The Bay Cat compartments all have upper compartment seals and locks with seals like the bass line does. They are gel interior or gelcoat finish compartments. The ride is stupendous from compared models of others. Though it is not a price friendly bay boat, as you pointed out. The competition in bay boats has been boats like VIP and Blue Wave. In some areas they have other brands and other bass offshoot brands. Though it has been a price sensitive market. There are images of the construction in the FAQ section and from memory they are stored there. It will definitely not beat you in 3 seas and 2 seas are a breeze. Of course true 3 seas are what bass folks call 4 and 5 footers. It is a fairly dry ride, without the upturned bows. There are some spray strakes slightly turned downwards to throw some splash outwards. The 20″ transom is not an issue. You can run either a 20″ with a hydraulic Bobs Plate. Or you can run a 25″ on that same set up. The only short coming of it is a slightly small livewell. Though when we designed (2000 & 2001) the Bay Cat they thought we were crazy for putting any livewells in it, because they only used coolers. Of course as soon as we put a livewell in the Bay Cat, others soon followed and the market is evolving greatly still.The folding console is really handy to put it in a 6 8″ garage header. The bench seat is EXTREMELY COMFORTABLE. It will probably sit better new than your living room sofa for comfort. You just have to make sure it is always in those slide tracks for use. The baitwells on the side are fair sized, though can be closed off for use as storages, which they are a bit small for. The front baitwell has a petition so you can separate your croakers, or crab and shrimp. It works fairly well for keeping the bait alive. And you know how hard that is in saltwater. The system is like what we use on our bass boats. The dual bilge pumps are larger than we use on bass models. The Anchor Storage box has chocks and blocks for a #13 (or 14 – bad memory) DanForth already positioned. Just put your Danforth in there with the chain in the bottom and throw the rope on top. There is a front cleat for use of it also with the door closed on the storage. There are side drifting cleats for using your sea anchors and side drifting. Plus you have twin 35 gallon rated fuel tanks for the ride out and in, just switch and come home. It is an all fiberglass construction unit. And you should look at the images on Phils site to see the construction. Some of these he was provided from company photos. The interior construction has a full fiberglass stringer system, and and interior secondary sub floor in fiberglass. The deck assembly is vacuum compressed to the sub floor in the hull mold. It is a very solid boat. The roll top design is used to increase construction of the top and beam interior width on that close to 8 beam. The transom is full width and all vacuum sealed fiberglass construction. OH~! And even more importantly, pull the drain plug, it has full foam floatation better than any other and all is sealed within those fiberglass compartments. This boat has LOTS of foam floatation! And since you know bay boats some you know that is not always true on salt water rigs over 20. And your safety is important when you are 10 miles offshore or more. If you have more questions just call the shop tomorrow. Ivan should be in and he can help you more. The FAQ pages and links to Addisons Impact Fishing images are good also.Hope this helps! BCB
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