I saw this topic several months back in another thread and am honestly somewhat baffled as well. I'm sure it's got to be a financial decision for them and they likely aren't making enough of the 226's/228's to justify continuing production of them. I personally have only owned WA boats and in the PNW, I wouldn't really ever consider owning anything other than a WA. Imo, and again this is just my opinion, the WA boats are the most versatile boats out there in that you can sleep overnight on them, have a cabin for all of your fishing poles, downriggers and so on. Some of the larger WA's have big enough cabins for a stand up head, shower and some people around here even live on their boats in a slip at the marina. They also have cushions on the front so if you did want to ride up on the bow while cruising then it would be more comfortable. They aren't going to be as safe as a DC console boat in that people can sit up front going full speed in more comfort and you're sitting down lower so it would be much safer. That being said, around here in the Puget Sound the water gets relatively choppy and I'm not looking to go WOT, and especially if someone was sitting on the bow. If someone wanted a lake only boat then it might be a different story. In comparison, the CC boats just seem so cramped and I don't like the idea of taking waves over the bow of the boat, and the same goes with DC boats. The CC boats also don't have a ton of seating underneath the hardtop and I don't know about you but I get sunburned very easily. So I like to sit underneath the hardtop and have some protection from the sun, rain and other elements. If one had a wife and kids, didn't do any fishing or crabbing at all and never intended on spending the night in the boat then maybe a DC boat would be better suited for them. That being said, if you ever think there's the possibility of doing even one of those things, then I'd definitely look for a WA.
It's frustrating because the 228, again imo, seems like the perfect sized WA for what I'd need it for. It has the offshore bracket instead of a notched transom, the floor that you stand on is all one level without any steps so you don't have to worry about tripping or slipping when walking up a single or multiple set of stairs. It has a decent sized cockpit and cabin area for your gear and to sleep overnight on and it seems like a pretty large boat for only being 22'. I like it much more than the 208 as it's a heavier boat has the offshore bracket on the transom yet it still seems to be very trailerable/launchable with just one person and have heard the ride quality is phenomenal. It also isn't an absolute tank like the 232 with a 9'3" beam compared to an 8', which means you don't need any special permits for trailering the boat, which makes trailering and launching much more easily, especially by yourself or someone with little experience, and I'd have to assume it's better on fuel as well. These are again just my opinions, I'm sure GW has to think about the best interests of their company and with the difficult times the economy has had, I'm sure it's not in their best interests to continue the 226/228 lineup. I'd wager a lot of it has to do with pricing and believe the 208 is less than $100k brand new whereas the 228 fully loaded as well as the 232 probably start near $125k or so? I'd bet a lot of people probably see the price jump of the 228 compared to the 208 and if they're in that price range, they probably spend the extra money and jump up in size to the 232. Again, these are just my opinions and speculations. I could be wrong about the sales and pricing of their boats, that being said... if I was wrong, I think they'd probably still offer the 226/228 instead of discontinuing it. At least for the time being. I do think it would be a really cool thing if they had an "anniversary edition" like one of the other members mentioned above. So that you could buy whichever model you wanted every 5-10 years or whatnot. Hopefully they don't continue with eliminating the 226/228 permanently and hopefully it comes back at some point, and seems like it's driven prices for these now discontinued boats up quite a bit.
