Thoughts on the 47 Lightning
 

I wanted to hear your thoughts on the 47 Lightning with the different power options, it seems that the tripple 500 package was/is the most popular. What do you think? I did a search for the subject but couldn't find anything.

I think the trips are WAY less desirable than twins, just look at some of the recent sales to confirm this.

I don't know if it's fear of fuel use (which isn't a totally reasonable fear), maintenance, (which IS a reasonable fear) or just insurance.

From what I as seeing, trip 42's and 47's were selling for less than comparable twins.

Just a thought. I would want 525's,.......but nothing more.

I love the triple set up. It is IMPOSSIBLE not to get that smile when you start them up one by one.... They are VERY CHEAP to run also those 47 triple Lightnings.. ;-)

i would love to trade my 42 towards a 47 oneday.

I love the 47. I have had two. first was a 96 with small blower motors and the second was a 01 500 efi boat. Just today, I was thinking that I wanted another one!

What will a small step trip 500 top out at vs big step trip 500? I ve been eyeing a couple 2002 models

how are they cheaper to run than twins? More maintance than a twin.

I have triples in my 47. I love it. There are big advantages to twins in a 42, but the weight and size of the 47 means big power and #6's for twins. Loss of longevity and maintenance schedules for the big power twins is traditionally much costlier than maintenance on 3 milder power motors;however, it seems that recently the 700's and 850's have become much more durable with mercury no longer recommending complete teardown at 50 hours which was ridiculous.

What does it cost you in gas per day to run your boat with triples? The 500 EFI in my 29 is a pretty fuel efficient engine, I can spend about $200 and drive the boat for a whole weekend and have some left over.

I get about 1 mpg at cruising speed, much less at WOT (which I rarely do for very long-just too fast for me with people in the boat). It cruises comfortably in the 50's. The motors don't work very hard to attain and maintain that speed.

I have triples and don't mind. Like pookie said one mile to the gallon, but I love the ammenities. The biggest problem with triples right now is getting it financed.

nothing wrong with having 3...:party-smiley-004:

ttt

I also wonder what people spend on a day's worth of fuel with trip 500's?

I have had a '99 47' with triple 525SCs for several years now in upper part of Chesapeake Bay. Great boat in any weather conditions and uses less fuel per mile than my buddies Sea Rays, Regals, etc. Just bought a canal property in Florida and will be trading down to something in the 30' to 35' range to trailer back and forth if anyone wants to trade up to the 47'.

We just traded for this 2002 47 with 117 hours on the boat and motors. The boat is ment.....

Why not trailer the 47?

Pookie answered you. It depends how hard you run. I can make the belly tanks last all weekend in my triple 540's or I can burn throught the belly tanks in 4 hours. I could do the same thing in my twin 502 29 Fountain.

It all comes down to how hard and how long you run. I prefer three mild engines vs. two big blower engines myself.

That picture gives me a woody....:party-smiley-004::coolcowboy:

one of the repo yards (national liquidators ) has a 2002 47' low hours (57 motors 6 on genny ) w/3-575's asking price 128k

In my opinion, triples are the way to go with a leisure performance boat that size and weight. The big power twins and drives are a maintenance nightmare.They are great for a race boat with a team of mechanics but impractical for the leisure performance boater. The exception may be the new 700's, but even with those, they have about half the life of same total power twins. Any performance boat with twins or triples is going to get similar milage WOT, smaller ones may do a litlle better at cruising speed. Taking all the expenses into account fuel is not a major difference.
All that aside, the 47 is an excellent all around performance boat for all kinds of water and all kinds of uses. It is relatively comfortable to spend a weekend overnighting which is a huge difference from the 42 cabin. It is still trailerable, but you have to plan your trip and launches carefully.

I think the 47 with twin 850"s would be a nice package.

The 700's are quickly building an excellent reputation for durability and longevety. You will never break a set of 6's with 700 horsepower and you have a setup that will move the weight and length of that beast without a fuel or maintenance headache

That would be a pretty sweet combo.

I am selling my CMI's off my center engine if any of you triple owners are interested.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ml#post3001978

tbone are you converting to twins?

cdowns,

I looked at that boat a couple of weeks back with JJ and Gus. It is a super nice boat. For what it is, not a bad price on it either. Gonna be a little too big for me though. It was sitting next to the one the gentleman traded for. It is nothing short of spectacular from bow to stern.