I love the Contender, SeaVee and even the Grady in the 30' range. Been wet on all three. Build quality was top notch on all three. The Grady was fancy, the SeaVee and Contender are purpose built no frills fishing machines. I love the idea of ownership I just don't have the wallet. IMO the best boat ever is the 36' (model is irrelevant) that your best friend (prefferably female) just bought and insists that you to go along every outing for ballast/entertainment. ...
My black friday trip was in the gulf of Mexico out of Suwanee, FL. No inlet thank heavens. Seas are very predictable here. The outing was a pick and putz. This Whaler has good freeboard but lacks wide open deck space. When it gets rough you have a lot of combing pads to lean on and the stainless steel toe rail comes in handy for gaffers. It is as capable of a 23' as I have seen and it comes packed full of features. If memory serves me the 24' and 26' versions of this boat have all the added footage in front of the console. The 26' has seating on each side with a walkway in the middle. The 24' is nearly identical to the 23'. The Whaler Purist frown on this model as it does not resemble the old originals. AND They hate the oval vent window on the port side of the console. They claim it looks like something off a Sea Ray. I don't have the heart to tell them how much better this model is in ride quality over the old Outrage.
One gripe I have that all v-20 owners would appreciate is the space they took away from the cockpit with the Euro styled transom. Just like Wellcraft did when they went away from the v-20. It makes the last 2' of boat a swim platform.