While many bay boats have morphed into jack-of-all-trades crafts, the new Pathfinder 2500 Hybrid places more of a premium on hardcore inshore and nearshore fishing, encompassing the essentials that make a bay boat, a bay boat.
Three large lockers under the fore casting deck provide ample dry storage and twin racks to cradle a pair of rods to port and another to starboard. The 43-gallon fish box on this new Pathfinder serves as a step to the fore deck and is long enough to keep big kingfish or cobia. An in-deck locker between the step and the console keeps your cast net handy yet out of the way.
And the 2500 Hybrid offers two helm seating options, both leaning-post configurations with tackle storage. One includes premium seats with flip-up bolsters, pull-down arm and footrests and an expanded tackle center. The other has a bench seat with removable backrest, a tackle drawer and a massive livewell with viewing window in back.
If you opt for the premium helm seats, a lighted 35-gallon livewell on the transom handles most of your live bait needs. If it isn’t enough, request the storage compartment on the portside corner be plumbed and turned into a 15-gallon crustacean well.
Other key options include hydraulic or power-assisted steering, trim tabs, 8- or 10-foot Power-pole, bubbling and recirculating livewell aeriation systems, and vertical racks to carry six extra rods on the hardtop and another four in back of the leaning post.
