Caravelle 218 LS Deck Boat

Mike Milne – Boatguide CANADA

 Here’s a boater’s riddle?  When is an open bow runabout not a bowrider?  The answer:  When it’s a deck boat, of course.

            With most fiberglass deck boats these days, little from the windscreen aft distinguishes them from bowriders.  Giving up the pointy, slightly more nautical bow for a blunter, more squared-off deck mold and corresponding added bow flare in the hull sections makes a big design difference.

            The Caravelle 218 LS deck boat tested by Boatguide last summer is similar in size to its 207 LS bowrider sibling.  While the pointy-bow 207 LS provides comfortable lounging room for a couple forward passengers, the bow area of the 218 LS has a table, swim deck, boarding ladder and enough room to let the whole crew dine on board.

            With all of that usable space in the bow, the 218 LS creates two distinct living and leisure zones.  For families boating with a crowd of kids, or for adults who appreciate elbowroom, that’s a real plus.  The deck boat design also delivers the spaced of a much more affordable than a larger bowrider. 

            Despite the squared-off bow sections (only really obvious when viewed from aboard the boat), the 218 LS has smooth, modern lines.  With a broad band of color below the hull-deck joint, the largely white test boat looks good.

            The engine on the 218 LS test boat, the optional 260-hp MerCruiser  5.0 MPI multiport fuel-injected 5.0 litre (305-cid) V8, is perfect.  The fuel injection adds 40 more horsepower while keeping fuel consumption under control.

            Driving a 19-inch pitch aluminum prop through an Alpha sterndrive, the 5.0MPI pushes the test boat onto plane quickly, with little bowrise, reaching 20 mph in less than six seconds, and 30 mph in less than 10 seconds.

            Caravelle’s XPV hull design, touting extended planing surfaces, really shows its mettle at about 2800 rpm, where the boat comes onto plane running at 18.6 mph.  Theat indicates an efficient, easily driven hull.

            Top speed is 47 mph at 5000 rpm in GPS-verified testing.  The 218 LS cruises along nicely at 26.9 mph at 3000 rpm, and at 34.4 mph at 3500 rpm.  From 20 mph upward, when it begins to register speeds in earnest, the speedometer is accurate.

            Low sound level readings – 86 dBA at the helm and 89 dBA in the aft cockpit area at top speed, and 82 dBA and 87 dBA respectively at cruising speed – show the effects of the boat’s formed-in fiberglass stringer system.  Big flush-mount pop-up cleats work well and stay out of the way when not needed.

            Except for a few new-boat rattles that are usually easy to track down and cure, the boat was tight, with good fit-and-finish and no rough edges.

            The cockpit has a full fiberglass liner, with diamond-shaped nonskid.  Helm and companion seats are mounted on bump-ups in the cockpit liner mold, providing some added solidity.  Aft there’s a short bench seat and narrow sunlounge, which lift to expose the engine compartment.

            The two-step walk-thru aft leads to the narrow integrated swim platform and the much wider optional extended swim platform installed on the test boat.  Treating the super sized swim deck as an add-on is actually a good idea, providing a lighter, more compact unit rather than an often more bulky molded-in extended swim platform.  With swim deck fore and aft, the 218 LS should prove popular with water lovers.

            For convenience, there’s a head compartment forward of the companion seat, with a small sink installed in the dashboard above.  The compartment is not spacious but adequate, with easy-clean fiberglass floors.  The porta-potti on the test boat needs to be rigged for pumpout to meet Canadian regulations.  If the owner expects the head to get moderate to heavy use, an electric exhaust fan would be a welcome addition.

            To meet the equipment needs of a day boat, there’s plenty of storage space on board.  In the engine compartment, there’s storage to port, separated from the engine by King Starboard and canvas.  The same could be done to starboard.  In the cockpit floor, a cavernous “basement” space promises to swallow up wakeboards, waterskis, canvas, filler cushions and the bow table. 

            There’s a portable 23-litre Igloo Marine cooler built into the cockpit aft (almost standard equipment on most small North American boats these days) and even more storage space under the bow cushions.

            This year’s improvements?  Caravelle swaps plastic drink holders for stainless steel and changes the current stereo for a Kenwood marine unit.

