Hey Don -
My 23 has a 30" transom with a glassed in bulkhead across the splashwell and a folding door that folds up all the way to the top of the stern boxes. With any load, i have yet to have standing water in the cockpit of my boat. I have a new Yamaha F-250 4 stroke with fly by wire shifting and the fuel management gauges. We have touched 47 mph lightly loaded. Realistic load it's a 45 mph boat. Heavy load about 40 - 42 mph. Load doesn't seem to affect the cruise speed much. 3900 - 4000 RPM's @ 28 - 30 mph depending on conditions getting 3.0 - 3.2 mpg according to the gauges. I have checked and they are accurate to within 5%. Any load i have had on the boat, i have never felt a lack of power. The boat always jumps up on plane and gets to cruise speed with ease. Seems like weight really only affects my top end.
All that being said - offshore fishing here could be as close as 30 miles, more like 40 and could be out to 60. Having 2 engines is piece of mind. I would probably build the rig with 2 tanks, 2 filters, etc for redundancy. Likewise, i think the enclosed transom and set back of bracket makes the boat "feel" like a bigger rig.
In any case - my goal is a twin engine, full bracket rig that when the weather is right i can run and get to the canyons quicker.
I'd be fine with something in the 26' range with a 8.5 - 9' beam but the only way i could afford such a rig is a project that i can work on and pay for over time.
That being said - what hull exists that fits that profile and is worth restoring? Again, i was looking hard at a 25 seavee but most run them with singles, and they still only have an 8' beam.
THoughts?
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