Cobalt came out with their new 343 this year, will it be anywhere close to being able to compete with other offshore boats? The 600 SCi's are an attractive yet expensive option, my buddy just bought a new 343 with the 525 EFI's and he gets 69 mph on the GPS at Lake Tahoe, elev. 6200 ft. Any opinions?

Yea, the boat is not a serious offshore boat. It does handle great and you can't beat the ride. But it is a Cobalt and Cobalt boats are not famous for being light. I have driven several, not too impressed with the center driving position or the windshield or the cabin. For $300+ grand you could buy a faster boat. Mabey not a better constructed boat, but a faster one none the less.
Oh, BTW how serious of a offshore boat can it be with an anchor on the front? That my friends is just not right!

The dealer here indicated that they were going to cancel that model. Anybody heard anything like that?

Actually they are discontinuing the 360.

Oh yeah and coming out with a new 32' that is supposed to fill the gap between the 28'8" 282 and the 35'4" 343.

hasn't this boat been out for a few years now?

Sean, it has been out for 3 years now, I think. They (cobalt) are going into the Yacht building business. 41' to start and I think mid 50' is the top end for now.

What do you mean it looks pretty stable in the big stuff?

I have been talkin to my local dealer, they said that the boat officially came out for 2005, they had stocked a 343 with 496 Mag HO's and sold one with 525 EFI's, both with XR drives. The boat is fairly heavy for a 35' at roughly 11,000 lbs and a 9' beam. If you hit some good sized waves at 90 mph, I would imagine it would do better than a Cig or Fountain. Plus the way Cobalt builds their boats, the CG is lower than in most boats, could help with stability. A Cobalt 226 w/ a 496 Mag HO'll do 75mph, but the engine is so heavy in the back that it raises the nose every time you hit a wave. The same could be said for the 343 in that pic, it may have too much weight in the rear.

there has been 343 running around LOTO since 2003 and there are plenty of 04's for sale on boattrader online....