Triple and Quad Outboard Sightings

[MattFL]

It seems that almost every boat now in my area has at least three outboards, and most have four--or more. Needless to say, small boats like my Montauk 17 are becoming rare.

Q: Are you seeing similar trends?


The attached picture is a common site now. What you're seeing is four boats with quads, two boats with triples, and zero boats with less than three engines. It's just a random seawall that we stopped to fish along. I'm not sure if it's a sign that the rich are getting richer, or that the rich are just all moving to my area.

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[jimh]

Here in the Great Lakes I seldom see any outboard-engine boats with triple or quad engines. You must be in VERADO country. I hardly see any single-engine VERADO boats.

The biggest engine rigging I recall seeing recently was a very nice set-up on a PURSUIT 32-foot express with twin Yamaha F350:

We very much admired this beautiful 32-foot Express from PURSUIT with twin Yamaha F350 engines. Its octogenarian owner was in spry condition. He said this was the 28th boat he'd owned. Photo by the author, taken in Killarney, Ontario, Canada, July 24, 2018, at Sportsman's Inn Resort and Marina.

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This is a very good example of a practical and useful twin engine rig on a larger boat. Exactly why anyone would need or want four engines and 1,600-HP is beyond the comprehension of the boaters I know and boat with.

[MattFL]

There are definitely a lot of Mercury engines here [Florida], but also a lot of Yamaha engines.

Suzuki engines have suddenly sprung into great popularity, and dare I say I'm starting to see more new Suzuki engines than other brands--I think due in large part that they're less expensive. Three of my friends all bought new Suzuki engines for their boats, due to the better pricing relative the other brands, all three boats were rigged with twin engines.

Seven Marine engines are also popping up more often than they used to; a few weeks ago we even saw a boat with five Severn Marine engines.

Honda seems to be vanishing. We don't see many of them anymore.

[jimh]

I watch a lot of cable sport channel television, particularly FOX Sports channels. HONDA is advertising very prominently on those programs. They are the only engine brand I see advertising on cable TV.

I have only seen one SUZUKI engine in the Great Lakes--on Dave's PAU HANA OUTRAGE V-20. That's been it for that brand up here. But I saw tons of them in the Carolinas a few years ago.

In the cold, clear, pristine fresh water of the Great Lakes, outboard boaters don't buy new engines every three years. Engines last for 30-years or more up here with appropriate care. They only get used ten weeks every year.

[biggiefl]

The reason why we are seeing more triple, quad and larger engine boats is due to an ongoing trend. Thirty years ago there were not many 30-foot or larger center console boat and to power them with two-stroke outboards was very costly on fuel. With the trend to moving to larger center consoles and the efficiency of modern outboards, multi-engine outboard power is a match that is very good for a large center console boats. Many of these outboard engine rigs are much cheaper and get the same--if not better MPG--than a diesel inboard would, not to mention their greater speed. What would take half a day to reach in a 45 Viking at 24-MPH can be done in a couple hours with a boat that is capable of running 60 to 70-MPH.

[dtmackey]

I see twins, but not many triples and quads in my area and there's lots of boats in my area. Yes, there are multi-outboard boats here and there, but nothing like what I see in FL.

The difference could be we can access water 400-feet-deep within 20-miles offshore, where other areas of the country you are running 60 to 80-miles to hit those depths. The Gloucester Tuna fleet heads out 18 to 22 miles offshore and the last boat they'd pick is a center console multi-engine boat.

The multi-engine large center console boats I've seen in the area usually have a trophy wife onboard and usually head to a local harbor to "hang out" and enjoy a lazy day.

D-

[biggiefl]

I would imagine that in colder climate areas a cabin or enclosed boat would be preferred.

[Jefecinco]

This week temperatures have been in the upper seventies and lower eighties with very moderate winds. We are seeing a few dozen recreational boats zooming up and down the waterway celebrating the beginning of Spring on the Alabama Coast. We see many twin engine powered boats with a few triple engine and an occasional quad engine boats in the mix. We have not yet seen a boat with five engines on our part of the waterway. I've seen one on a lift on Old River and one in a slip at the San Roc Quay Marina. Red Snapper season opens on May 22nd. Come on down and enjoy some good fishing.

[jimh]

I would imagine that in colder climate areas a cabin or enclosed boat would be preferred.

There is always a stretch of nice weather in northern Michigan in late October or in November, with beautiful sunny days and very little wind, when I think how nice it would be to have a boat with an enclosed pilot house, like a PARKER, and be able to go out boating. Maybe there'd be a little kerosene heater in the cabin. You'd have the water to yourself, as everyone else's boat would be hauled-out for the season.

In the northern Great Lakes, however, even in the peak of Summer, late July and early August when we usually are aboard the boat for a week or more on a cruise, we just about always leave up all the weather canvas once we get it put on. I remember one night in July we drove up to Tobermory towing the boat, and we launched late at night. We got the canvas out and tried to put it on, but the temperature was down in the low 50's, the fabric and the isinglass was very stiff, and we could hardly get the snaps to fit onto their mates. That was a very cool summer night on the boat.

[Jefecinco]

Water temperature in Mobile Bay and at the beaches climbed from 61 to 69 F during the past week.

[jimh]

An earlier thread discusses the rise of very powerful outboard engines:

http://continuouswave.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5070

In the USA there are exhaust emission regulations that seem to favor outboard engines, particularly over very large diesel inboard engines. The effect of these regulations can also be seen as an influence that has increased the number of boats powered by three and four outboard engines.

But the only indication of a trend toward three-engine and four-engine rigged outboard boats that I have actually seen myself has been limited to the showroom floor of the local Boston Whaler dealer, who had two or three big Boston Whaler boats rigged with multiple engines. That dealer, COLONY MARINE, is on Lake St. Clair. Considering Lake St. Clair to the USA-CANADA border has a width from his dealership of about four miles, the need for a boat that cover 70-miles in one hour seems a bit farfetched. Even if you want to travel the full width of the lake and into Canadian water, its only about 20-miles. If you can hit 70-MPH you'd get there in 17-minutes. I am not up-to-date on exactly what needs to be done these days if you drive your boat across the USA-CANADA border and enter their waters. You'd better not stop, anchor, or tie-off with another boat, or else you'd need to formally enter Canada and pass immigration and customs inspection. Then you'd need to formally re-enter the USA on return, and pass their immigration and customs inspection. I bet most boaters are keeping to their own side of the border.

[Jefecinco]

Spring Break is in full swing here on the Alabama Coast. We spent a half hour at Perdido Pass, the main outlet from the marinas to the Gulf. The traffic was very heavy with tourist oriented boats being in the majority. Six feet of separation appears to be the last thing the visiting, mostly college, students are thinking of. They are packed into the parasail and Dolphin watching boats like sardines in a can.

Teens seem to continue to have the feeling of indestructibility that I had as a teen. At least their chance of surviving a Covid 19 infection is much higher than for us old folks.