In Southwest Georgia, there's a special place next to Lake Blackshear called Georgia Veterans State Park. One of its main attractions - in addition to the resort, championship golf course and military museum - is the SAM Shortline excursion train that runs along a 37-mile-long stretch of track and takes you to places like Plains, Ga., the hometown and current residence of former President Jimmy Carter. One whistle stop down the tracks takes you to Americus, the international headquarters for Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization that has built more than 220,000 homes for families who need a place to stay. Also in this small town of 17,000 is Caravelle Powerboats, a company that's providing families with a place to play.

This year Caravelle will continue the evolution of its new generation of bowriders, which began in model year 2006 with the introduction of the Caravelle 237 LS. The newest incarnation is the Caravelle 217 LS, a smaller sibling that's big
on value. Both boats reflect modern styling that uses an oversized integrated swim platform, which allows your eyes to perform a graceful scan of the boat, beginning with the Caravelle 217's sharp-nosed, performance-style bow and moving along the shearline, lingering at the tasteful graphics before swooping down to the stern. What strikes you is the tidy, sporty look, enhanced by the low-profile bow rails and pull-up cleats. The test boat features a navy-blue hull with yellow and gray graphic accents that's available for a reasonable $450 add-on. Seven other styling choices are available, including a narrow bow stripe that gets wider as you head sternward along the hull.

Perhaps the best seats in the boat belong to the captain and co-pilot, who have a pair of Milsco SofTech seats which, like the name implies, have a leaf-spring suspension system that can absorb the thumps and bumps from a wake-infested lake on summer weekends. The seats swivel 360 degrees, so at rest the captain can join the cockpit conversation, or the companion-bucket resident can do a 180 to see junior doing a face-plant while trying to perfect a "hoochie glide." The Faria gauges are placed just high enough for good visibility over the sporty wheel, but the large amount of chrome on the wheel is highly reflective when the angle of the sun and the boat achieve alignment, which fortunately is brief, thanks to the tilt-ability of the wheel. To the right of the wheel is the standard Kenwood CD stereo with an MP3 input for modern folks living in the 21st century, and an off-the-rack Kenwood that cranks out the tunes respectably. Music lovers should opt for the premium system, which includes a stern remote control, separate amp and subwoofer for some thumping-good tunes ($650).


After running the blower and firing up the 260 hp, 5.0L MerCruiser MPI sterndrive, the control lever is eased forward as you idle out of the marina. Because it's blazing hot and the sturdy, curved safety glass windshield is so effective, you flip up the seat bolster and get your head into the cooling breeze. After passing the marina buoys, the seat bolster is dropped and the throttle is advanced, putting the Caravelle 217 LS on plane in 4.5 seconds with a moderate amount of bowrise. The Caravelle 217 reaches 30 mph in less than 7 seconds and hits a top speed of 50 mph as you trim it up and let it fly. Even at top speed, the Caravelle 217 feels stable and is easy to control. A happy cruise speed is found at around 40 mph, and since you have the whole lake to yourself, you indulge in an imaginary slalom course of hard turns to see how it handles. Even with the trim in cruising attitude to reduce wetted surface, the Caravelle 217 responds quickly to driver input in a predictable fashion and passes the "watch this" ultra-turn test in fine fettle.

It's midweek, so traffic is light and the 8,000-acre Lake Blackshear is pretty calm, so to create some waves, you do a series of slow-speed doughnuts to chop up the surface. After the water is rumpled to your satisfaction, you "try" to slam the Caravelle 217 LS over the slop. Not easy to do, since the Caravelle 217 LS glides through the confused water in style, thanks to the XPV hull design, which uses a deep 21-degree deadrise hull to slice cleanly through the waves. The tradeoff to most deep-V hulls is that they're usually slower to get on plane and require a higher running speed to stay there. But Caravelle has designed an extended running surface with a flat section called a pad at the stern to give you more lift out of the hole, which allows you to stay on plane at slower speeds for activities like tubing and wakeboarding.

If you're serious about skiing, Caravelle gives you the option to "radicalize" the Caravelle 217 LS with a standard wakeboard tower with ski racks ($4,100), or you can go all the way with a premium tower ($6,650), which includes a pair of high-performance bazooka-style speakers as part of an upgraded sound system. A nice touch for skiers, the lockable in-deck ski locker is deep enough to hold the entire arsenal. Skiers don't have to go far to grab an après ski beverage, thanks to the drainable swim platform compartment, which can be used as a cooler or storage for wet items such as vests and ropes. There's also a carry-on cockpit cooler under the seats.

The Caravelle 217's cockpit purposely sacrifices seating capacity in the name of easy passenger flow. Instead of jamming a U-lounge section behind the captain's seat, which would force you to step on or over seats to get to the stern, the area is left open so that you can easily head aft by flipping up a section on the starboard side of the roomy sunpad. This flip-up segment can be propped halfway up to create a backrest for loungers who still like to see what's going on around them.

In the bowriding section, Caravelle makes good use of the space with a pair of symmetrical forward-facing recliners. They could probably use a touch more backrest angle, but increasing this part would reduce the amount of stretch-out legroom, which is ample for a 6-footer. Despite the pointy bow, which gives the Caravelle 217 LS a sporty look, there's a wide rearward-facing seat at the bow. And like on a lot of deck boats these days - although not as often on bowriders - there's a bow boarding ladder, so you can stay dry, stretch your legs and go exploring on land. Caravelle even throws in filler cushions at no extra charge, which makes the entire bow an upholstered lounging oasis. The upholstery is 32-ounce, heavy-duty vinyl that has a stain-resistant top coat with a UV protectant for greater longevity.

The Caravelle 217 LS sports a modest price tag of $32,250 when equipped with a 190-hp, 4.3L Volvo Penta engine, but Caravelle doesn't play the low-ball game by giving you a stripped-down boat that requires extensive and expensive optioning to make it usable ("I guess you'll want a prop with your boat"). The standard package includes items that are normally options, like a depth finder, hour meter, snap-in carpeting, cockpit courtesy lights and a graphics package. This is a boat that likes to run, so bumping it up to the maximum horsepower is probably the way to go since it doesn't cost a pair of appendages. With the maximum 300-hp MerCruiser 350 MAG engine, it only brings the bottom line up to $39,429, which also includes a stainless-steel prop. The price as tested for the well-equipped test boat with a 260 hp, 5.0L MerCruiser is $36,770, which is a great value for a well-built boat that will have owners on track to their best boating season ever.

THE VERDICT

Caravelle offers a sporty, modern design that runs well and features no-wood construction using premium components. Although the Caravelle 217 LS lacks a shower option and has no head compartment, it's equipped with loads of standard features at an affordable price and delivers plenty of bang for the buck.

Caravelle 217 LS

LOA 21'5"
Beam 8'6"
Weight 3,400 lbs.
Fuel 36 gal.
Top Speed 50.2 mph
(w/260-hp, 5.0L MerCruiser MPI)
Time To Plane 4.5 seconds
0-30 mph 6.7 seconds
Decibels @ Idle 65 dB-A
Decibels @ 30 mph 84 dB-A
Decibels @ WOT 93 dB-A
Base Price $32,250
(w/190 hp, 4.3L Volvo Penta)
Price As Tested $36,770
(w/260-hp, 5.0L MerCruiser MPI)
Hull Warranty Limited Lifetime
NMMA Certified? Yes

Caravelle Powerboats Inc.
111 Mathews Drive
Americus, GA 31709
(800) 642-2628