Ok guys im looking for a boat and I really like the idea of a open bow performance boat for carrying capacity. These two boats look almost identical to me as far as design and lines. Im looking for a comparison in speed, quality, and handling. The eclipse im looking at has a 454 with a 21 pitch prop. He says its a 70 mph boat. Is this possible? Thx

Look at them back to back and you should see any difference in quality. I think it should be noticeable to you. If they are same era boats, I lean toward baja. If you are buying for the 70mph, you need to verify it with gps. What year boats?

70mph out of an eclipse??? My 89 Eclipse 215XL with the 305 smallblock running a 17pitch prop tops out at 52mph at WOT. I would love to hear it is possible to reach 75 in this boat. granted my engine is smaller but if I change my prop to a 21 I would think I could hit 60????

As far as performance boats go though i would imagine the Baja would handle better at high speeds as well. What year are the boats you are looking at?

Neither of those boats was ever intended to go 70 MPH.

Ask the owner what his RPM is at 70 MPH.

Black merc motors are rated for 5000 rpms max, and that's for the Mag motors. 70 MPH with a 21P prop is unlikely to happen. Take you time and look around. If speed is what you are after look at other hulls.

I agree. Those boats would freak me out at 70 mph in anything more than a surface ripple.

It is very hard to beat the all around ride, speed, drivability and utility of a Formula 242 LS in this size range and they can be rigged with twin small blocks. This boat has quite a large cockpit area and likely all the capacity you need.

we had a 97 212 Baja. Decent boat. we put about 400 hours on it in 4 or 5 years. 310hp 454.
I HIGHLY recomend holding out till you can get the drop down bolsters. The 232 has them.
I was always sitting on the back of the seat.
Save some more money and step up.

Edit: 65mph MAYBE 67 max

I can tell you from personal experience that a 22' Pachanga with a 454 / 330 Alpha drive runs about 70 MPH on GPS - quite surprisingly. Of course the 454 / Alpha combination is a big reason for it due to lower hyrodynamic drag than the infinitely more common 454 / Bravo combination. (Oh, and the 454 / Alphas blow up with amazing regularity.)

I say all of that to build up to my opinion that it's quite unlikely that the Eclipse will run a "true" (GPS) 70 MPH. Maybe on the dream-o-meter on the dash, but not in the real world.

Thanks for the input. As stated earlier im looking for speed and carrying capacity. The guy that has the eclipse said it was gps at 67the with a 19p21 and now it has a 21p

Btw. Its a 94but really clean

...Just save up the extra and get yourself a 24outlaw ...a decent 454 should run 70...your guest's and you will be safe at 70mph. and you can accomdate 5 people ...although legally you could carry more.