Shiny new and sleek. We shell out our hard earned dollars - $15,000 - $20,000 - $35,000 or more - to pull, show and fish the finest fiberglass bass boats we can afford. They look fast on the trailer and you have to wear sunglasses to look at the awesome gel coat finishes even under a full moon.
Realistically though, how many of us are truly happy with everything about our bass fishing machines? Regardless of the price tag, size, brand or age of our beloved bass boats we can all find little (and sometimes not so little) things we don't really like. Often its not noticeable when new, but as we fish our rigs we learn the quirks and intricacies that we would like to see done differently.
What you are about to read are some of my ideas as to what the perfect bass boat would be to me. I want to reiterate, this is what it would be to me, your perfect boat probably would be different.
Lets start at the front and work our way to the outboard.

The Bow

First of all I don't believe any electronic switches should ever sit exposed to the elements. I would like to see a bow panel that had a (either built in or removable) full cover. When you are not fishing simply close the cover and all your switches are now protected from the weather.
Next, a depthfinder should never be placed center, inside the bow panel. It should be deck mounted on the opposite side from the trolling motor so cables and such never drape across the screen and be adjustable so we can compensate for glare..

Front Deck

No compartment should have little D-ring handles to open them. Gloves, rain and even just big fingers quite often make these a lesson in frustration. Small straps, like Procraft uses, seem the best choice. All locks need to be side mounted also, since inevitably top mounted locks will leak negating "dry storage".The mounting base for seats should never extend into a compartment, even if a plastic hose is placed there to drain water - again, so much for dry storage.
The base should sit in a solid fiberglass spot on the deck.

Floor

Carpet or no carpet. ideally a material that dampens noise that is not carpeting could be used for the entire deck. Some boats now have no carpet and are functional and extremely good looking. That area beneath the console should never be carpeted - ever. A section of rubber matting would keep that area clean and easy to clean up. No discussion about my perfect bass boat would ever be complete without talking about floor drains. Why would anyone think a single drain in the center of a boat would be functional? I don't know about your boat but mine has never sat perfectly level (on the water or trailer). How about a pair of drains located corner left and right just before the seats?
That would be perfect.

Console

Another place where we run into trouble thanks to mother nature. Exposed electrical components (switches). At a minimum The ignition switch should be located in a recess so that rain does not get in it. And, while we're on the subject of ignition switches how about breaking apart the ignition, choke and kill switch? The old style kill switch seems superior to the all-in-one approach. A separate choke button could ease starting some times, eliminating unnecessary choking when we turn the key.
Never, ever, ever, should the primary depthfinder which is used for driving the boat be an LCD unit. A flasher provides a far more accurate and timely display of what is under the boat right now. LCD's have a lot of lag and at 60 or 70 mph what you see is quite a ways behind you. A second depthfinder, the LCD type, should be mounted also for slower speed searching in detail but never for high speed operation. Yep, standard should be 2 console mounted depthfinders, oh and a GPS with moving map display. A hook of sorts should be located on the bottom of the console and fold out of the way while fishing and swing around to hold the steering wheel when trailering.
No more motor banging to one side if we choose not to use a transom support.

Seats

A full, permanent bench seat should never be used. It gets walked on a lot and most of the time is never used. I bought one in my boat and now know it is an optional waste of money. A drop in center seat is a much more viable idea. Use it if you need to and keep it out of the boat when you don't need it. At the base of every passenger seat should be a grab handle. I don't trust grab rails that are held in by short phillips screws. All seats should be made completely from plastic - no wood at all, and have removable padding and covers. Why should I be forced to spend hundreds of dollars to replace a seat when all I could do is re-cover it and change padding? Wouldn't it be cool to inexpensively change the color of your seats? And color. Never a black seat again! Ouch! Hot!

Gas Tanks

Dual tanks are great. I can run one out and know I still have enough to get back to the ramp (most likely). Placement is another story. Anyplace would be fine as long as it is not beneath my seats. If I change seats I stand a good chance of getting a hole in the tank if I inadvertently use a screw that is a little too long.

Rear Deck

Rear deck layout is generally pretty good. The same thinking applies to the seat mounting base on the back as on the front, and deck lids as well. Livewells should always be two separate ones. If I loose a pump we can still keep our fish alive (hopefully we'll have a way to keep our fish identified). Pump outs for the livewells are a novel and functional idea and should always be incorporated.
Placement of livewells should be as far aft as possible. The further back the smoother the ride and every little bit we can do to help ensure our catch is alive is worth it. The inside of all livewells should have a conformal net of sorts that closes over the top with an expanding hole to put fish in and take them out. No fish ever would jump from the livewell to freedom again. At the ramp simple pull the conformal netting out and you have your fish without chasing and traumatizing them (or you).

Battery Compartment

All pumps (except bilge of course) should be mounted high and in plain sight. If a pump needs changing its not a major production to just get at them and the job is much easier. Also, easy access lets us actually clean them out occasionally thereby extending their life. Batteries should be mounted around the centerline of the boat for balance. A spare drain plug should come mounted to the inside of the compartment lid. Livewell valves should have rigid handles to open and close them located in the rear compartment directly attached to the valves - no cables to bind or break.

Motor Mounting

Standard should be a reinforced, wood free, transom. Actually the entire hull should be wood free eliminating any chance of anything ever rotting out.

Hull

Gel coat, regardless of how expensive a boat is, oxidizes and fades. I'm not an engineer or anything but there should be some sort of coating for gel coat that is scratch resistant and will never fade or oxidize. Wouldn't that be awesome! Flake should never be in my gel coat, neither should dark colors (since we don't have scratch resistant fade resistant coatings) because inevitably you get white scratches on black gel coat and the dark areas show hazy oxidation first. As a safety factor kevlar should be standard in all hulls. Speedometers should always use the engine pickup and not an external pitot tube. A step further would be to drive your speedo off of the standard GPS. Matter of fact nothing should protrude off or through the hull in any place.

Other Stuff

Cup holders should be located, recessed, in the front and rear decks. Just imagine - no more spilled soft drinks on your new carpeting! A cooler should be standard on all boat models regardless of bench seat or not. OK, so a lot of this stuff is already being done. But, this is my idea of a perfect bass boat and as far as I know all these features are not available on most boats, and some on no boats. So, the next time you go looking at boats, maybe you will be able to find your perfect boat.
I know I will still have to modify to rig my rig right for me.