Freedom / tournament 225 vs 275

[Smbassman]

Here’s the background. I am looking for a blend of a fishing and family boat. Currently I own a pontoon set up for trolling and fish the Great Lakes for salmon and walleye. I want a more capable big water and trailerable boat but the wife needs seating/lounging room for 5-6. I need to be able to mount a kicker motor.
I am currently looking at used tournament 225s and like the full transom & bracket. I also like the 275 and can see in pictures that there is room for a kicker if I get one with single main motor. The deciding factor is fishing room. Is anyone familiar with both cockpits to know if there is a significant difference at the rear? From what I understand is the 225+ bracket makes the overall length close to the 275 which has more of a euro transom. I do know the beam is wider on 275 but think that will have minimal difference. Please help and thanks in advance.

 

[billyttpd]

5-6 guests plus crew is awful close quarters on the 275 et alone the 225. M y$.02.

 

[Smbassman]

5-6 guests plus crew is awful close quarters on the 275 et alone the 225. M y$.02.

5-6 seated total. I fish (stand) and rarely sit unless driving. I envision shoving as many as possible up front and out of my way while trolling with rear bench down. That is until fish-on and then someone joins me in the back to reel in the fish.

 

[fastexas]

I have a Tournament 225....solid boat. Beam on the 225 is 8', the 275 is 8"6" I believe. Since these are Dual Console boats, there is plenty of seating. I regularly head out with 7-8 folks. 4-5 up front and 2 on the rear bench + driver & 2 on the back-to- back passenger seat. Yeah it's a bit tight for any kind of serious fishing, but if fishing is the reason I'm out I'll only have 3-4 at most with me. For day-boat friends and family hanging out, it's great.
It's also easy to mount a trolling motor to the bracket on a 225.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I don't have any experience with either boat, but a quick look at the GW website pulls up this picture of the 275 Freedom, which my goodness it looks like their knees are almost rubbing against one another, unless you keep your heels up against the seat bases. Have you ever considered a walkaround Grady White like a 208 Adventure or even a 228 Seafarer? While I wouldn't call there being any "lounging" spots on my boat, you've got comfortable seating for 6 people and then could even fit another 2-3 up front on the bow cushions. Again, there isn't what I'd call lounging where you could lean back and kick your feet up, but especially the 228 Seafarer will allow you to travel and be very comfortable with up to probably oh idk 8-10 people at the most. With regards to fishing space/room, there's going to be much more of it on board the 228 Seafarer as opposed to the 275 Freedom, and probably even more than on the 225 Tournament, especially when the rear seat is folded down. If you are deadset on going with a DC style of boat, they also do make newer 235/255 Freedom's as well. Though I'm not sure how much more room they'd have over the 225 Tournament. The 228 Seafarer is great though in that it doesn't have the Euro style transom on it like the 275 Freedom has, it has a fully enclosed transom as well as a transom bracket on it instead. Of which you can put a kicker motor on the boat if you'd like to, you can trailer it, fish in it and do just about anything you need to by yourself, though it's obviously a bit easier having a second person helping you out. It's a very comfortable boat and am thinking with the extra weight up forward that it'll probably handle rougher seas better than the 225 Tournament/275 Freedom will as well? Anyway, might be something to also consider, but I think your best bet would be trying to find each model locally to step on and see exactly what you think of it.