A great center console boat for those who enjoy recreational fishing, or day trips with the family, Mark Robinson, now Program Director at Boston Whaler takes us through a walkthrough of the 280 Dauntless model.
Watch the Boston Whaler | 280 Dauntless Walkthrough video on YouTube.
Video Transcription
Hi, I’m Mark Robinson, Program Manager here at Boston Whaler. Today we’re going to do a walkthrough of the all new 280 Dauntless. This is the largest boat in the Dauntless family. There’s the flagship, alongside the 22 and the 25 Dauntless.
The 280 Dauntless is available with either single or dual outboards. Twin 250s and twin 300s are available with joystick piloting options, and all engines are available in white and black. At the stern, you’ve got a large platform on either side. They allow for easy boarding either coming out of the water or coming off the dock. On the starboard side, we’ve got a boarding ladder with a handle for easy reentry.
You come through this convenient passageway, and you see the stern deck with a large casting platform, a 19 gallon livewell on the port side and a flip up bench seat for two passengers. For those passengers, we also have a freshwater wash down here on this side, a raw water wash down off to the port side, and two cupholders back here to hold any beverages.
Underneath the bench seat, you’ve got easy access to a large storage compartment. To access your mechanical space in the bilge, we’ve created a bottom compartment that folds up out of the way and lets you get to batteries, pumps, seacocks and anything you need to service. Here in the cockpit you see this boat’s equipped with the deluxe leaning post with gyro stabilizer, gives you easy access to a sink with freshwater, and a cup holder on either side and a rod holder on either side.
There’s a storage compartment, and a storage stub on this side. And inside, you’ll find an optional Seakeeper 1 gyro stabilizer. Also available is a deluxe leaning post with livewell where there’s no gyro underneath, but there’s a nice large livewell in case you need two.
The base boat comes with a convertible leaning post which allows you to have a very comfortable home seat with flip up bolsters and armrests, which at the touch of a button, folds back and creates aft facing seating. This seat’s a great place to watch bait, watch the kids at the beach, or flip up the stern seat and just have a meal with friends. On the port side of the boat, this boat’s equipped with the optional swim patio. Simply flip these two latches open, remove the safety pins and deploy. This provides easy boarding and swimming in the water. A ladder deploys off the left side and you can have tons of fun with family and friends.
All home seating configurations provide comfortable flip-up bolsters and armrests to provide a great place to run the boat. Here at the helm, you’ve got a stainless wheel with knob, multiple cupholders, Mercury controls for the single or dual engines and easy access to your trim tab controls.
Moving up, this boat’s equipped with Simrad electronics. Here we’ve got the 16-inch display as part of our deluxe electronics package that gives you this acrylic dash. This boat’s got JL Audio control amps and you’ll find eight speakers spread throughout the boat for a great stereo experience. A glovebox to store all your belongings, a Simrad VHF and digital switching integrated to control the circuits onboard the boat. Many of those circuits also have redundant switches here in case you want to get to things quickly. On top of the helm, you’ve got this nice pad with integrated phone charging plugs for USBs and an easy to see compass.
Moving up from the helm, you’ve got multiple windshield options. This boat’s equipped with our new full glass with wiper washer and electrically actuated vent that allows you to be safe from the wind and elements while you run this boat. The base boat comes with a classic half glass acrylic windshield if you want that open boat experience on your 280 Dauntless.
At the top, you’ve got this fiberglass hard top the underside of which can be color matched to your hull sides. Here on the back, you’ve got the optional PTX sure shade which at the push of a button, puts shade all the way out over your cockpit. You’ve got a watersports tow point and if you don’t have the sure shade, you’ll have four rod holders here across the back. Additionally, the boat has an ebox here for more storage and the boat can also be equipped with outriggers for offshore fishing.
Moving forward inside of the console, you’ll notice that we’ve made the door wide here at your shoulders for easy access. There’s a wood step and a head inside the base boat comes with a standard head with pump out and the upgrade which is on this boat is a vacu-flush system for that large boat experience. Also inside of the console, you’ll find your remote battery switches, breakers, your key switches and a fold down door for easy access to the area behind the helm.
On the front of the console, the lounge provides an excellent place for two people to ride. There’s fold down armrests, there’s cupholders and plenty of legroom. Underneath the lounge, you’ve got lockable storage, where you can pass through seven-foot rods, all the large gear you want and this new removable tote that we’ve included for your small items.
Further into the bow, you’ve got low-profile grab rails on either side with integrated cupholders. These can be replaced with the high bow rail if you’d like. Underneath, there’s a rod holder on either side, and JL Audio speakers. Here in Florida is a large fish box with pump out, it’s insulated, and it’s got room for a big dolphin if you need it to. Or it’s a great storage compartment for whatever you bring on board the boat. On either side is a lounge seat with a flip up backrest.
Underneath the bow seats, there’s a storage compartment on either side. This is great to store the items you bring on the boat or it’s fully insulated, and you can use it as a cooler. The bow table sets up between the seats or it drops in to create a filler, then you can remove the cushions and use it as a big casting platform or if you want a lot of comfort on the boat, drop that down, put the filler in and install your cushions and you can have a large sunpad in the bow.
The open bow design allows you to walk right next to the anchor locker and it gives you easy access to the windlass or to deploy the bow ladder. These two features are available together and a bow sunshade is available that plugs into these rod holders and clips to the hard top, providing shade for all of this bow seating area.
Thanks so much for coming along for our walkthrough of the new 280 Dauntless. We’re really excited about this boat and we hope you are too. For more information see our website at bostonwhaler.com.
