Deck - The non skid is great. Cleans nicely after a bloody
day. Drains well once you are moving. However, while
sitting still the scuppers are plugged up so whatever
water you take on the deck will be at your feet until
you move or slosh around. No issue here, just the means
of design to keep water out of the boat while you are
sitting. I have not had a wet foot yet.
Everyone asks me,
"How Fast Is It?"
No t top some fuel and two people
Mercury Verado 300 64 - 66 mph
Mercury Verado 350 71 - 74 mph
Mercury Optimax 300 XS 66 - 70 mph
Mercury Optimax 250 Pro XS 60 - 64 mph
The Yellowfin Bay
Boat 24 rides flat! Flat as a board. And cuts like a
knife. It planes in amazing time with very litle bow
lift and will do it in 2 feet of water without hurting a
thing. If you are running a 24 Yellowfin and you feel
the chop, go faster and it goes away. Wylie has taken
offshore racing ideas and design to this boat; it runs
like no other boat I have ever been in. Trim has little
to do with ride after 3 degrees positive, your not going
to yank the bow way up with any prop it runs the way it
runs. Like any boat it has its bad spot, avoid it,
change your angle or adjust your speed to fit. I am
amazed every time I take it out especially in the wind
about how this boat rides. My customers love it. They
like my other boats too but this one seems to yield the
most comments about its ability to eat chop with not
effect. Nice work Yellowfin.
I will say the Verado boat rides a little better in a chop.
We all fish
different ways so I will keep this simple. My Yellowfin
is shallower than any other bay boat and easier to
handle on the flats. It acts like a flats boat. Dead
silent on the flat. I never thought I would ever try and
fly fish for permit on the flats in anything but my
flats skiff. This boat does it well and the fish did not
even know we were there. I was truly amazed. Like I said
when I started this section, we all fish different but I
bet this boat will handle your needs very well whatever
they are. In shallow water a whole new world has been
opened to me.
As a bay boat guide
I like to be able to offer my clients the ability to
fish 4 persons. Fishing 4 persons is not my favorite
thing but this boat will do it well.
On a side note, I
really hate to compare boats but there is a definite
difference in this boat to others. The others are boats
that fish. This is a great fishing boat.
Tis boat is strong
as all hell. I have beaten it across to the Marquesas in
water that would have sent other boats home. If there is
going to be a stress crack it would be there already and
if something were going to break it would be broken or
come lose by now. The best part is there are no rattles
or washiness in the hull. You hit wave, wave leaves. I
will stand by this boat with my reputation to say, that
you cannot hurt it. I am looking forward to a long
history with my first 24 as it has passed the test of
the Ides of March here in Key West.
Update 8/1/2009 - We still have our red boat, the first of our Yellowfin 24 bay boats and it is holding up very well. Looks great runs great and all things have stayed together.. we have had very few issues after 2000 hours of operation..
That's a tough
question. I love them both.
The choice here is
obviously yours. Let me share with you some of the
differences I have experienced. These days most bay
boats are capable of handling the torque and weight of
Verado power and the Yellowfin is definitely leading in
this field. I think you will notice very little
difference in the weight of the Opti Versus the Verado.
I have run the boat with both. I like the steering of
Verado over the Optimax. Verado steering and DTS have
made boating soooo easy. Coupled with the System View
5000 from Mercury Smart Craft you will have a great
package. The Verado is much quieter than the Optimax and
the Verado needs no oil, just oil changes as it is a 4
stroke. With boats going to 4 stroke power in many
arenas the Verado is probably the best choice for the
consumer looking for an all round great package in a bay
boat like the Yellowfin 24. The only place I can see a
considerable difference is in the fuel economy. Opti max
has Verado beat by a small margin. Performance gains is
where Opti Max is my favorite the opti runs faster and
has a higher speed at best cruise MPG.
Why did I go with
the 300Xs over the Mercury Verado?
Fuel economy,
performance and to see if there would be a difference in
the draft of the boat losing 200 lbs in the transom.
Come to find out that the 300 XS had to be set further
back on the jack plate making the weight difference
negligible; however, the gains in speed and fuel economy
are notable and I am very happy with my selection.