            They’re good additions but the rest of the important stuff is already in place:  quality hardware and mechanical gear, reliable power, solid construction, sensible design and plenty of room to help boating families better enjoy the great outdoors.

Playing with a Full Deck 

By Robert Stephens - Boating Life Magazine

Photos by John Linn

Water dripped off the Caravelle 218 like beads of sweat. It was 20 minutes past dark and this boat, the one that half a day earlier had been backed off a trailer fresh out of the shrink-wrap, was finally being lugged out of the water. Had it been able to make requests, the 218 might have called for a gurney instead of a trailer. Its first day on the water went as follows:

7:10 a.m. Jim and Christy Garrett, their daughter Sarah, 12, and her friend Ashley Jones, also 12, start loading the boat. A Hydroslide XLT kneeboard and big ski go in the floor locker, three day bags and six vests are dropped in the storage compartments next to the engine, water and ice are loaded into the built-in Igloo cooler, five bags of groceries and a duffel bag fit under the rear seat. A fisherman standing nearby says, ''Looks like you're going out for a while."

7:25 a.m. Two more bags of groceries in bow storage, four jackets on hangers under the passenger console, a sack of charcoal. 

7:35 a.m. The boat is stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey. There¿s food in four storage areas, clothes stowed from stem to stern and toys buried under the floor and behind walls. A tube is filled with air to be towed behind the boat, U-Haul-style. Finally, four rumps settle into seat cushions. 7:45 a.m. The S.S. Minnow leaves the dock.

8:00 a.m. Foreheads are slapped. The boat returns to the dock. The castaways have forgotten something. Matches, apparently. And to think, Mrs. Howell even remembered to take a change of earrings.

8:15 a.m. While waiting at the dock, Sarah and Ashley sniff out the bananas and breakfast bars. They lounge in the bow, which has its full complement of removable cushions. The area is so wide that the girls look as if they're sitting on opposite sides of a school bus.

8:25 a.m. Led Zeppelin's ''Carouselambra'' streams through the boat. Sarah practically falls over herself in her haste to get her hand on the stereo tuner that's built into the bow walkthrough. ''Can I turn it, Mom?''

Meantime, Ashley gnaws on a slab of beef jerky and sheepishly acknowledges that the girls forgot their Backstreet Boys CD.

8:50 a.m. Dad returns just in time to hear the girls chant: ''Poof. Be gone. Your breath is very strong.'' They emphasize ''strong'' with hard Georgia accents. Dad ignores them as they continue. ''Wait. Come back. You need a Tic Tac.'' Turns out, these observations are not directed at Pop.

''They started cheerleading last Friday and this has been going on ever since,'' says Mom, not at all impressed. ''They learned that cheer from the movie Bring It On. I don't really care for it.''

The engine cranks. It's drowned out by the sounds of, ''Black and white, let's win this game tonight. Fight, fight. Victory, uh huh''

  9:20 a.m. The morning fog starts to loosen as the 218 idles toward the lake's main channel. Bottled water and soda cans fill four cupholders (with drain sleeves) in the bow, where Sarah and Ashley continue a long-distance dialogue. There's enough space to fit a Frito-Lay truck between them. The same thought must cross Sarah's mind. She jumps up, opens the windshield and ducks inside the portside compartment to forage.

9:22 a.m. Sarah returns to the bow with a handful of peanut butter crackers.

9:40 a.m. Jim leaves the throttle at running speed, which sharpens the cool morning air. From the passenger bucket seat, Mom reaches into the storage cabin and grabs a jacket. She then pulls a wind dam across the walkthrough area to keep the breeze up front, with the girls. Sarah looks back at Mom with a curious look, and cracker crumbs spackled to her lower lip.

9:45 a.m. OK, there must be a wind-chill factor. The girls scramble to get behind the windshield, where snap-in Berber carpet fills the cockpit. An NBA forward could lie down on the floor -- length-wise or beam-wise -- and work out any kinks. Or, two 12-year-old girls could lie down and sleep, if they weren't packed with sugar, spice and everything starchy.

