Offshoreonly.com - Baja compared to Sunsation??

I have owned both. I have kind of come full circle in my opinions of Sunsation in the past and now.

I have owned three Baja brand boats including a 20 Outlaw, 245 and a 25 Outlaw being the most recent. My 25 was a great boat and in all honesty I might still have it had my wife and I not had our first child and I wanted to alleviate some debt. My only gripes about my Baja boats was the attention to detail in the rigging and some of the fit and finish. You do get a huge bang for your buck though. Yes there will always be Baja haters but in my opinion they have always been a great boat. One thing the haters need to remember is that there is always a better, faster boat out there.

My first experience with a Sunsation 288 was not a good one. In fact, after taking a ride in a poker run in one an aquantence of mine owned, I vowed never to get back in one. From the passenger bolster it felt unsettled and all over the place sometimes coming down on one side or the other when the going got rough. I am not a novice to rough water or performance boats and it is one of the few times I was nervous. The guy I was riding with had owned the boat for a few months but had owned several performance boats so I figured he knew how to operate his stuff. What I have later found is that the guy really did not know how to drive the boat and operate it in that kind of water which brings us to some differences.

As a guide, my 25 was a 2006 model with all the options including 35th anniversary package. My 288 is a 2001 model with Mcleod interior and some other custom touches.

The 25 being a standard deep v non-ventilated hull is kind of hard to get into trouble in. Not saying it is impossible but it is a no-frills hull without any tricks. Hammer the throttle and hold on and even a novice will be safe with mild power. The Sunsation requires a bit more input due to the step in the hull...older Sunnys had kind of a half step and newer ones have a full step. I would call my Sunny more of a driver's boat needing more input from tabs, drive and throttle to get the most performance and handling out of it.

The 288 is a bigger boat, if only by a couple feet. It feels bigger in rougher water and has just enough extra length to span bigger rollers. Now, while it has added room in the cabin and overall length, it is not much bigger if at all in the cockpit. In fact, I would say it has almost identical room as the 25 in that aspect. The sun pad on the 25 is bigger if that is important.

As far as fit and finish, I have been very pleased with my Sunny. The rigging is great and the glasswork and gell work are very good. The engine compartment is well finished and all wiring is done very neatly. My 25 was also very good but the wiring was not as neat and the finish in the bilge was a bit more confused looking. I would say out of 1-10 I would give my 25 a 7.5 and my sunny a 9.

Speed between my Sunny and 25 WITH EQUAL POWER is about the same. I got around 66 out of the 25 any day of the week in any condition with a 496HO and my sunny is a solid 70 no matter what with a warmed over 502.

As I said before, my 25 was a fantastic boat but this go around I wanted something different after three Bajas. I am extremely happy with my 288 but I would go back to a bigger Baja in a heartbeat when the times comes to make a move to a larger boat.

In the end you just need to drive and experience both and buy the one you like the best.