Cool. I think bassboats are like trucks. Ford vs Chevy. I agree, get what suits you and you can afford and fish and be happy..

Driver, hull, length too. I've owned and ridden in several skeeters. The FX is best all around boat and much faster than the I-class IMO. If ur in 4ft'rs or bigger like Rayburn and Toledo can produce than IMO a legend 211 is awesome. U ride in it and it helps u be a better driver its so smooth. I have an FX now but will be swapping to a legend on my next.

I have driven Ranger, Triton, BassCat, Skeeter and Champion boats in 20+ mph winds and all perform well if you know the limitations and do not try and make them do things they are not capable of doing.

I would say 70% of the ride is the driver's ability and knowing his boat. The other 30% is length and hull design

There is a lot of talk about the driver...how are you supposed to drive in rough water? I'm a relative newbie to bass boats.

Safest boat I've ever been in was a 21' Astro...took on 6' seas at Cedar Creek big enough to knock the Lowrance off the bow into my lap. If you know the wind will be strong enough to kick up rollers, fill it up with gas and fill up the live well 1/2 way will help.

.......I understand what you're trying to say, but to just say "do what you like & can afford" isn't helpful. I can afford lot's of boats, not all of them, but some. And this post has several guys who have said "wish I had never sold that boat". I'm just trying to get some help. Cut a brutha a break man.

In 4 foot waves, you need something with scuppers instead of bilge pumps IMHO.

-Poo

Overall ride and rough water 2 diff things..Driver definatly 1, deep hulls better..19 to 21 ft better..Heavy weight in front will take water over the bow..and bad driving will as well...My tv 18 never took one over but would get rough in 3.5 - 4ft..waves.

Thx everyone, I very much appreciate all the advice. I'm just trying to figure this out, and get it right.

I would have to agree with all three making a difference and I have been in all types and would have to say the champion, cobra, legend then skeeter are the smoothest but the champ and cobra may be smooth but not so dry!! In my opinion you can choose smooth or dry so I chose smooth and bought 100mph gear. But I can say that length in any hull makes the biggest difference in rough water.

After this last weekend on fork every boat pn the lake looked to beat the driver as bad as the next
The bigger the better

IMO at least 21'. 250 hp.

I've gone 16'. 17'. 18'. 20' and now 21'. I'm not going back down. Best ride and feel safer.

bottom line is your not gonna be runnin n gunnin in anything over 2', if ya are I hope your hull can handle it.
in rough water running with the waves is much easier to smooth out a ride, you can run some speed even in 2'+.
running against the waves is gonna get rough if you don't know how to trim and balance the hull for the conditions, too much weight back/bow too high and its slam time, too much forward/bow too far down and your gonna spear some if they are big enough.
flat hulls will tend to ride up and over, deep v hulls will tend to cut through, you want to cut through.
one thing I see a lot is people over estimating the wave height, trough to crest 4' would be the width of a sheet of plywood, think of it that way.
something else that helps navigate rough stuff is know the lake, shallow water means higher crests, deeper water means lesser height and generally more spacing = easier to run.
since the op has a bad back getting seat time in the rough stuff would not be a good idea just to learn, the best thing would be to go to a big lake on windy days and watch how different drivers handle the rough stuff, if ya can make it on a tourney day then they will be trying to run as hard as they can.
I watched the skeeter demo drivers beat test riders to death on fork sat before the ram big bass, runnin to much of an diagonal, runnin too much trim/bow up, doing a lot of stuff that made the boats look like an offshore race of 50' boats in 8' swells.

ya gotta learn how to manage the boat to make it ride like ya want and get the performance out of the hull, I will stick with my champion 184 and know I can handle just about anything thrown at me.

I agree also. I had a 19ft Champion that rode better than many other brands that were 20ft long. The design of the hull makes a huge difference. I have been in boats that give you kidney failure in rough water. BassCat is another boat that is good in rough water. So the boat you choose does make a lot of difference. Next learn how to drive it in rough water. Choose a good hull design in a 20ft boat and you should be good to go.

I wouldn't suggest a 1973 trihull del magic, that was my 1st boat and now everything seems smooth as silk... Had some beatings on ivie in those days...