If ever there was a boat that represented the essence of summer, the 197 Deck Boat is it. Bayliner's clever design for this sub-19-footer gives you a boat that doesn't feel like a "teener," but rather more like a 20-something. Somehow they've created enough space for an extended family, who you can easily picture lounging around in wet swimsuits having just emerged from the water, because this is more of a water delivery and retrieval system than a "let's go puttering around the lake" boat.

Probably the most noticeable feature of Bayliner's newest member of its revamped deck boat line is its attractive styling - something that couldn't be said for some deck boats of years past. Instead of the floating bathtub look, made popular back in the mid-'90s, the 197 is a sleek, low-slung runabout that won't make you feel like you're driving the waterborne version of a minivan with faux-wood paneling.

What makes this boat stand out from the pack is its incredible amount of seating. The entire cockpit is circled with nicely padded seating whose footprint is contoured with a slight swirl to avoid the abrupt, rectangular church pew seating you see on boats like budget pontoons. Because the helm sits farther back than on bowriders, the reclining seat in front of the captain has plenty of stretching-out legroom for any size passenger, and this extra room allows Bayliner to give the forward-facing backrest plenty of angle for luxurious reclining.

Under all of the seats you find plenty of dry storage. Access to the storage farthest forward requires you to remove the entire seat bottom, but the ones farther astern have hinges. The portable cooler that lives beneath the center seat bottom cushion in the stern bench is a nice feature that helps preserve deck space.

Drivers won't feel like they're segregated on their own separate island when driving the 197, thanks to Bayliner's unique helm seat arrangement that integrates the helm seat into the stern bench. Despite its placement, it still adjusts fore and aft to accommodate skippers of all sizes. One of the ways Bayliner has typically differentiated its deck boat line from its bowriders is by giving the driver an abbreviated windshield rather than a full wraparound walkthrough model. In fact, the cool-looking, clear blue acrylic windscreen on this one more closely resembles a stylish bug deflector than anything. The driver's console is small, but doesn't feel insubstantial. The sporty Dino wheel feels good in your hands and tilts to accommodate most everyone. The gauges are visible and shaded blue, thanks to the aforementioned windshield that overhangs them. A really nice touch for music lovers is the four-speaker stereo system that has an "audio in" outlet so you can attach your own CD or even MP3 player, which will give you easy access to the 15,000 songs you have downloaded on your iPod. There's even a dedicated niche to hold them.
Powering the test model is a 190-hp, 4.3L MerCruiser V6 inboard/outboard. But despite being a carbureted model, it starts with the convenience of a fuel-injected one, thanks to the Turn-Key system that, true to its name, requires the driver to just … well, you know. No more jockeying with a choke that leads impatient drivers to inevitably flood it and clog up the ramp with a dead boat floatin'.

With little warm-up, the crew casts off from the docks at the Sanibel Harbour Resort on the southwest coast of Florida. As befits the boat, the summer sun is shining on the crew of four as they idle out of the basin. Despite the engine box being in close proximity to the helm, where decibel readings are taken, the noise level is a quiet 60 decibels. Out of the hole, the Bayliner 197 launches reasonably quick with little bow rise and gets on plane in 4.8 seconds and accelerates to 30 mph in less than eight ticks of the sweep hand, which is a very happy econo-cruise speed for this boat.

Because this compact deck boat has so much seating, and since boating people are a gregarious lot and tend to sit in clumps, Bayliner had to give the 197 a fairly flat 15-degree deadrise V-hull to keep it from being too tippy. But the downside is that when approaching large cruiser wakes, the prudent captain needs to slow down and ease over them slowly to avoid smacking the hull and spilling everyone's beverages. Although Bayliner doesn't offer it as a factory-installed option, trim tabs would be a nice dealer add-on to help it get out of the hole quicker, avoid porpoising in certain sea conditions, and to level out the ride when all of your guests huddle together to share secrets.

Pinning the throttle gives the 197 a respectable top speed of 43 mph, and at that velocity it handles very easily. For those who want a little more kick, Bayliner offers the MPI version of the 4.3L MerCruiser, which gives you 220 hp, for slightly more than $2,000 over the carbureted 4.3L price. The base engine is the 135-hp, in-line four-cylinder model, but it's hard to imagine an owner would be happy with the performance this would give them, not to mention the lower resale value.

The 197 is a nimble-handling deck boat that's easy and fun to drive. You can fling it into hard corners, and it very predictably carves a nice horseshoe when there's a skier down. The wake is fairly flat at slalom speeds, thanks to the relatively flat hull bottom. And skiers won't have any problems finding a storage spot for the tools of their trade in the deep in-deck compartment with additional storage hatches also located on the back deck. This deck also gives you a place to secure water toys outside of the cockpit area, and Bayliner even gives you convenient tie-downs to safely lash them down.

As fun as this boat is to drive, it might actually be more entertaining while at rest. After shutting down the engine, a pair of passengers heads to the expansive rear deck. Here, the raised, padded engine compartment serves as a comfortable back veranda seat. The swim platform is a good place to sit and dip your feet in the water, as is the roomy foredeck, which has a stainless-steel boarding ladder like the stern. There are several options that make the stern a better place to be: one is the transom shower, and the other is an extended deck that has a 12-volt inflator pump for water toys.

Base price for the 197 Deck Boat is a low $21,828, which is a pretty good deal for the amount of boat you're getting. Even loading it up with options like the fish package, depth finder, and 220-hp engine fails to crack the $30,000 mark.

So if you're one of those boaters that lives for the summer sunshine with a little help from all your friends, the Bayliner 197 Deck Boat is the little boat than can deliver big dreams.