Typical Tow Weight - 27-29' Range, Single Engine V Hull
 

Gentlemen,

Four years into my boating career I'm doing some performance boat research. I have a Yamaha 212SS jet boat right now and it fits in all the necessary slots of boat ownership for my current life situation- tow weight, boat cost, operating cost, storage, etc.

A buddy told me yesterday his 28' Checkmate with single engine (I don't know the models, it's a "typical" style V hull performance boat) weighed in at 4800 lbs including trailer.

This opened my eyes, as that size boat would be a great next step for me, forcing a few changes in the boat ownership formula, but not so many as to be prohibitive.

Is that possible / typical, a 27-29' single engine cuddy performance boat w/ trailer near 5000lbs???

Oh and I guess I should add... what manufacturers should I be looking at that make boats in this configuration? My research could use a kick start in the right direction...

I appreciate the input...

Your freind is WRONG. A 28 Checkmate will weigh around 7k depending on fuel load and whether or not its an aluminum or steel trailer.
Dry weight is around 5k.

The dry weight is about 5000 lbs as Griff says on boat alone- single engine. Count on 7000 with trailer.

Pantera builds great boats in 24 and 28 ft. Others are out there too. Sunsation, etc.

Good luck

Great thanks for the info gentlemen.

Sounded too good to be true - that's why I had to ask. :)

Water: 8 lbs. per gallon.
Gasoline: 6 lbs. per gallon. ("I always tow with an empty tank is bullshlt.")
Tools, parts, coolers, anchors, lines, and other BS that stays on the boat: 300 lbs. or so.

Then trailer, and boat. batteries, extra stereo equipment, etc. etc.
Also, "dry weight" is almost always with the lightest engine. If the boat was offered with a SBC, likely the listed dry weight spec is with such.

It adds up fast. You could easily be 7000, 8000, 9000s loaded with a single engine BBC boat, 27-29 feet; on a steel trailer; less with an aluminum trailer.
My 26' Sonic was 7280 lbs. exactly on an aluminum (junk) trailer, almost full of fuel, and all the other crap I keep on it ready to run.

Single engine BBC boat = 1/2 ton truck MINIMUM.

Just about every go-fast builder has offered a single engine BBC in that range at one time or another.

Also, remember that truck capacity weights are with an EMPTY TRUCK, only a driver. Add in your passengers, dog, coolers, suitcases, etc. etc. for the weekend road trip; and you subtract all of that from your GCWR.

My 25 Nordic Rage weighs in at 5,600 with trailer, fuel, and boat. Add a few more for gear but you can get a 25 in that weight range. Once you step up past that the weight goes up quickly.

Keep in mind that there's a pretty decent range of weights for boats in that size range. A true high performance boat will weigh less due to more advanced (and expensive) construction techniques and materials. (Skater, MTI, Outerlimits, etc.) On the other end of the scale, a typical chopper gun boat will weigh in quite a bit heavier. (Bayliner, Larson, etc.) Although a 28' Checkmate is legitimately a high performance boat, it isn't built with exotic materials and isn't vacuum bagged. So it's probably somewhere in the middle of that weight range.

I am siding with Brian on this one. Have an Active Thunder 28, and its listed at 5k dry, but like he said misc stuff, 300 lbs, figure full tank of gas another 600 now your up to 6k for the boat, add in the trailer, and figure your 7500-8k fully loaded with a single bbc. I am towing my with a Yukon Denali XL and it does a good job pulling and controlling the load. I cant imagine anything smaller being able to manage the weight.

Bahnstoermer, you also have to consider that when manufactures of these boats were putting out their weight numbers they'd undershoot. They wanted to sell boats and NOT have the new owners thinking about getting a new truck as well. If they kept the weights around the magic number 4-5K then most people who already had trucks in theory didn't need to buy a new truck. I was one of those people when we picked up our first boat, I realized that once the boat was on our driveway our F-150 with an I-6 and 5 speed transmission was not enough truck based on the numbers, and this was just a 20' Four Winns! And like Sydwayz said, the numbers add up fast, you also cannot forget to add up the truck's fuel, passengers, luggage for long weekends and the so very important coolers.

Thanks for the info guys.

By the way, I'm not new to boating, "optimistic" i.e. quoted weight numbers, how quickly **** adds up, OR buying a new truck for the boat LOL. In fact that's why I'm asking - to get the real answer on boats in this range, from the people who aren't marketing something and actually go weigh the rig "ready to run" :) I'm also in the camp of towing well under the OEM ratings, though SAE J2807 is forcing more realistic numbers which is a very good thing.

Knowing that weight varies within this length range based on build quality & purpose is new & good information for me for example. That a 25' could conceivably be in the 5k tow weight range is good info also. Thanks a great deal for the input, I appreciate it... these numbers are very useful for my research file.

To give input on my philosophy - I like clean, high reliability (and am willing to give up the highest performance for that reliability), good fit and finish, etc. I like to KISS, maintain things to a very high level, and expect reliability as a result. More than top speed I'm really after a cuddy and the ability to handle bigger water...I'm not looking for a low end boat, but certainly not an Outer Limits either. My basic formula for any power vehicle purchase is buy high quality but not exotic, and typically a few years old but excellently maintained to get some of the initial depreciation out of the way.

If the budget was $60k for a boat as described, what would good boats to investigate be - say one category in the 5k lb tow weight 25' range and another in the 27-29' 7000-8000lb tow weight range? I know there are many variables, just ideas are helpful...

Names I'm seeing so far....

Pantera?
Sunsation?
Nordic?

Velocity

As I posted on another thread recently:


Also, look at the structural and dimensional differences of these boats. The 25' Nordic, 25' Baja, 25' Checkmate, and 25' Sunsation.... are VASTLY different boats.
Some are sit down. Some are stand up. Some have no cockpit-to-cabin bulkhead. There are infinite variables.

Last, a 30' Baja (twin engine) does not compare to a 30' Superboat or 30' Activator (single engine), yet by category, they are still in the same ballpark. Sunsation has made a couple of quite different 28' models over the years, with different hulls; and also the same with their 32'--including a handful of 32' Sunsation Dominators with single BBC setups. The 30' Adrenaline was also available with single or twin; as was the 29' Baja.

If your in the market now there is an 01 Active Thunder 28 with a refreshed 500 efi, fresh updated paint and in excellent shape that just hit the market and is in your budget range. You won't find a better rough water boat with this size cuddy cabin

Link?

It's no actually listed on any sites yet. Asking $55k, pm me and i can get you in contact with the guy. Boat is located in Michigan.

2004 GMC 2500 Duramax and 2007 26OL which was a liner boat weighted in at 14,700lbs putting the boat and trailer in the 7500lbs mark. Is this real world information you're looking for?

Thanks very much guys for the starter information.... this is very helpful!


And 15 minutes later I find...

http://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/27983

THAT is the (apparent) quality and style I'm looking for, at least as far I can tell knowing only what ya'll have helped me out with thus far :)