The Canyon Bay 28H and the Barker Boatworks 26 Open both come out of small shops in Florida. Hand-built, both of them. Both chasing the same buyer: the serious offshore fisherman who looked at the production lineup and said "not good enough."
The Barker runs a Michael Peters stepped-V hull. It's designed around single-engine speed, and it's genuinely fast.
The Canyon Bay takes a different bet entirely. Kevlar and carbon fiber, zero wood, built to be the lightest 28-footer anyone's putting in the water.
Two very different philosophies. One of them ages better than the other.
| Spec | Barker 26 Open | Canyon Bay 28H |
|---|---|---|
| LOA | 25 ft 6 in | 28 ft |
| Beam | 9 ft 3 in | 9 ft 3 in |
| Draft (engine up) | 14 in | 15 in |
| Dry Weight | 4,800 lbs | 3,500 lbs |
| Deadrise at Transom | 18 degrees | 18 degrees |
| Fuel Capacity | 90 gal (120 optional) | 150 gal |
| Livewell Capacity | 85 gal (4 wells) | 150 gal (4 wells) |
| Rod Holders | 19 | 20 |
| Max HP | 500 | 600 (twin) |
| Casting Deck | N/A | 55 sq ft |
| Power Poles | Aftermarket | Standard (dual) |
| Trolling Motor | Aftermarket | Standard (i-Pilot, 36V lithium) |
| Construction | Fiberglass, vacuum-infused, composite core | Kevlar/carbon fiber, zero wood |
| Price Range | $131,500 - $250,000+ | $200,000 - $290,000 |
Read that right column again. 2.5 feet longer, same beam, and 1,300 pounds lighter. Sixty more gallons of fuel. Sixty-five more gallons of bait. Same draft with engines trimmed up, but 1,300 fewer pounds sitting on that flat when the tide starts dropping.
Vacuum-infused fiberglass with vinylester resin and composite core. It's a solid build. Nobody's arguing that. The Peters stepped-V hull has a real track record.
Kevlar below the waterline, carbon fiber from the sheer up, fiberglass stringers molded directly to the hull. No wood. Not "mostly no wood" or "wood-free where it counts." Zero wood, full stop.
Fiberglass flexes, and over time, it fatigues. Kevlar flexes and comes back. Five years of oyster bars and dock pilings, the Kevlar hull is still bouncing back from impacts that would already be showing as stress fractures in a glass layup.
Canyon Bay: Gel coat finish.
Barker: Painted finish.
At the boat show, nobody cares. Both look sharp. But fish a painted hull hard for three seasons and then try to touch up a scratch. You're sanding, priming, spray-matching, blending, and clear coating. The original paint has faded under UV the whole time, so the touch-up never quite disappears.
Gel coat scratch? Apply gel coat, sand it, buff it out. Same material, same color, invisible.
On a boat you're spending $150K to $290K on and plan to fish for a decade, that's not a cosmetic detail. That's money.
Salt Water Sportsman put the Barker at 57 mph on a Mercury 350 Verado, 3.4 mpg at cruise, 5.7 seconds to plane. On a single engine. Those are real numbers for a 26-footer. The Canyon Bay won't touch 57 on a single. Stepped hulls win the top-end speed contest, and nobody's pretending otherwise.
The Canyon Bay pushes 1,300 fewer pounds through the water at every RPM. It carries 150 gallons of fuel versus 90 (or 120 if you option up the Barker).
Run the math:
Even with the Barker's better per-mile efficiency, the Canyon Bay's range advantage is massive.
Forty miles offshore, an engine quits.
| Feature | Barker 26 Open | Canyon Bay 28H |
|---|---|---|
| Livewell Capacity | 85 gal (4 wells) | 150 gal (4 wells) |
| Species Separation | Yes (4 wells, different sizes) | Yes (4 dedicated wells) |
| Rod Holders | 19 | 20 |
| Forward Casting Deck | No dedicated casting deck | 55 sq ft (purpose-built) |
| Power Poles | Aftermarket | Dual, standard, designed into transom |
| Trolling Motor | Aftermarket | i-Pilot on 36V lithium, standard |
| Cockpit Depth | Not published | 28 in |
| Seakeeper Option | Yes (Seakeeper 1) | No |
Tournament morning. You loaded bait at 5 AM. By noon on the Barker's 85 gallons, you're thinking about running back in. On the Canyon Bay's 150, you're fishing through the afternoon without a second thought.
The 55 square feet of forward deck on the Canyon Bay is a purpose-built sight fishing platform. Not a cushion that flips up. Not a convertible seating area. Designed as a casting deck from the first sketch.
Power Poles and the trolling motor come standard on the Canyon Bay because they were part of the hull design from day one. On the Barker, those are aftermarket adds. Extra cost, extra rigging, and a setup that wasn't baked into the original architecture.
The Barker offers an optional Seakeeper 1 gyrostabilizer. If zero-roll at anchor is the thing that keeps you up at night, that's a genuine advantage. Canyon Bay doesn't offer one.
Both boats draft about the same with engines up. Canyon Bay at 15 inches, Barker at 14 to 16 depending on load and trim. On paper, a wash.
In practice, 3,500 pounds on a flat sits completely differently than 5,800-plus pounds rigged.
The Canyon Bay also has Power Poles and a trolling motor ready to go out of the box. The Barker needs those bolted on after the fact.
The Barker starts at $131,500 with a Mercury 350 Verado. Most rigged builds land between $165,000 and $250,000.
The Canyon Bay runs $200,000 to $290,000, fully custom, built to your spec.
At the entry level, the Barker costs less. No argument. But in the $200K to $250K range where both boats overlap, look at what you're actually choosing between.
Wants the Peters stepped hull. Values single-engine speed and fuel efficiency. Fishes mostly offshore and doesn't need shallow-water features designed in from the factory. The Seakeeper option matters to him. The 26-foot footprint fits his dock and his budget.
Fishes both worlds. Flats at dawn, reef by lunch. He wants 150 gallons of bait, a real casting deck, 15-inch draft, and twin-engine redundancy for the days he's running 50 miles out. He wants a boat that's 1,300 pounds lighter than everything else in the class, built from materials that won't fatigue, rot, or delaminate. And he wants to talk to the guy building his boat, not a sales team.
Create your Canyon Bay profile and jump straight into the builder.
Pick your model, customize every detail from hull and power to electronics and finishing touches, and see real pricing as you build.
Once you have your quote, our team walks you through the final build scope. Visit Perry Composite Manufacturing for a firsthand look if you'd like, then we get your build started.
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