9:55 a.m. The 218 slows as Dad curls closer to shore to get a closer view of a mansion sitting just above a bluff. The Humminbird depth finder ''speed reads'' from 21 feet to 2 feet, before slowly climbing again. Nobody notices because all eyes are on the house. You could mistake the silence for the hush before a Navy sneak attack. Someone might have sighed.

10:45 a.m. Nearing 50 mph, the 218 runs out from under the ceiling of clouds. Sun blasts into the boat. But there's no reaction. In fact, Sarah and Ashley have already retired to the warm storage cabin, right next to the groceries.

''Bottomless pits,'' Mom says, referring either to the girls or the storage areas. ''I've never seen anything like it.''

11:05 a.m. Something convinces the girls to emerge, wearing their swimsuits and asking to ride the tube. Maybe it's the fact that the temperature is climbing toward 85 degrees.

11:25 a.m. Dad pokes the boat into a creek to check out the picnic facilities (better than average) and beaching possibilities (only if he wouldn't mind parking on a tree root). Next!

Noon A sandy shoreline and an empty grill catch Dad's attention. The Caravelle slides up. Sarah opens a hatch at the front of the bow and pulls out the telescoping boarding ladder, which, in conjunction with the non-skid step under one of the bow cushions, plays right into the ''team unloading''

12:15 p.m. ''I’m full,'' says Sarah. Dad, concentrating on the coals, doesn’t hear. The burgers haven’t even hit the metal yet.

12:25 p.m. ''Good fire,'' Dad says proudly. Mom quietly concurs. The girls, however, do not share in his moment of glory. Rebuffed in their attempt to open a package of Kit Kats, they’ve meandered over to the Jungle Gym.

1:20 p.m. Lunch is history. What’s left is packed and reloaded into the boat.

''I need a nap,'' says Dad.

1:21 p.m. ''We’re gonna tube now, right?'' the girls ''ask,'' disguising their demand as a question.

1:30 p.m. It’s officially hot. There are no clouds in sight, so the Bimini top is employed. The girls don’t even wait for the boat to leave the park area before crawling onto the O’Brien Sidewinder.

''See those mouths back there?'' asks Jim. ''All day long, it’s yak-yak-yak.''

Mom takes a sunscreen bath and sits at the front of the bow, with a view across the entire length of the boat.

''Faster … faster … faster …''

The in-synch voices taunt Dad from the end of a 60-foot tow rope.

1:40 p.m. After watching the girls show off for a few minutes, Jim decides to test the Caravelle’s handling in tight S-turns at 30 mph. The boat holds perfectly; the girls don’t.

''Dad, not so rough!'' Sarah calls. Then she and Ashley swim back to the tube with all the timidity of Flipper.

2:15 p.m. ''My whole raht sahd hurts,'' says Ashley, pulling herself up the transom ladder and stepping through to the cockpit, her southern tone amplified from fatigue.

2:17 p.m. Sarah pulls out the day bags and what remains of the groceries from the portside storage cavity, and ducks inside. All this time, sitting behind the load of gear, was a head. Very convenient after seven hours of snacking, followed by 30 minutes of demolition tubing.

2:30 p.m. Dad pulls out the wakeboard. It’s a courageous move, considering he’s never even slid his feet into bindings before today.

2:31 p.m. Check that. Before today he’s never crammed his feet into bindings three sizes too small. Ashley and Sarah are oblivious to his pain, having rooted out a bag of cookies minutes earlier.

2:45 p.m. Dad stands on the transom, drip drying. The wakeboard is stowed. There’s a good chance he will never try this again.

3:00 p.m. ''It’s been years since I’ve kneeboarded,'' says Ashley, which means it was clear back in the 1990s.

After some soft persuasion and a little refresher course, she’s riding just like old times. It takes some stronger persuasion to get her back in the boat.

 3:45 p.m. Fire drill! Dad jumps off the back platform to escape the broiling heat. He and the girls climb up the bow ladder and towel off in the locker-room-sized bow. Sarah and Ashley try to push Dad back into the water … and relent after two seconds.

4:15 p.m. The munchies have infected Mom and Dad. A table is pulled from storage and set up in the bow. All the artillery is unloaded. Rold Golds. Animal Crackers. Cokes. Soft Batch cookies. It’s a Kwik-Stop buffet.

