Hi, I'm looking for suggestions of a reel that could be multipurpose for both surfcasting and boat fishing? Boat fishing would include softbait and straylining for snapper. Thanks

Lot depends on budget.. so assuming want a single duel use..
min a shamano 6000 OC bait runner for S cast.. ideal as a boat reel, stray lining, thu bit big for soft bait...
The OC 4000...
 The OC 8000 better on the S cast..
Thu the oc 6000 will do what you want till missus increases your allowance

My go to for stray line in the boat is the OC 6000, go to for sb was the oc 4000 , now upgraded to the thunnus 4000....And off the west coast , still use the OC6000 ledgers 20 to 60m . 
Son , lot Surf casting OC 6000 and oc 8000

Do wash the reels down, with drag on after use, espec land based(sand)  let dry for couple days and few drops reel oil everywhere , and on every moving part can see. Then release the drag.

i thought surfcasting reels are special designed, where the spool lips are shaped to let lines cast further?

MB wrote: scuby wrote: i thought surfcasting reels are special designed, where the spool lips are shaped to let lines cast further? Upper end surf reels tend to have longer, wider and tapered spools, but it's not a hard and fast rule and they come in all shapes and sizes. Longer casts are also advantageous when boat fishing under some circumstances (e.g. cast-ahead-of-drift soft baiting). Current fashion with non-surf reels seems to be short, fat spools for some reason I don't understand.