Re: Somebody Stop Me....i Think
Well, IMO My last boat had twins, I couldn't wait to get it for that reason, then couldn't wait to get rid of it for that reason! an 86'- 22.5' Celebrity Cuddy SS with Twin OMC Cobra 4.3V6's. One big reason, was because not long after I got it, OMC went "Belly Up", and that gave my one local dealer a chance to be a bigger thief! Sure there were some advantages, and I enjoyed it for awhile, but then it became like a bad steptwins. Those V6's really liked to drink gas, nowadays thats a big concern, and of course everything was doubled at maintenance time, and you're always waiting for "the other shoe to drop" I replaced one set of risers, and didn't need to do the others, but I was waiting. Also, usually one engine controls the power steering, so you really can't alternate, and it will be run more. Also, for some reason I didn't have counterrotating props? but, it didn't seem to matter much. Because of the stiff clunky controls, and a chance of an engine stalling, I didn't use one engine against the other to turn in it's own length (as usually possible) with twins, and I had no use to go way offshore, the main reason most people get twins. Plus being a tinkerer, with one engine I could find enough reason to tinker with the engine, twins required too much tinkering. This boat was made for speed! but, From Day 1 my Port engine ran fine, but it would ocassionally stall, and I could never get it over 3K rpm? regardless of going over everything short of taking it apart piece, by piece, to find what was wrong (which I never did), while the Starboard engine would spin right up to 5K rpm easily at WOT, giving me a top speed of only 45mph?, when the boat should have been capable of 55-60mph! I never saw it, and there was no sounding board like this forum at the time to refer to. The boat was heavy for it's size, so it would track Great! meaning, once on course, nothing, or nobody, was gonna throw it off course, it rode like a tank thru rough water, fending off bigger boats, or their wake, especially in narrow channels. Finally, your not going to tow it, like your 19 footer, so figure on putting it in a marina (more expense, & less availabilty to get at it). So unless you've got bags of money in reserve, a lot of time, and some good mechanical ability, I would advise against the bigger boat with twins, but it's your call,,, If you look at my signature boat, you'll I decided to take the marina out of the picture, and K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid), Good Luck, Mike