 4:50 p.m. Full of gumption, Jim makes an announcement. ''It’s time to ski." 'There are no arguments. He hauls out an HO Charger, gets situated on the transom and confidently jumps in the water.

5:10 p.m. After slicing roughly five miles of water with his slalom, Jim tosses aside the handle as if to say, ''There. Whatchoo got, Jack?''

5:30 p.m. Back in his cruising attire, Dad trains the 218 along some islands so everyone can nose up to the sandstone bluffs. They’re pink -- the bluffs and all the noses.

6:10 p.m. Dad stops near some submerged timber, drops the bow anchor and retrieves four fishing rods that until now have been given about as much attention as cabbage-leaf garnishes. ''We’ll give it a quick shot.''

Another fisherman sidles up in his bass boat and shows off a five-pound bass. Ashley grabs it just long enough for a ''real-life'' picture. 

Within minutes, a jolt of excitement fills the boat. Ashley, unable to contain herself, announces, ''We got the Backstreet Boys on the radio!''

The lines are reeled in.

6:45 p.m. The sun is rapidly descending, and the boat ramp is 30 miles away. All the gear is secured. ''I think we can make it back before dark,'' says Dad. But just as he sits down to start the engine the friendly fisherman warns the girls, ''Keep your eyes and mouths shut!''

Mom laughs hesitantly, not sure how to react to the slightly rude comment.

''No kiddin’,'' the man explains. ''You’ll get bugs in yer face. If you catch ’un in the mouth, don’t try to chew or spit. Just swaller real hard.''

The girls exit the bow and go inside the storage area/snack bin/bathroom.

7:20 p.m. The 218 passes a hurried cormorant from behind. Only a few minutes of light are left, and goose bumps are forming on legs.

7:35 p.m. Gauge lights on the dash illuminate the boat from within, and the boat squats down and rumbles inside the no-wake zone. The girls can be heard laughing. Mom yawns and admits, ''I never thought they’d make it this long.''

8:05 p.m. It takes half as long to unload the 218 as it did to load it, probably because most of the groceries are gone. The boat is spun around from the dock and onto the waiting trailer. Water rolls off it all the way up the ramp.

At a much-deserved standstill, the boat starts shedding droplets of lake water -- like a quarter horse standing in the shade after an afternoon workout. A cool, refreshing drip.

It was that kind of day.

Impressions: Talk about space. The 8’6'' beam is maxed out and there’s no inward flare up front. Plus, the gunwales are tapered, leaving even more side-to-side room. Caravelle also moved the engine back, sacrificing platform space for the sake of more cockpit acreage. The comment in this story about an NBA forward lying down to stretch? That’s not a stretch. Someone 6’6'' can sprawl on the Berber carpet, which also snaps out for an easy washdown.

Caravelle 218     Your room is ready.

By Pete McDonald, Boating Magazine

     Deckboats are supposed to provide plenty of room for lots of people to interact, but it's not easy squeezing all that family friendliness into 21 feet.  Caravelle has done a good job with its 218 -- a boat that's practical and fun. With its windshield and zippy performance, the 218 avoids looking like a floating veal pen.

     The 218's main cockpit layout differs from most deckboat configurations. Instead of a wraparound L-bench to port, it has a swivel bucket seat across from the driver and a bench along the transom.  This is a plus --  the passenger opposite the captain can face forward as opposed to sideways.  The sunpad on the transom allows for one passenger to kick back while at rest.

     The 218's engine compartment extends aft into the swim platform to free up cockpit space.  The starboard side has a telescoping three-step ladder recessed under a hatch and a stainless-steel grabrail.

     The bow cockpit lounge is where the 218 makes its bacon. Its 8"6" beam carried all the way forward to bow offers a lot of lounging room for a 21' boat. There's enough space to put in the standard bow table and still kick your legs out, or put in the standard bow filler cushions and commence tanning operations.  The spacious 5'-by-2' bow swim platform makes up for the restricted water access aft.  The standard docking lights are a nice touch.

     Powered with a 220-hp MerCruiser, the 218 has decent performance numbers.  It takes a respectable four seconds to climb onto plane and hits a top speed of 46.5 mph.  Upgrade to more power and 218 should easily break 50 mph.