Having both engines on several different boats I feel as
though I know both engines well. I am unsure of the
numbers concerning the speed of the Verado on the
Yellowfin Bay 24 but I bet if you call Yellowfin they
will be happy to share those numbers with you and I bet
you will find it to be in the "very fast" category.
Things I Would
Change
This is always a
tough category for me as there are so many things about
boats that can be changed a little here and there to
match what may be my perfect boat. This may not be the
boat for someone else though and a company like
Yellowfin builds a boat for the masses that fishes
really well. So the things I don't like will be
partially my personal little thing. This article would
be incomplete without this section as there is no boat
in the world that will ever make one person TOTALLY 150%
happy.
The latches that
Yellowfin uses tend to lock themselves under vibration.
Now, this could be a result from the vibration of the
300XS being a motor without soft motor mounts. The motor
mounts on a 300 xs are solid and do create more
vibration throughout the boat. Verado power will
probably not have this issue.
The Jack Plate - I
am not a huge fan of Bobs Machine jack plates and will
change mine when I have the chance, maybe during
re-power. I will note that there has been absolutely no
failure with my current jack plate that was installed;
however, it just doesn't seem as solid a piece of
equipment as the Stainless Marine Jack Plates I am
accustomed to using. Note- Stainless Marine Jacks are
pricey but you get what you pay for.
Anchor locker - It
needs to be made about 1 inch deeper in order to fit a
decent holding anchor in it and close the lid. My anchor
may be too large for what they were considering when
drafting that compartment, however a smaller one just
does not do the trick here in Key West, even with 8 ft
of chain. To adjust for the issue I trimmed the wings or
flanges back on my anchor to make it fit better and seem
to have lost no performance. Boat is a touch faster due
to less metal. JK.
The Yellowfin 24 bay
boat is unique to itself. It does not look like any
other product out there so it can not be called a knock
off. You will find the people at Yellowfin to be
friendly and professional. The boat will be done when
they say it will and ready to be splashed at the nearest
boat ramp. You will find the fit and finish impeccable
and comparable to any super high end yacht works. The 24
bay will stay together for you for years to come and
Yellowfin will stand behind their product. I think that
this boat is about the sexiest thing I have ever seen.
It is always nice when beauty comes with function.
If you are in the
market for an awesome bay boat go to their web site and
give them a call. www.yellowfinyachts.com Ask for Wylie or Kevin.
Note A - Yellowfin
has a surcharge for the raw water pump installation. I
am not sure what it is exactly but the cost for my
install ran about $350 and about 2 hrs labor for
installation on my own. You may want to consider their
installation as it will be professionally done.
Note B - Yellowfin
charges $600 for flush mounted electronics. Well worth
it in my opinion for them to install the transducers and
what not's you may have.
Note C - Make sure
you also get extra pump cartridges with plugs installed
for quick release fast change bait pumps whatever the
cost.
Note D - Get the recessed foot pad
for the wall of the wheel side of the console. Very nice
and well worth the $250 or so dollars for this option.
Also a great place to mount speakers.
There are many
things a new boat owner feels when he takes delivery of
a boat. One of the notable things I felt when
I was trailering home my first 24 Yellowfin was confidence.
Confidence that this boat was right for what we were
looking for in a shallow water bay boat. Confidence that
we could splash the boat and run it the day we get it.
Confidence that the company that built the boat, should
anything go wrong, would stand behind it. My feelings
did not steer me wrong.
I would really like
to bring some attention to the electronic control
processor that Yellowfin puts in the 24 for the switch
board circuitry. This thing was daunting to me as I had
never worked with one before. I was almost upset that I
would have to add extra switches to wire in some
accessories such as the raw water pump
(see Note A) as well as my underwater Ocean LED
lights and my Furuno electronics
(see Note B). I called the factory when I was
playing Tim Tool Time and spoke to Kevin who then put me
on with some kid named Hooper. Hooper walked me through
the steps and overnighter the pieces to do it
professionally and all was very easy and good. I was
able to utilize that snazzy switch panel that Yellowfin
Yachts is noted for to run my accessories. Very Cool.
the
boat comes with Power Pole standard (who does that?)
with the XL with remote. Very functional piece of
equipment. I was originally wanting the Power pole on
the motor mount thing that Power Pole makes but there is
no need as the transom install that Yellowfin does is
tight and very strong. Works well. 
