Cruisers Sport Series 258 Bow Rider - Available now

The mission of the new Cruisers Sport Series 258 is to be a large bowrider geared toward spending the day on the water with a lot of passengers. She's designed and equipped to be ready for cruising, watersports, entertaining, or just anchoring off a remote beach along the coast of Galveston Bay. Because she is built by a company heretofore specializing in big boats (Cruisers Yachts and Rampage Sport Fishing Yachts), the builder is taking a more up-market approach to its sportboat line.

Distinguishing Features

• Full wraparound U-shaped seating in the cockpit. This is unusual, for a boat in this class usually features a straight bench seat or an L-shaped seat. In this case the seats wraparound completely from the observers bucket seat to the captains bucket seat, both of which swivel around to join the crowd.
• Side mounted, 4-step re-boarding ladder. Mounting a reboarding ladder off to one side of the swim platform serves dual purposes. It keeps swimmers away from the sharp edges of the outdrive, and it keeps the ladder in line of sight to the helm.
• Stepped hull. While we've seen this feature in some bowriders, most do not have it. By adding a step to the hull, air is drawn underneath the bottom to reduce the surface friction of the water making the boat more slippery, and therefore faster and more fuel-efficient.

• 22-degree deadrise. Most sportboats in class have from 19 to 20-degrees of deadrise at the transom. At 22-degrees deadrise the 258 Bow Rider is clearly ready to handle rough conditions or a steep chop and keep her guests more comfortable.

• Horizontal hull contour lines. The 258 Bow Rider has horizontal contours molded into its topsides. Because these contours catch light, they look like horizontal lines in the hull sides. As a result the boat appears lower than it really is. It is a clever optical illusion that boat builders have used for years in the cove stripe of sailboats.

• Higher Freeboard. Her freeboard is somewhat higher than some other boats in class, signaling that that while she will be fine in small lakes, she is ready for big water as well, and will be better able to keep her occupants dry.
• Swim platform extends beyond the lower unit. Some builders do this but a surprising number -- and surprising brands -- do not. On the 258 Bow Rider with the lower unit down swimmers can slide off the swim platform into the water and not worry about cutting a foot on the lower unit.
• Self-draining cockpit. The 258 Bow Rider’s cockpit drains overboard, not into the bilge as is the case on many sportboats. This is important because it means the 258 can be left uncovered in the rain and the owner does not have to worry about a bilge pump draining a battery.

• Dual bilge pumps. I've actually seen bowriders in this class with a simple 750 gph bilge pump in the engine compartment and no float switch. This boat not only has an 1100 gph bilge pump with float switch in the engine compartment, but also a 750 gph bilge pump located amidships.

• Small boat built by a big-boat company. With a couple of exceptions most sportboats are built by companies specializing in small boats. The Cruisers Sport Series stands out as one of the few made by a big-boat company.

Features: