Hydra-Sports, the Tournament Console Brand That Changed Hands Four Times

Bass boats outside Nashville, then the open ocean

Hydra-Sports started building fiberglass fishing boats just outside Nashville, Tennessee, in 1973, and its first reputation came from bass boats. In 1975 Earl Bentz, who later founded Stratos and Triton, consulted for the company and persuaded Mercury to bolt its new Black Max V6 to an 18-foot Hydra-Sports bass boat, a pairing that helped define the fast bass boat. In the early 1980s a 25-foot Hydra-Sports became the first model the company offered with Kevlar construction, a material that stayed in its marketing for decades.

In 1998 the company moved to a larger plant in Columbia, South Carolina, and concentrated on saltwater boats. Buyers who search for Hydrasport as one word are usually looking for these offshore consoles, not the Tennessee bass boats.

Genmar, MasterCraft, a Florida dealer and finally HCB

Genmar, then the largest boatbuilder in the world, bought Hydra-Sports in 2001 and moved it to its plant in Sarasota, Florida. When Genmar collapsed, MasterCraft and its equity partners bought the brand in 2010, restarted production and moved it to Vonore, Tennessee. In August 2012 Plantation Boat Mart, for years the top Hydra-Sports dealer, bought what was by then HydraSports Custom. That business later rebranded as HCB and now builds large luxury center consoles, a very different product from the boats most used buyers are shopping.

Each change of owner brought new model names and options, so the same hull can appear in listings under two or three names. Check the hull identification number before comparing prices.

The 2400 CC Vector and the 2500 CC

We cover two models from the Vector era. The Hydra-Sports 2400 CC Vector, sold from 2003 to 2005 as the successor to the 2390 CC, is a 24-foot 2-inch console with Sidney Lanier running surfaces, 21 degrees of transom deadrise, 176 gallons of fuel and a rating of up to 350 hp. Most were rigged with a single 225 or twin 150 to 175 hp outboards, which makes them affordable kingfish and bottom boats today.

The Hydra-Sports 2500 CC arrived in 2005 and outlived the Genmar years. It has 23 degrees of deadrise, the same 176-gallon tank and a 500 hp maximum, and Sport Fishing recorded 57.5 mph on twin Yamaha F225s. MasterCraft kept it in the range, Salt Water Sportsman tested it on twin F150s in 2011 at a base price of $113,620, and HydraSports Custom still listed it in 2013.

Both were built without wood, with a foam-filled structural grid, Kevlar reinforcement and a poured ceramic transom core. That is the main reason so many still run well 20 years on.

Buying a Hydra-Sports with no factory behind it

There is no Hydra-Sports factory to call, so value comes from the hull and the engines. Clean boats with late-model four-strokes sell quickly in the Southeast, while boats still carrying original two-strokes trade at a steep discount that should cover a repower. Any outboard dealer can service the rigging, and parts such as hatches and hardware are generic enough to source.

• Confirm the build era and plant from the hull identification number
• Check outboard hours and price a repower on older two-stroke rigs
• Inspect the transom, engine mounts and any bracket for cracking
• Test livewells, fish box drains and macerators
• Look over T-top welds, aluminum fuel tanks and fuel lines