I made a similar move years ago - had a 17’ harbercraft adventurer, which had very similar specs to your sportsman, and upgraded to a Hewescraft 180et Searunner (20’ w/ extended transom). Loved the smaller boat for interior lakes big and small, except on wind chop as it would “skip” over waves so very bouncy/ pounding. Also used it on the chuck, including off Ukee, but had to choose my days carefully. Searunner was way more boat and fine for any ocean conditions I was comfortable to fish in inshore and offshore off the west coast (at least one week fishing out of Ukee every year, usually more).
I got my Hewescraft just before they seriously upgraded the searunner to the current 190 and 210 models (their pro-v was very similar to the old searunner) the 210 is a lot of boat!
There are some significant spec differences between the two boats you are considering. First, the Hewescraft is a full foot longer, and is 23’8” loa which is significant because Hewescraft extends the bottom the full length of the offshore bracket, so that’s nearly a 24’ long bottom! Next significant diff is bow deadrise: 34deg on the hewes, 30deg on the duck ... both are significantly better suited to the chuck than your bay/lake boat but the hewes has a significant edge with those specs. Finally, look at the floor/ beam comparison: Hewes has a 96” beam and 78” floor vs 93” and 72” for the duck ... again, those are significant differences and I would guarantee that when you step into the two the hewes will seem like a LOT more boat as a foot of length, half-foot of beam gives a lot of volume.
Either way, both will be a big upgrade and, despite some folks who cast aspersions at “cookie cutter” boats, they are all still great boats and there are tons of happy boaters out there. If you’re still researching hewes, i strongly suggest you check out the Hewescraft owners forum - tons of great info on there and you’ll be able to ask questions of guys who own and run the 210 searunner. Good luck!
Cheers!
Ukee
