Bass Cat vs Phoenix... Please convince me here

[Slayer412]

I've owned 2 Skeeter Bass Boats and I've had that dream for a few years now to step up to a Bass Cat.

I made a 3-day trip down to Guntersville a few weeks ago, and it seemed like 80% of the boats were all Phoenix. There were a few Tritons, a Stratos and a Skeeter.

We also met up with a buddy who had a Phoenix and just swore by their hull design and the ride quality. His boat was also pretty refined and had a fair amount of well thought out features. I fished out of it for a few hours and didn't have any complaints.

What's the deal here? Why is the popularity so extreme with those (Phoenix) boats? From the research I've gathered, they have about a 3-month turnaround time whereas some of the Bass Cats are taking 6-9 months or longer. They are also priced slightly lower for comparable models, especially in the used department (depreciation seems significantly higher).

From somebody with experience in both, how does the ride, build quality, fishability, and speed compare?

Yes, I understand there are a ton of factors into what suites me and the water I fish on. I am just looking for overall opinions here and I guess I'd like to be convinced into why I should get a Bass Cat over comparable Pheonix.

[llsdjv]

I have a couple Bass Cats and have ridden in several Phoenix boats. I love how a Phoenix rides more so then the Bass Cats I've had. They are a big sponsor with contingencies in mlf which probably makes them a little more popular

I will say it comes down to quality though. I hate the plastic dash of a Phoenix, the carpet is not even close to same quality and the seats look very used after a few years.

I got burned a few years ago by a lemon Triton and after that I wanted to buy the highest quality boat I could with greatest customer service. Hence I ended up with Bass Cat

[llsdjv]

As for speed I have not been outrun in a tournament in my Eyra

[krindgen]

I'm a Phoenix owner, would give maybe more than a slight edge to BCB. Innovation, use of technology, time in the business and quality all go to BCB.

[catdude28]

You might want to pay some consideration to the trailers also. High quality BCB trailer built in house, Marine Master trailer built off site for Phoenix. I used to read about complaints with the MM trailers, but don't know if the quality has improved on them at all.

[Leo Carrillo]

I had a Phx 920 and a BassCat Lynx. The bassCat's fit and finish is hands down better. That being said I never could get use to the odd shaped storage lockers of the basscat. I'm now currently in a Ranger 520r...and loving it!

[TNReb]

Phoenix is made in TN, so they’re pretty popular around this area.

I have fished out of a Phoenix a bunch. They’re nice boats, but they don’t have the quality of a BassCat. As someone already mentioned, the plastic dash and carpet aren’t very good. I don’t like the latches. Fish flop out of the live wells easily.

[Elwood]

I would say to ride and before you decide. Crawl all over each one. I am 99% sure which brand you will pick. I did this and currently running my 3rd Cat.

[Cajunhunter67]

Depending on the model of each,
Nothing beats experience in both. You need to ride, drive, and fish out of the models your interested in buying.

Phoenix sells more boats, much of that is due to pricing. Build times are quicker with the Phoenix, but Basscat is slowly catching up and build times are improving.

In the end, it’s about quality. It doesn’t come cheap. IMO Basscat has surpassed Ranger in this area.
Like the saying goes, You get what you pay for. There are Phoenix owners in our clubs. Their boats seem to age quicker. They know it too, as I get many compliments on my PII from them.

A good friend of mine recently ordered a Phoenix, before it’s arrival, a used Eyra came up for sale and he cancelled on the Phoenix and ate the deposit to get the Eyra. Overall the new Basscat was priced substantially more then a comparable Phoenix. Thus the original reason for ordering the Phoenix. A Basscat is what he wanted, the used model was what he wanted and fit his budget.

In the end , it’s your money. Regardless of purchase, glass boats are not cheap.
Get what makes you happy in the long term.

Don

[krindgen]

Look hard at the layouts - I didn't and regret it. I don't like the huge center front deck compartment and the full front deck. There's no place to sit down with compartment open while retying.

[Bass_boat_boy]

I don't have any experience with a Phoenix but I have to say y newer cougar is the nicest boat I have been in. The quality is just that much better. I'm in Ontario so there's not many bass cats. This is ranger land and coming from a ranger there no comparison.

[Louie]

I've had a sabre ftd, caracal, puma, and eyra. Some of those boats made the trip to 1000 islands. I've fished from a few phoenix's and owned one as an investment boat earlier this year. The construction processes and materials are not very comparable imo. Phoenix can probably build a boat alot faster than bcb, and they are currently back logged but at one point were building in the 3.5 mo time frame. Go ride in a few of each and really get down and look inside the compartments, carpet quality and other things it adds up quick... Bcb is a better built boat. I will say the little bird I owned for the money was not a bad ride and I did enjoy a few aspects of it. But my favorite boats by far were my 17 puma ftd, and my 21 Eyra.

[Bassfriend]

Buy what YOU want. If you need to come here for advise then I think you need to wait until You decide. Both are fine boats but Im sure if you really think about it then down deep inside you know which one You want.

[Slayer412]

All of the feedback so far is quite helpful and matches what I had in mind.

I'm up here in mid-Michigan which makes it fairly tough to find some of these to go joy ride and test out. We do have a few dealers around the state though, I'll have to make some stops to at least crawl about a few of them.

[Slayer412]

Buy what YOU want. If you need to come here for advise then I think you need to wait until You decide. Both are fine boats but Im sure if you really think about it then down deep inside you know which one You want.

I "want" something that will do fine on Erie and Saint Claire, but also something easy to get around in some of our smaller inland lakes here. I don't want to worry about stringers breaking or caps separating. Plus we'll do 3-4 trips a year down to the Chic or Guntersville which obviously has some distant runs to make. I also "want" the highest quality overall build I can get, something I can fish out of confidently for 10-15 years and pass down to my son. Depreciation is also important too which I've seen a pretty clear difference with used prices when it comes to Bass Cat vs Phoenix.

All of this info just cements in what I've previous thought about Bass Cat. I was honestly just kind of blown away to see what seemed like 10 times the amount of Phoenix boats compared to everything else combined.

[Rebel1]

The reason you see a lot of Phoenix boats in Bama is due to the Alabama Bass Trail.

[dswindall]

The reason you see a lot of Phoenix boats in Bama is due to the Alabama Bass Trail.

+1 on this ^^^^^^^^ Big Sponsor of the trail.

[Blue Steel]

Come down here to Chickamauga and drive mine. Ride and decide. This is my 18th glass boat, wouldn't want anything else but a Basscat. I recently traveled to Sturgeon Bay for a week, actually saw quite a few Cats there.

[Bobby8]

You might check out the Ken Smith videos on YouTube. He checked out all major brands before he selected a BassCat last year.

[Bass Cat Boats]

Phoenix is close to northern Alabama and they do sponsor ABT. The largest USA Phoenix dealership also was the local dealer in Guntersville, Freedom Marine.

We have a solid market in Alabama and we definitely lost some momentum post 2010 to 2018 in that market. We now have a solid dealer base and Bama is growing again.

As for incentives, Quest should match or offer more than First Flight and there is no annual memebership fee.

For that Michigan area we would consider a Puma STS and the ride is truly amazing.

BCB