader on the last one and that fish done took the whole thing….Makes feeding the fish bait a lot easier when you can get to the bait easier.

   At the rear, there is a good, healthy casting platform as well – kick that seat back for the rear passengers off in the truck or the back of the garage if you like ….but the folks over at Tidewater Boats have you covered anyway…Yup they left you enough deck space back there to not only use as a casting platform but before you leave that seat back out in the truck…..Let me let you in on a little secret – that puppy gets pretty handy those times wou have on a 100lb Tarpon or a couple of hundred pounds of Grouper…. You kinda shoot one leg over it, lock your leg behind it and work it till you can get both legs locked to it… Next work your way down to the lower deck (if you have a buddy along this is the time to tell his/her redneck self to get out of the way)…. From there you work yourself forward to the front casting platform, get up on it in a couple of steps and you will find that all you really have to do is dig one foot along the bow and Work that fish! It aint a whole lot of work though… This Tidewater is light enough you can let the fish drag you around for a couple of hours and except when he pulls straight down…… You probably aint going to work up a whole lot of sweat (well ok unless its a hot day and you aint had a cold beer in a couple of hours).

    But lets take an extra peek at the rear casting platform…. That dive ladder I talked about earlier? It tucks right the heck out of the way into its own little compartment. The engine is not really in your way but yup it is there you know it and you can see that the deck goes back far enough that unless you have a really short pole… It wont really get in the way of some durn good fishing. Sure there is a nice integrated tackle box at the back and yes you can definitely get to the fish treats (oops I meant bait) really easy from that monster 30+ gallon livewell. The big bonus for the guy working the back platform though is the fact that you can simply put your pole into one of the trolling rod-holders and reach right into that cooler for a soda or “Barley Pop” without having to lose track of your other pole.

   Sure this thing has rod holders all over it but for trolling I would use the 2 rear outside ones. Of course those ones on the back of the seat are excellent and if you are trolling by yourself that is really nice to know that you have your rods right there where you can reach them and still control the boat. Plus if you do get a big fish on…..Man let me tell you that seat is a good thing, just lock your legs into it at an angle slightly above your knees and that seat frame aint moving – I think that’s the real reason Tidewater had the good sense to put that lower section of cushion at the front of the seat; so you don’t get bruises on your upper legs fighting that fish until you get the chance to get up to the forward fighting deck. Another good thing you’ll notice when you troll this boat (or just fish a normal day) is that switching from your heavy to light poles is easy – those rod holders in the side let you slide ‘em in and out without a snag or catch like a lot of other rod holders do.

    In plain Southern English This Little Tidewater cuts the water like a hot knife through butter, will keep up with a cheetah on cocaine and she aint gonna rob you in parts or gas ‘cause the folks at Tidewater done made her good.