25 or 26 outlaw?
 

Fixing to be in the market for a 25 or 26 outlaw.What are the pros and cons on each.I know the 26 is a liner boat.Does it have the same issues as the 30?
Also ,how do these boats compare to a 27 fountain?

Great questions, first some 26's did/do have liner issues, does not seem to be as prevalent as 30 ol and 402's.

25 OL and 27 Fountain. I have owned a couple of both. Fountain comes standard with more options, like Hydrolic steering, power bolsters, and such. Honestly in the ocean or gulf I go with 25 OL, inland lake/river I'd choose the 27 Fountain. I am bias both ways I like both.

the 26 seems to hold the water a little better. the weight keeps it running well in bigger sea, and still tracks and handles very very nice.
over all i think the 25 had better interior vinnal wise, the new one seems a tad thin but still good.
the 26 has a lot more room in the cockpit. both very nice boats, if i had to choose for what i do ocean boating and over night trips i would get a 26

No ocean and no over nighting.Inland waters.Day trips.Do like some of the features fountains come with but like the styling and price on the baja.29 fountain would be my choice but i want to stay with something fairly new in the 50k range.

$50k would get you into a 26 Outlaw and you'd probably have a little money left over going with the 25 Outlaw.

I looked at both....hard....and wound up with the 26. As mentioned, it's a little better in rough water, but the main reasons I chose it were the depth and size of the cockpit. Although the additional depth doesn't add any space, it makes it "feel" a little safer with the higher freeboard. The 2 things I didn't like about the 25 were the lack of room under the hatch and in front of the rear seats. You can actually ride standing up in the back of the 26, something you can't do in the 25. I also wasn't crazy about the cuddy carpet glued into the 25; they fixed this on the 26 as well.

The downsides are the price (the 26 will probably cost a little more with similar power), the speed (the 25 is smaller and faster, but not by much), and the potential problems of liner/grid construction. I know of one 26 that had problems, and that guy knows of one other. Don't think the problems were widespread on that model. That said, there is the potential for structural problems with just about any boat, but was more common on some of the Baja boats when they went to the liner/grid construction. The 23 Outlaw in particular had lots of problems.

Both are great boats though and you'll be happy with either decision. The Donzi 26zx is another one to look at if you want something that's "big for it's size". Fountain makes a fast boat and they're nice, but the 27 Fever is much smaller than it's length would indicate. The 288 Sunsation is also a nice, fast boat, but like the Fountain it gets some of it's speed by being smaller.

if you can find a 26 that fountain built that would have stringers like the 25 and 24ols and be faster cause of higher XD.