Press Room

 

Bass Pro Shops can be a very dangerous place to visit. You walk in innocently enough, looking to buy some fishing line or a life jacket, then bam! You keep spotting things that you just have to have. My advice? Stay away from the boat section, lest you happen upon the new TAHOE 228 deckboat, because you'll want it.

Unique Factor Waiting for me at the Matheson Hammock Park boat ramp on the western edge of Biscayne Bay was Chris Castellon from the Miami Bass Pro Shops, who was launching our test boat. The designers at TAHOE definitely have this styling thing down and even designed an optional color-matching, dual-axle trailer with custom chrome mag wheels. You'll probably park this eye-candy package in your driveway, even if it will fit in the garage.

As with the Tracker Marine pontoon division - where tremendous upgrades have occurred in recent years - the plush seating is more comfortable than ever and has overstuffed cockpit settees and layback bowrider seats with armrests. Score a few more style points for the seven artsy stainless steel pull-up cleats.

Bass Pro Shops prices its models down to the bone and uses a "No Haggle, No Hassle" program, which could be a disappointment for those adept at beating down the price of a sombrero in Cancun. But the TAHOE 228, with its "we really mean it" price of $34,495 when paired with the 220 hp 5.0 MerCruiser sterndrive package, gives buyers the peace of mind that they are not paying more than their neighbor.

Performance There's plenty of power packed in the fully finished, but slightly tight engine compartment with the TAHOE-recommended 300 hp MerCruiser MAG 350 ($41,410), which is mated to a one-prop Bravo One outdrive. The egg crate foam at the top of the engine hatch does a decent job of knocking down motor noise - we idled out at just 62 decibels.

Biscayne Bay can get shallow in spots, but with a 20-inch draft this wasn't a problem for our test boat. We got out of the hole in 3.7 seconds with little bowrise and accelerated smoothly to 30 mph in 8 seconds flat. I always try to estimate the top speed of a boat and usually come within 1 mph of the final result, but I missed the boat on this one with a guess of 52 miles per hour. Our actual top speed was 48.4 mph, but the reason for my over-optimism actually proved to be a plus.

Handling What I had failed to factor in was that our TAHOE sports a 20-degree deadrise rather than the usual deckboat-flat, V-in-the-teens configuration. While it might have shaved a couple of mph off our top end, when we got to open water, the benefit of the PowerGlide hull was noticeable with a soft ride in the chop. We found several happy cruising speeds, but at 38 mph, we motored along at 4000 rpm, which seemed to please our MerCruiser as it ran quietly at 89 decibels.

 

 

Driver seating position is "ergo-tastic" and our view through the curved glass was good, although the white dash showed up in the reflection. Gauge placement is excellent. The wrap-around bucket seat with flip-up bolster gripped well when we whipped the Tahoe around in aggressive turns. The 228 loves to carve, and we nimbly changed directions without sliding out. At the very end of the stops, we noticed that the hull bit a little harder than earlier in the turn, which might get your attention the first time, but it remained stable.

Best Uses What do you feel like doing today? The good news is you don't even have to tell the 228; just go and have fun doing whatever strikes your fancy.

Deckboats frequently make fishing difficult with barriers such as no storage to keep rods from being snapped by your balance-challenged brother-in-law. Not only does the 228 have under-gunwale storage for two behind a securable hatch, but two of the three in-deck storage compartments connect, giving you a place to hide all those rods you bought on sale at Bass Pro from your spouse. With the optional fishing package, which includes a trolling motor, livewell and fore and aft fishing chairs, you are ready to go fish.

This year, TAHOE totally reconfigured the interior to a far sportier layout with a second captain's chair instead of a wrap-around bench seat. But to accommodate it they zapped the large, corner-opening door into the port-side console, which made it easy to access the optional head. The new door that opens toward the console walk-though is OK for kids, but an adult would have to be seriously motivated to enter.

Another addition is the stern lounge seat for relaxing between ski sets or hanging at the raft-up. Something you don't often see is twin lockable compartments for valuables in the form of a horizontal glove box to port and an in-deck "safe" in the driver's console.

Preferred Setup Tahoe has avid skiers covered, with the option to add your choice of wakeboard towers from the standard model all the way to the Sony deluxe package that includes Kicker speakers, tower-mounted "coffee cans" and a wakeboard rack. For low-point towing there's a standard ski ring, and the aforementioned in-floor lockers will hold your array of boards if you scoot the fishing rods off to the side.

There's an aft rope storage compartment that can also serve as a cooler, giving you three, counting the in-floor unit and the portable Igloo under the port bench. This year, all compartments drain overboard rather than into the bilge. Getting back aboard after a run is easier than on most boats thanks to the pair of grabrails bracketing the fold-down swim ladder on the starboard side. But because of the rails, you'll find yourself making a point of docking on the port side to avoid passenger stumbles. Besides, that's where the walk-through into the cockpit is located.

TAHOE loaded the 228 with standard features such as the color-coordinated Bimini top that has more stout connectors this year. About the only thing other than a trailer and the fishing package you need to add is a freshwater system, snap-in carpeting and a between-console dam curtain if you have a hard time letting go of the boating season when it gets cold.