Twin 4 strokes or twin diesels for 30 foot boat

[Deepdiver52]

I ran my 2000 hour plus single 1985 Yamaha 2 stroke 73 miles off shore in Md many times. She never let me down. I retired her at 2500 hrs selling her to a smaller boat owner who still runs her three years later (in the bay only). Those old oil burning smokey scowls will be missed.
I will admit that when climbing the bis rouge waves a single screw loses bite and will scare the hell out of you.

capt Curt

[cavitating]

The original question is and I quote, "Twin 4 strokes or twin diesels for 30 foot boat" , The single diesel question is out of the picture. We are talking about TWINS. Both type of engines are very reliable so, it is a matter of numbers and convenience.
Are you going to keep the boat so many years and hours where the outboads will have to be replaced? If so, the intial cost of the diesels will be justified otherwise it may not be. Is the boat going to be kept in the water, on a trailer or dry stack? Are the diesels more fuel efficient than the outboards for this particular vessel? Should I say miles per gallon or maybe per dollar per dollar? Diesel is considerably more expensive than gasoline nowadays. Are you willing to pay more for diesel or do you think the safety of a non explosive fuel on board is important to you?
Are you operating in shallow waters where the outboards make more sense? Do you need a clean stern without two big motors in the back? Do you do your own service maintenace or do you have a professional do it for you? How much do they charge for routine maintenace? Is the boat company telling you that you are buying a 29 footer where the last 2 feet are exclusively for the outboard engines and you really have a 27 footer? Ther eis no simple yes or no answer to this question. It depends on the many variables of this equation. Some important factors should be:
1- Initial Cost.
2- Maintance Cost
3- Reliability
4- Total hours/year
5- Re-sale Value

[tiara3100]

My opinion, depends on the boat. A lighter go fast hull-twin outboards. A heavier, deeper, high bow, wave crashing through, boat-Diesels.* * I prefer a heavier, sharp entry, high flared bow diesel powered boat for offshore fishing and cruising. I prefer powering through rough seas, not bouncing across the top of them.* The bouncing around of an outboard powered light fast hull, just dousnt appeal to me anymore. May be I'm just getting old....

[Troutman561]

Go outboards. Twin Suzuki 300's would be fast and efficient...

[TR3]

I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts. It is all vey helpfull. I have narrowed my choice down to a 31 Cabo express with twin diesels or a 33 foot Pursuit Offshore with twin 250s. I like the pursuit for a number of reasons. I do not expect to put more than 100 hour on the boat per year. Its faster and most of my cruising/fishing will be in Long Island Sound (not far from shore) with occassional trips to the canyons, Block and the Cape area. However, the Cabo appears to be a more substantial boat with a 12.5 beam as opposed to the 10.6 Pursuit. The Cabo has more living space below which may make it better for cruising and a better boat for when it gets rough. Any thoughts on one versus the other would be appreciated. Prices are simillar for late model boats. If you have one for sale at a realistic price considering todays dismal economic envioronment please let me know.

[dannyscat]

Cabo all the way , heavier ,better boat.

[Tbrodes]

Cabo hands down, you'll love have the extra beam and weight!

[ClassicGuy]

TR3 - 11/15/2008 3:14 PMI would like to thank everyone for their thoughts. It is all vey helpfull. I have narrowed my choice down to a 31 Cabo express with twin diesels or a 33 foot Pursuit Offshore with twin 250s. I like the pursuit for a number of reasons. I do not expect to put more than 100 hour on the boat per year. Its faster and most of my cruising/fishing will be in Long Island Sound (not far from shore) with occassional trips to the canyons, Block and the Cape area. However, the Cabo appears to be a more substantial boat with a 12.5 beam as opposed to the 10.6 Pursuit. The Cabo has more living space below which may make it better for cruising and a better boat for when it gets rough. Any thoughts on one versus the other would be appreciated. Prices are simillar for late model boats. If you have one for sale at a realistic price considering todays dismal economic envioronment please let me know.

The Cabo is a very nicely finished, very solid boat with high quality hardware. I assume the Pursuits will have four stroke Yamaha F250s. One thing I would point out is that you will be spending a whole lot more to maintain the engines on the Cabo. You did not say which engines are in the boats you are considering. Most have 3126B Cats and you will be very impressed when you see your first bill for the regular maintenance!.

You will be a lot more comfortable offshore in the Cabo, that's for sure and the big cockpit and clean transom will be much better for fishing than the Pursuit. I ran one for a few years and did many canyon trips so I do have direct experience. The 31 Cabo is a very wet riding boat but if you don't mind the water cascading over the windshield, the ride is not bad. The replacement 32 model is a lot better, by the way, but I doubt you can find one in the same price bracket (though who knows in this weak market). The 31 Cabo is quite noisy at the helm as are most express Diesel boats since you are basically sitting on top of two big Diesels. A used one is not likely to have the quieter common rail Diesels but even those are pretty loud at cruise speed, especially compared to the very quiet ride with four stroke outboards.

On balance, since your annual use will be limited and you are not primarily focused on running out to the canyons, if it were me I would opt for an outboard boat such as the Pursuit. And that is coming from a twin Diesel owner...but I put on twice the hours you do and use my boat primarily for offshore fishing. You will also get a faster cruise with the Pursuit. The 31 Cabos with Cats will cruise around 26-27 kts, while you should be about to do 28-30 kts or even a little better with the outboards in good sea conditions.

[handn]

A Cabo and an outboard Pursuit for the same $$$, no way. Maybe a five year old Cabo and a new Pursuit.
A Cabo 31 rides well and provides a much more comfortable cabin than a Pursuit--the beam is 3 foot greater. Don't run it without spray curtains however.
Don't assume that the boat will ride better just because it has twin diesels. There are bone shakers and smooth riders in both categories.

