By Gary Caputi
I recenntly bought a Pathfinder 2700 Open, having been a center-console fan for close to 40 years, since leaving my freshwater bass fishing days behind with a move to the Jersey shore. I’ve worked for fishing and boating magazines for even longer and tested hundreds of boats for familiar titles like Salt Water Sportsman, Marlin, Sportfishing, Power & Motoryacht, Motor Boating, Soundings and The Fisherman.
My first center console, purchased new in 1989, was a Mako 231 with a Yamaha 225, an ideal boat for fishing mid-Atlantic waters. It served me well for many years, albeit with a lot of repairs and upkeep along the way. I replaced the 155-gallon fuel tank twice, the transom once (remember wood-cored transoms?), changed the aging teak out for black Starboard, did numerous updates in marine electronics and several repowers. But things changed with a move to the Sandy Hook area and new fishing horizons better served with a new ride. Scott Deal, then president of the Maverick Boat Group, had been telling me about a new hybrid Pathfinder model that was nearing completion that piqued my interest. It sounded like the perfect boat to tackle everything from fishing shallow tidal rivers and bays to running to the offshore middle grounds for mahi and bluefin tuna from my new base of operations.
After much soul searching and financial juggling, I placed an order for one of the first Pathfinder 2700 Open models right around the time the COVID pandemic was getting into full swing. Obviously, good timing has never been my strong suit. The original date of completion was early June of 2021 but after numerous delays it finally rolled off the line in late September. But there were more problems like getting it to the dealer in New Jersey. Then came a phone call from Maverick’s marketing manager, Charlie Johnson, apologizing for the delivery delay along with a proposition. He wanted to use the boat for a television shoot with Captain Rick Murphy and if I agreed Pathfinder would prep the boat and trailer and a Yamaha factory tech would run in the engine so I could tow it home after Rick finished. My trusty fishing buddy and life partner Ginger and I hit the road, arrived in Fort Pierce two days later and sea trialed the boat. The next day, not only was the boat featured in the show, so were we. After bidding Charlie and Rick farewell we drove home to New Jersey with our new ride in tow.
The 2700 Open was the largest boat in the Pathfinder line at the time at 29-feet LOA including engine, with a generous 9’ 3” beam and a twin-step bottom. It was also a departure in design to appeal to a broader range of anglers. It can easily get into 20-inches of water, sports a Rhodan 120-lb thrust trolling motor and is at home running the beaches or offshore to the middle grounds. The spacious bow casting platform was Pathfinder’s nod to its bayboat heritage, but the rest of the boat has substantial freeboard and a level deck all the way to the transom which gives it the appeal of a serious center console fishing machine. The console is large enough to accommodate a head compartment with a starboard side door, Ginger liked that, and there are twin comfy helm seats and two livewells. The 42-gallon well behind the helm seats is fed by a pair of 1500 GPH pumps that can be run individually or in tandem making it ideal for large baitfish like menhaden. The 22-gallon livewell in the center of the transom is perfect for eels and smaller baitfish.
The boat has ample storage in the large dry box under the casting platform and in the step, which is insulated. I ordered the optional cooler/seat that straps to the deck forward of the console that I use for additional tackle storage. It is upholstered providing extra seating along with the optional twin drop-down seats at the transom. The two in-deck fish boxes are huge, so big I fit two bluefin tuna, 70- and 100-pounds, along with 100-pounds of ice in just one box last year. That’s impressive. Both boxes have macerator pumps as does the step box in the bow. I ordered the fiberglass T-top with a radio box and Top Gun outriggers, but Pathfinder offers options for a tower with second station controls for sight fishing if that suits your style and locale. I added additional rod holders in the gunwale and an optional rack behind the helm chairs. All told there are places for 32 rods—you can never have too many, am I right?
I went with the fly-by-wire Yamaha F300 for power, but the hull is rated for up to the F425. My rig still hits 50 mph, plenty fast for my needs and is easier on fuel. The other day I was cruising at 35 mph at 2.7 mpg. Possibly the smartest thing I did was order it with Yamaha’s full Helm Master EX for single engine suite. It includes a joystick, digital steering, digital throttle and shift, autopilot, C7 touch-screen display and a GPS receiver and heading sensor that all network through a computer module. The system has so many features and applications for fishing it would take two articles to go through them all. Maybe we can do that in the future. Suffice to say, it makes the boat a far more efficient fishing platform.
After delivery I installed two Simrad NSS EVO3S MFDs, a 12- and a nine-inch screen that just fit the helm space above the VHF and Yamaha C7 display. Data feeds come from the Simrad Halo 20+ radar unit, an Airmar SS175 Chirp tilt-element thru-hull transducer and an Active Imaging sidescan transducer that’s tucked under the engine platform. The system integrates seamlessly with the Helm Master autopilot.
Ginger named the boat Fish Tales for obvious reasons, and we’ve been fishing it hard for the last three years. The main inshore gamefish in these parts is striped bass and with the boat’s shallow water capabilities and trolling motor our spring fishing starts earlier than ever before with easy access to the tidal rivers that are home to early season stripers. The ocean fishery for big bass has been fantastic, and we’ve had a number of 50-pound and larger bass grace her decks where they get measured, photographed, tagged, revived and released. We’ve caught inshore bluefin tuna up to 150-pounds jigging and on plugs and run the boat offshore to fish for mahi and cobia that have migrated this far north the last few years. Bottom fishing is a breeze with the trolling motor in anchor mode, and the boat’s wide beam makes it very stable when drift fishing. When Deal first told me about the boat long before it was available I was sure it would be a great center console for my area and it has proven to be that and so much more. We love it.
