Boat Review - Young Gulfshore 22

It's no secret that with every inch of elevation gained on a boat, your visual advantage increases exponentially. Offshore boats have utilized spotting towers for many years to aid in locating fish on the surface from a distance as well as to spot cruising fish on the beach. More recently, smart boat builders have become aware of the usefulness of this same vertical advantage for use on inshore environments as well. No stranger to this concept, Young Boats of Inglis, Florida has been fabricating Riser/Tower boats for coastal and inshore fishing for several years now, long before this concept became mainstream. The Young GulfShore 22 is a perfect example of why this design is so practical and effective.

At first glance the casual observer might think that this tower design takes up lots of room in the cockpit on the boat but the truth is exactly the opposite. The riser design actually creates useful space on the boat while providing an elevated helm perch for two passengers. Using no more real estate that a traditional center console would occupy, you create two very large storage compartments above the deck which are easy to access. The forward box is free dry space while the rear larger box stores your house and cranking batteries with plenty of room to spare for extra gear. Above the helm deck, the pipework incorporates a ventilated storage area below a built in tackle storage center. Six rod holders fan out across the rear of the helm seat and two large cup holders join them on the outboard sides. The helm pod is framed with an additional four rod holders to port and starboard and a padded seat backrest below to complement a removable cooler seat forward.

The large forward casting deck on the model we tested was rigged with a 36V Ulterra Trolling motor that could be deployed and remotely operated from the anywhere on the boat. A giant storage compartment below the foredeck offered more dry storage. This deck was large enough for two anglers to share very comfortably. The rear casting deck was equally spacious and packed an even larger dry storage compartment below a triple wide bench seat that by itself would be sufficient storage space for this entire boat. A trio of rear hatches behind the bench included a pair of 30-gallon live baitwells one at center and one to port along with yet another storage box which lifted out of the space to reveal access to your through-hull fittings and bilge systems. A jack plate and twin PowerPoles completed the transom.

West Coast Florida guides near the Young facility have gravitated toward this hull design for good reason. The GulfShore 22 is a capable offshore boat in the chop that will get you through the pass on a marginal day. It fishes the beach as comfortably as it does in a couple of feet of water in the back country. A guide can run the boat from above and see incoming fish from greater distances while directing his anglers where to look or cast and control his trolling motor and anchor system while never leaving this perch. You can chase cruising Cobia in the morning, drift a pass for Tarpon mid-day, and sight fish for Reds on a grass flat in the afternoon. Considering this kind of versatility, it's easy to see why this design is catching on.

Young GulfShore 22 Specifications

Length: 22 feet 3 inches

Beam: 8 feet

Draft: 11 inches

Deadrise: 12-degrees

Weight: 1250-pounds w/o power

Recommended Horsepower: 150-250

Fuel: 53-gallons

Base price: $38,900.00 w/o power