Bluewater 25T Center Console, Tested and Priced

The Bluewater 25T in brief

The Bluewater 25T is the newest boat from Bluewater Sportfishing Boats, a family-owned builder that has been hand building center consoles in Fort Pierce, Florida, since 1997. After about two and a half years of development it reached the market in 2024, and Boating tested it in early 2025. It is a small boat with a big-boat brief: a 25 ft hull with 24 degrees of transom deadrise, a 189 gallon fuel tank and a deck laid out for serious offshore fishing.

Bluewater names its boats the old way, by hull length without the engine bracket. With its Armstrong bracket the 25T measures 28 ft overall (Salt Water Sportsman quoted 28 ft 4 in), so when you search for a Bluewater 25T for sale, compare it with other builders' 27 and 28 footers rather than true 25s. The beam is 8 ft 5 in, which keeps it trailerable without special permits in most states.

Built on the 2550's running surface

The 25T is not a clean-sheet hull. Bluewater says it uses the proven running surface, weight distribution, multiplex composite stringer system and hand-poured foam of the earlier Bluewater 2550, then changes almost everything above it. The new boat has three-piece construction, a redesigned console with an integrated aluminum leg set and a completely flat deck from bow to stern.

The numbers explain the ride. Boating measured 24 degrees of deadrise at the transom and an even sharper 44 degrees at the entry. Deep deadrise makes a boat soft in a chop but can make it tender at rest, so every Bluewater now comes with Seakeeper Ride as standard in place of trim tabs. The system makes about 1,000 observations and 100 corrections a second using cupped blades that move only a fraction of an inch at planing speed, and Seakeeper says it cuts pitch and roll by up to 70 percent underway. All underdeck spaces are foam filled, there is no wood in the build and the hull carries a 10-year warranty.

A deck built around fish, not lounges

Hard-core anglers will like what the 25T leaves out. There are no fixed bow seats and no molded stern bench robbing space; family seating is available but removable. Boating taped 47 inches of open deck aft of the leaning post, and gunwale height runs from about 25 or 26 inches aft to 31 inches at the bow.

Storage is exceptional for the size. A 133 gallon forward fish box can hold a tuna of an estimated 250 lb, joined by two 10 gallon forward wing boxes, two 20 gallon aft in-deck boxes and twin 24 gallon pressurized transom livewells. Boating's test boat had 21 rod holders, 12 of them in the gunwales. Hatches ride on Gemlux friction hinges so they stay open where you leave them, a small thing that saves fingers.

• Forward fish box: 133 gallons, insulated coffin style
• Aft fish boxes: 2 x 20 gallons; forward wing boxes: 2 x 10 gallons
• Livewells: 2 x 24 gallon pressurized in the transom
• Transom sink with cutting board, raw-water washdown, optional 20 gallon fresh water

Console, leaning post and the comfort options

The helm accepts displays up to 16 inches; Boating's boat had twin flush-mounted Garmin 8612xfv units. An optional thin polycarbonate windshield, made of the same material as the optional side panels, gave a distortion-free view despite its curve. Batteries live in the finished console, and a fiberglass hardtop with spreader lights is optional.

Seating choices range from a standard 38 inch leaning post with rocket launcher to a fiberglass tackle-center post with flip-up bolsters and armrests, a pull-out cooler seat under the post, a forward console seat, removable bow seats and a folding transom bench. Options include an electric or portable head in the console, power steering and a Gemlux shade.

On the water with twin Yamaha F200s

Boating tested the 25T with twin Yamaha F200 outboards turning 14.5 x 18 inch Reliance stainless props, 80 gallons of fuel and 400 lb of crew. It reached 30 mph in 9.1 seconds and found its best cruise at 25.5 mph (about 22 knots) and 3,500 rpm, where it returned 2.3 mpg. With the full 189 gallon tank, that gives a theoretical range of nearly 400 statute miles, which is exceptional for a boat this size.

Bluewater also rigs twin Mercury or Suzuki outboards up to 500 hp in total, or a single 300 hp engine. Boating did not publish a top speed figure in its write-up, and we have not seen an independent test with higher power, so if speed matters, ask for a sea trial with the package you intend to buy. The twin 200s struck Boating as an excellent match for the boat's weight of about 5,490 lb dry without engines.

The two weak spots testers found

Boating flagged two shortcomings. There is no tuna door for landing very large fish or helping swimmers aboard, which some offshore anglers will miss on a boat with a 250 lb tuna box. And when the removable bow and stern seats are deployed, their support legs stand on some hatches, making those lockers inaccessible until the seats come out.

Neither is a deal breaker, and as a custom builder Bluewater is open to changes. But if you fish for big tuna or swordfish, discuss the transom and boarding arrangements before you order.

Bluewater 25T price and ownership costs

At launch Salt Water Sportsman quoted a starting MSRP of $160,000, and Boating's well-optioned test boat with twin F200s came to $213,211. Its toughest competitor in Boating's view, the Parker 2600 CC, listed at $255,616. Expect a new 25T to land between about $160,000 and $240,000 depending on power and options; the few used boats on the market ask close to new.

Running costs are modest for an offshore-capable boat. Excluding depreciation, plan on about $9,000 to $18,000 a year for insurance, trailer or rack storage, outboard service and fuel. At Boating's 2.3 mpg cruise, burning about 11 gph, a full day offshore covering 100 miles uses roughly 45 gallons.