Captain's Report by Capt. Steve

Bayliner 195 Mission

Bayliner's mission with the 195 BR is the same as it is with the rest of their lineup. Make an affordable boat that gets more people on the water for less money. Making a boat that costs less money is not as easy as it sounds because consumers have become more demanding over the years. This 195 BR is Bayliner's newest launch and while we're still seeing the affordability continue, were also still seeing the level of quality improving each year.



With an LOA of 19' (5.8 m) and a beam of 7'11" (2.4 m) the Bayliner 195 BR will allow you to spend the day on the water with eight of your friends joining in the fun.

Major Features

Some of those features include…

• Optional layouts. You get your Bayliner 195 with the standard seating that calls for a bucket seat for the captain, back-to-back seating to port and two more seats flanking an engine box. Sport seating is offered that adds a port side bucket seat, and a bench seat aft and a fixed sunpad.

• Water sports capable. The 195 BR is easily transformed into a capable watersports platform with the addition of the Flight Series Package that includes a collapsible wakeboard tower, an extended swim platform that sits lower to the water making a great staging area for putting the boards on, and awesome hull side sport graphics.

• Clutter free panel. Bayliner has redone the way their panels look, and I think it's a step in the right direction. Now it has a much more sporty and stylish look with fewer gauges, all mounted to brush metal non-glare panels.



Note how Bayliner adds these good looking contour lines to the hull which really dress up an otherwise plain surface.

Features Walk-Through – Bow

Let's start our tour of the 195 BR by taking a look at the features at the bow. While you may not find the bow roomy enough to have a full party you'll find it plenty roomy enough for a couple of people to lounge comfortably as I did with my 5'8-1/2" inch frame.

There are the usual storage accommodations underneath the two side seats as well as access to the inside of the consoles from the seatbacks. The seatback cushions are hinged from the bottom and held in the closed position by magnetic catches. An optional bow filler cushion is available to turn the entire area into a sunpad. There is no anchor locker, but there is a cleat to tie off an anchor line. Simply stow ground tackle in one of the forward lockers.



Being able to access storage in the consoles from the forward seat backs is a welcome feature in any boat.



Space between the two seats is 17" (43.2 cm) and that's about typical for what we see in a boat in this class. Equally typical is a comfortable 14" (35.6 cm) of height from the seat to the top of the caprail.

Windshield Walk-Through

The windshield walk-through is 19-1/2" (49.5 cm) and much like your body it gets wider as it goes higher. The windshield frames are supported at the consoles by heavy aluminum supports that easily held my weight. The opening windshield panel is held in the open position by its weight alone and I'd like to see either a strap and snap, or a magnetic catch.

Helm

I think Bayliner's new version of their helm is a breath of fresh air. The large cluster of gauges is gone, now relegated to two large gauges with smaller engine gauges embedded into the speedometer to port. This gives the panel a much more uncluttered look, but still an upscale look with white-faced gauges and chrome bezels. There's a dedicated position for the optional depth gauge and all of the gauges are embedded into a panel that has a carbon fiber finish. There is a drink holder to the right, a rubber matted place for stuff is over to the left, and a sunshield is just above. The tilt steering is standard, and while the engine controls felt a little bit high, when moved in the forward position I can rest my arm on the control handle making small speed corrections easily manageable.



This is an example of what a basic helm should look like... neat, uncluttered and functional.

The bucket seat is comfortable and there's a convenient handhold at the top. The seat swivels and slides with little effort and there's plenty of legroom underneath the console for even the tallest captain.



There was a track mounted to the bulwarks next to the seat that is used for holding a wide assortment of options such as drink holders, MP3 mounts and the like.

Companion Seating

With the standard seating arrangement the companion will be sitting in the back-to-back seat that also lies flat for additional sunning space. Forward is a top loading glovebox and drink holder, and the stereo is just above in plain sight. This means you no longer have to open the glove box just to make a small adjustment in volume to the stereo, and it did not go unnoticed that the stereo is waterproof.



Bayliner sees no need to make a stereo hard to access and neither do I.



In the standard layout, the portside back-to-back seating also lays flat for sunning or a short nap at anchor.



The aft facing seat makes a comfortable spot for watching the end of the towline.

With the optional sport seating the companion seat will become a second bucket seat that swivels and slides, and allows the observer to rotate 180-degrees to comfortably view the action at the end of the towline.

Cockpit

All the bulwarks are carpeted, the upholstery panels are two-tone and I was happy to see that the speakers are mounted nice and high so the sound goes into your ears without having to be overly loud.

Down low is an upholstered panel which adds a little bit more utility and storage area to the bulwarks. A fiberglass cockpit sole is optional.

Aft Seating

As this was the standard floor plan layout we had two forward facing seats flanking the engine box. Bayliner is clever and has added functionality to the engine box as it includes a small storage space between the drink holders and two tiedown cleats to be used for securing a tube to the top. There's storage underneath both side seats, and the seat cushions are made so that they can occupy elevated positions creating a full beam sunpad.

Engine Access

I found the engine hatch to lift effortlessly as it's supported by two gas assist struts. Underneath the hatch is sound reduction material.



While you may not appreciate the fact that the forward section of the engine compartment opening comes down quite low, your mechanic certainly will.

Engine choices range from a 220-hp 4.3 L engine to the 260-hp 5.0 L, and not many builders in this class are thoughtful enough to add a fire extinguisher discharge port to the side of the engine hatch, but there it is.

Swim Platform

The molded-in swim platform has a three-step reboarding ladder to the starboard side and a grab handle is just ahead to help ease you out of the water. An extended swim platform is offered as an option, and it is also part of the Flight Series Package that includes the wakeboard tower. The ski tow eye is mounted in the center of the transom and the aft cleats are mounted up high out of the trip zone.



Here’s a clever feature. Bayliner has added hide-a-way cushioned rumble seats and a transom stereo remote to the molded swim platform (shown here with the optional extended swim platform).

Observations

I think Bayliner did a nice job of classing up the exterior of the 195 with molded in contour lines. They really add to the dock appeal. This is clearly a boat the family can have a lot of fun in and includes no worries about bringing along guests. Base price for the 195 BR is $27,479 plus freight and prep.