The Bayliner 235 is built to be comfortable for the entire family – including the family pet. It’s the ‘go anywhere in style’ kind of boat that’s great for tubing, wakeboarding, cruising and maybe even a little casting when you’re with the kids. With your family in mind, Bayliner seems to have built this boat for supreme comfort.
In my opinion Bayliners here in South Africa have never really been as big as they should be, and I’m not sure why. So, I travelled to Hartebeespoort Dam to take a closer look at their operation…
Deck layout
The Bayliner has what’s called a ‘beam forward’ design, meaning that the widest part of the beam is carried further towards the bow, maximising the usable width of the boat which especially makes the bow area of the 235 wide open and ultra spacious. You’ll find it’s very deep and comfortable too, offering plenty of seating for up to four adults. There’s a grab rail on either side, as well as cup holders and a wrap-around backrest and speakers for the tunes. There’s storage underneath all seats, as well as a cooler upfront. Further storage can be found behind both backrests and the optional bow ladder is stored in the anchor locker upfront on the bow.
In the cockpit area you’ll find the fully adjustable captain’s chairs which rotate 180 degrees and slide fore and aft. As with most boats that place comfort high up on the list of priorities, the captain’s chairs also offer a flip-up bolster which offers a sportier feel when you’re cruising and it allows one to sit up higher for easier docking. You’ll find a lockable glove compartment in the port side binnacle and the skipper gets a modern looking dash which is complete with user-friendly switches, a Jensen CD head unit and an ‘easy-on-the-eye’ set of gauges. Tilt steering is standard on this boat and the placement of the throttles contributes to the skipper’s creature comforts.
On the fibreglass floor, you’ll find optional marine grade, snap-out carpeting that should make things easier when it comes to housework duty at the end of the boating day. In the deck, there’s also a wakeboard and ski locker that is hinged, fully fibreglassed and is drained. It’s big enough to offer, for instance, plenty of room for those skis and wakeboards. At the stern, the Bayliner 235 offers a U-shaped seating area with a sun pad to give you plenty of room for your family and guests to relax and just lounge about. You’ll find storage areas underneath all the seats and I liked the centre cushions in the sunpad that can be removed to provide a walkthrough for entering and exiting the boat. On each side of the sunpad you’ll find a gullwing door which opens up to provide access to your storage areas, while the centre walk-through opens up to provide easy access to the engine compartment.
The Bayliner we’ve discussed so far is basically the standard 235 model. While it does come loaded as standard, there are more options available – such as the bow filler cushion – which, personally, I could easily do without; a swim platform extension, Transom Tunes (consisting of an amplifier, two transom speakers and remote control), a bow ladder and a removable cockpit table – which I’m a little disappointed that they couldn’t throw it in as standard. However, you could alternatively go for one of three specification levels, being the ‘preferred equipment’ or ‘stainless steel’ trim upgrade. The ‘preferred equipment’ list is the option to go for if you don’t go the ‘whole hog’ and be sure to choose the full ‘flight-series’ package which adds the wakeboard tower with integrated Bimini top, the swim platform extension, the flight hull graphics, plus the items found on the ‘preferred equipment’ option. ..
