I know the original topic was to buy your first performance boat. With a wife and two small kids...are they onboard with your passion? Most young families in my area are 100% on bow riders or cuddy cabins. Sub 30 foot performance boats are big compromises in space and amenities for a bit of speed.

Just sayin.....happy wife...happy life.

^^^ You had to remind us of family likes/dislikes and our commitments..
Buzzkill….!
🙂

Agree on twins vs single maintenance comments, but the OP want's to go boating in the ocean so you kind of need a twin engine boat in my opinion. If it was me I'd be looking for a twin outboard performance boat, but would probably cast that aside for a unicorn like a single engine 28 Saber. I alway's took care of my family's boats growing up too, but the go-fast was completely different in terms of the care and maintenance it required. The only way I'd go back to a twin engine boat is if it had outboards. The difficulty of working on the motors is worse than the maintenance cost. The maintenance is not too bad if you can do it yourself, but dang every time I worked on that thing it was like getting in a fight with a toolbox and the toolbox won every time and I had a ton of help too.

Twin outboards is where it's at. My next boat gets outboards and a joystick!

I didnt see a budget listed, the 29 Outlaw is a nice entry level boat available in small and big block configurations, 24* dead rise makes for a nice ride, large cockpit and good size cuddy, I had a 33 Outlaw same color scheme as this one.

Forgot to mention a couple things about boat hunting/pricing/values - accessories:

Full hydraulic steering - you for sure want this and should just factor it in from the beginning - it's totally unacceptable to be zipping along at 60 mph with slop in the steering wheel. To me it affects the price of a used boat by about $3k for a single and $5k for twins.

Blue motor/500 EFI - I would make this a priority - maybe worth $5k over a 496HO with similar hours to me.

Upholstery - Rough looking upholstery is probably your best bet at finding a good deal on a boat. Magic eraser can do amazing things if it's not too far gone and perfect upholstery with kids might be foolish anyway. Figure $7k to have a good upholstery shop completely redo the cockpit and sun pad in the latest and greatest marine vinyl/fabrics available.

Bimini - Nice but not essential and can be more of a pain to deal with than the simple Anchor Shade. More of a pain pulling the bimini out and putting it up and packing away than Anchor Shade - but it has two advantages 1. Can run with it up at lower speeds (sub-40mph) 2. Can pop it up and pop it down quicker if you have to stop and go through no-wake. Maybe up to $1500 for a nice stainless custom-fit bimini with Sunbrella and possible addition of shelves/brackets to store it under the engine hatch.



Folks touting the low/ease of maintenance for outboards are often falling victim to false equivalence fallacy. Comparing the reliability of 20 year old inboards with unknown maintenance history vs 5 year old outboards is not valid. I'll concede it can be more difficult to perform maintenance yourself on the inboards because of access but if you're paying a mechanic you're paying the same either way. They have done it long enough they know how to get done in one hour what would take me half a day plus waiting for more parts or specialty tools to come in the mail plus another half day etc. Some maintenance items are easier to perform on inboards.

Kids are good with anything on the water. Wife would have preferred a bowrider but going out in rough water on the sound or possible ocean just makes that seem impractical so she is warming up to it. Coupled with I've been wanting one for 20 years and nagging her about it since we met she is sort of caputlating, lol.

That's gorgeous,. Budget is 45k or less ideally. I've thought of a 25 outlaw, not sure I could afford a 29.


All valid points I agree with 100%. Front runner right now is probably the Fastech 271 with a blue motor or at least a 496ho. Seems to be the roomiest cabin and the best quality of the bunch. Weight with the single is pretty good too for the F150 towing it around. Only hangup in my mind is do I go twins and switch over then to the Donzi 28ZX. They seem to be running about the same as the formulas 271 with a big single.

How concerned should I be with the non closed loop cooling system motors? What type of maintenance would I be looking at above what I was used to? I agree with fighting the motor in small spaces suck. I like that the Donzi the whole back seat raises up for easier access.


Appreciate all the input from everyone. It's very insightful!

Here's what my 292 looks like, for what it's worth

I think your choice will come down to what's available within your budget. You are looking at boats that are going to be decades old and probably nearing any original part end of life potentially. Unless you can find a museum piece but then $$ goes way up.

Closed or open cooled motors have their plusses and minuses. I prefer closed keeping the majority of the engine components bathed in coolant. But they have their maintenance needs as well.

Survey, survey, survey!!

there in your price point, closed cooled 496's

https://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/38883