[TR3]

Let me clarify. On Yachtworld I see three 2000 year Cabo 31s listed between $179,000 to $199,000. One is actually listed at $129,000. 2005 -2006 Pursuits with Yamaha 250s are at simillar prices. I am leaning towards the Pursuit because of its greater speed and my primary use as a cruising boat in and around Long Island sound. I also plan to do limited offshore fishing with a trip or 2 to the Canyons per year. The pursuit actually has more bearths than the Cabo. However, the Cabo feels less cramped because it is a bigger boat. Both appear to be great choices. The decision my come down to price and who is willing to be the most realistic in today's economy.

[SeaNile]

Some of the 31 Cabo's did not ride so well, I forget which years. Anyway, twin diesels hands down, better ride, better around the docks, no throttle jockeying with a following sea, etc. Diesels are the way to go, set the throttles, let the torque and larger props do their job.

--JK
www.seanile31.com

[LI32]

"Some of the 31 Cabo's did not ride so well, I forget which years."

That is actually the Cabo 35's issue. The hulls made up tp model year 2000 are the old design, which rode hard; the 2000 and never are better, but still not great. The new 36 is much batter than the old 35. All of the 31's are the smae hull irrespective of year.

As someone said - look at the overall cost of ownerhip - diesels are far more expensive to maintain, especially if you are not going to do the work yourself. On the other hand, I can't stand fishing around two big outboards.

[darbikrash]

After owning 3 diesels boats, I won't be going back to diesels unless the next boat is too large to make outboards feasible. A number was thrown out previously in this thread of 18k lbs, i think this this sounds about right for the cutoff for gas. Maybe 15k if you want to split hairs. For me, anything under this weight and it's outboards all the way.

The Pursuits are 6 years newer than the Cabo 31's you looked at. Apples and Oranges. Cabo's are a very nice boat, but they really don't ride well, as already mentioned. The bigger ones (the 40' and 43") are excellent sea boats, but not so the smaller ones. I don't have any experience with the new 38'.

Out here on the West coast it's all about range. Used to be, the only way you could get range was diesel, that and diesel fuel was always quite a bit cheaper. Also, the old school 6-71's and other 2 stroke diesels were really reliable (in the lower HP ratings) and pretty cheap to maintain. Actually, you didn't really even need to do much but change the oil and fuel filter, and just run them. Not so the newer electronic diesels. They're still plenty reliable, but expensive to maintain, and most don't last like the older 2 stroke motors. A visit to boatdiesel.com will shock you with stories of modern diesel failures @ 1000-1500 hours.

The mileage and socialbility of modern 4 stroke outboards is vastly superior to diesel if you are pushing less than 15k of boat. My current 35' gets better economy than my previous boat, a twin diesel 28'. And a whole lot faster, a whole lot quieter, and cheaper to maintain.

Just my $.02

[offshorebri]

Which transom would you rather have????? Imagine the tuna trip off shore, the weekend at the sand bar, the cocktails at the local dockside pub, watching the fireworks......etc, etc,etc.......

Diesel Inboards that will cruise at 25 knts burning 18 GPH



Or outboards.....cruising slightly faster burning slightly more fuel


Unless you need to do 30 knts regularly or unless you often traverse shallow water, there is NO substitute for all that IRON down below..........IT IS PHYSICS.....................As far as maintenance......I am winding down my third season at about 325 total hours. So far all I have done is three oil changes????? Done myself for a total cost of about a hundred bucks....FOR ALL THREE......A well maintained low HP diesel will get 5000 hours......How many High HP 4 strokes are out there that have been pushing 10,000 pound boats for 5000 hours????????

And I don't get all the hype about the initial cost of diesels??? 200 HP Yanmars new complete with new gears are 18 grand.....How much is a new 200 HP 4 Stroke??? Not much less.......

There is really no smoke and or smell with newer diesels either.........

The decision seems to be a no brainer...................

[darbikrash]

I do agree on the transom comment. Totally true. I think an outboard express configuration gives up something for fishability, as the transom is cluttered, and it's hard to get forward to swing baits at a paddy.

Because of this, I went to a CC design, and am much happier. I still have a stand up head and plenty of storage, and can fish 360 degrees around so the transom is no issue at all.

Even at 25 kts I still get better economy on the outboard 35' than my diesel Albie. A better ride too.

To each his own.

[grin]

I would go the outboards route. It will be much more enjoyable over the boarderline sized big boat. My friends had a 31 Cabo (around year 2000) and it was loud, wet and not really that fast at all. It fished very nice, but that's it. Also think about the cruise factor. In that Cabo your kind of buried up in the corner in there under all your issenglass. In short, you can see sheet! Does it have a tower? That would be nice, but furthers maintenance and cleaning time. The Pursuitt would be so nice for cruising, better on fuel at every point except at troll speed(I think anyay), so much easier to clean up at the end of the day(Express boats have alot of cockpit area to clean up), so much less maintenance, so much quieter at cruise, so much easier to store or even trailer.
My friends 31 Cabo needed repowered after about 5 years. The cost killed them and, believe it or not, they sold it and bought a 30 Pusuitt with twin 225 4 stroke Yams which they run today. The Cabo is extremely nice at the dock and while on the troll/actually fishing. At every other point you will enjoy the outboard machine much more. If you have a mate that can maintain it without $$$ being a option, and someone else to clean it after you use it, and you have a good place to dock it, then the Cabo become s a option. I still would go the other route personally.