Can anyone please tell me the main benifits of having staggered engine placement besides the obivious of having more room to perform work when needed on the engines.

weight distribution

Do a search on OSO, been covered a few ways.

But it's better center of gravity because you can put the engines lower in the hull.

Improved Handling.

Better Efficientcy.

Staggered is always faster than a side by side.

Easier to work on and maintain

Looks Cool


Thats pretty much it in a nutshell.


Jon

and Drives closer together better attack.

The other thing that nobody has mentioned is that staggered motors allow one to place the drives lower in the hull with no negative effect on drag and thus speed. So, in rough water, your drives break contact with the water later - giving you more consistent thrust. So a boat with staggered motors will be faster in rough water than an identical boat with side by side motors. The benefit of making it easier to work on the motors was actually pretty low on the "reasons to do it" list.

Similar to what "Too Stroked" mentioned, the main thought is most boats have a "best" thrust height relative to the keel. With a staggered boat you can get closer to the ideal thrust height with the least amount of drive in the water at speed for less drag. Balance is another part of this equation with a side benefit of a lower cg.

How about one in front of the other?