re: Boat recs

Sounds like just about any 22 ft bay will suit your needs. Start looking online and YouTube and you will find pictures and videos of the layouts of boats so you can scout the layouts and narrow your search. Once you have it narrowed down I would join the owners groups on FB for that brand of boat. They will post them for sale there frequently in addition to other tidbits of info you will learn about that brand and model.

Bluewave and Pathfinder as mentioned are both popular brands. Pathfinder is a little more expensive. The 22 Bluewave’s have a little more freeboard with higher gunnels and the pathfinders have lower gunnels. But there are literally dozens of brands you are going to want to look at.

Here are a few mass produced brands to get you started:

Sea hunt - heavy, deep
Blazer bay - light, less freeboard
Frontier - medium
Blackjack - probably above budget
Ranger - heavy,
Key West - medium
Sportsman - depends on model
Skeeter - medium
Robalo - heavy, wide