6 Month / 30 Hour Review 2022 Caymas CX20 Pro

[DWS]

Thought I would give me honest opinions on my CX20Pro.

A lil backstory on myself...I came out of a 2007 188VX Ranger boat that I bought brand new in 07. I've also had a Champion bass boat and a 17.5 Starcraft alum bass boat in my past. I visited the BassCat factory in Oct of 21 and was all in on a Caracal until I sat down with the dealer and it came out to 105k OTD. I had already decided that I liked a lot of things about the Caymas boats and when I sat down with the dealer for Caymas and the price was 88k OTD it was a no brainer for me. To be fair the Caracal was priced with Power Poles and I did not get Poles with the Caymas, but did get 25 more horsepower and a slightly longer boat(20'4 to 19'8) both boats having a 96 inch beam.

First, lets start with the PROS of my Caymas.

The Ride: Can not, repeat CAN NOT say enough good things about the ride. This boat eats 2 and 3 foot waves, smoothly, without coming close to spearing. My wife can not believe the difference in ride quality versus the Ranger ( 20 foot Caymas versus 18'8 foot Ranger, I know, I know) but Holy Balls it runs good. I had to call all my buddies and apoligize to them that for 15 years I submitted them to the Ranger ride. Hole shot with the 250 Merc is maybe 2 seconds with way too much gear and 2 people. There is a issue with it listing to the starboard side during hole shot that I will cover in the CONS of my Caymas.

The Layout: What first caught my eye on Caymas boats was the layout. I love everything about it, except maybe the middle huge front deck compartment....I do like the 5 compartments on the front deck of the Caracal better in theory. Love no carpet in the compartments, love the striker plates in the compartments. The back deck compartments are deep, I mean huge. The bilge area is crazy clean, looks sharp and neat. I'm not a net guy, but my wife loves the net holder. The dual console comes out easy and just as important goes back in and tightens down, no slop or movement out of it. It just seems like a well thought out boat.

Fishability / Stable Platform: This boat fishes very nice. Stable boat even with 4 people in it. Do not notice if the back angler is moving around at all. Tons of storage. I have every lure known to mankind in the front middle compartment. Typically 16 rod/reel combos in starboard compartment, and 6 to 8 in the port compartment. Behind the drivers seat the compartment is half full, the other back deck compartment is empty. Seats, carpet, instruments are comfortable and stylish.

The CONS...

Boat List Port Side On Takeoff: Makes no sense, as I have a 36volt Impulse Lithium on port side. If I am aggressive with trim as I'm coming out of hole it is barely noticable. If I start with trim at 2.5 it hardly lists at all, just adds 2 seconds or so to the holeshot. Is this a deal breaker?? No. But it is aggravating. I live in Tucson AZ, but will be residing on Bull Shoals in Arkansas soon. There I will try removing weight and maybe moving weight around to see if I can eliminate list. To be clear, if I never use trim, boat will run 30mph listing to port side until you trim up. Never had any other boat do that.

Trailer: Caymas stickers coming off. Boat is hardest I've ever had to load....it has a very very small sweet spot. You back in to far, and nose of boat comes in under bow roller, not deep enough and you have to winch it on. The sweet spot is seriously like 6 inches. I've never had a boat be this picky. On my CX20Pro it came with UPGRADED winch. Ha! Again Ha. I replaced it with a Fulton F2 winch and that helped a lot. I've figured out what works for me and its ok, but still a lil aggrevating.

Finish: Disclosure, I'm OCD. The fiberglass work in my opinion is not what it should be. There are flaws in the finish (granted, you have to be close and know what you are looking for) but they are there. When picking up the boat, I noticed a 4 to 5 inch spider crack in the yellow gelcoat, that has grown to 9 to 10 inches. The dealer was supposed to have made notes about it at the time. Don't know if its something that I will ever really complain about or bring up with Caymas, but at 6 months and only 30 hours on motor it shouldnt be this way.

Fuel Guage: DOES NOT WORK. I had Mercury Vessel View installed or I would have no idea how much fuel is in boat.

Overall. I give this boat a 8.75 out of 10. Remember, I am OCD, little things bother me. Luckily its mostly little things that I consider "problems" with this boat. I keep boats 10 years +, I do not foresee any reason why this boat will not last that long. I will reach out to trailer manufacture about new Caymas stickers. Once I get to Bull Shoals I will take time to figure how to do away with list.

Caymas CX20 Pro
250 Mercury 4 stroke
9 inch HDS Live at bow
9 inch HDS Live at console
Lowrance Ghost troller
69 mph at 5800 rpms and then it walks
36 volt Impulse Lithium with Stealth charger..shout out to Bill at Impulse Lithium.