Dan Karleen’s Blog

In July 2011, we took delivery on a new 2011 Tidewater 196cc. It was hard to say goodbye to our first powered boat, a 1991 Boston Whaler 16SL, but the time had come to move up to newer, bigger boat that would enable us to spend more time on the water for longer periods of time together as a family.

As its name suggests, the 196cc is a center console design, with family friendly features and seating for 6 or more: two swivel chairs at the helm, two seats with backrests on the transom, and two forward of the center console, on a seat that hides a removable cooler below. There are also cushions on the bow fishing platform. The inside of the console has enough space for a marine porta potti, which we installed as a dealer option.

We were looking for a reliable platform that we’d be able to enjoy together as a family of four for an afternoon on the water, fishing stripers with a few buddies, or running down for an overnight in Annapolis or St. Michaels as a couple.  We were strongly attracted to the simplicity and versatility of the center console design, as opposed to a walkaround design. (We weren’t sure we’d even use a cuddy that didn’t have air conditioning, and we weren’t looking to move to move that far up the food chain yet anyway.)  This Tidewater has the advantage of having enough room in the console for a marine porta potti – just the ticket for those long days on the water.

We had the dealer, Clews and Strawbridge in Frazer, PA, install a few more options, including grab handles on the gunnel next to the transom seats, an 18″ grab handle above the cushion on the seat forward of the console, and a Dual Radio/CD Player with a 1/4″ input for an iPod or other player.  They flush mounted a Garmin 500 series chartplotter/fishfinder, which has a 5″ sunlight readable screen.

As expected, the much larger, heavier Tidewater has a much more stable ride, and is much easier to handle than the 15’6″ Whaler 16SL. (The Tidewater is 19’6″ plus outboard, and about 2500 lbs dry including the 115 HP, 4 stroke Yamaha outboard.)

We had a Garmin GPS/chartplotter/fishfinder flush mounted, along with a Dual AM/FM CD player with iPod input. The speakers are mounted on either side of the console.