CONTINUOUSWAVE

[What is the durability of pre-1990 OUTRAGE 2O and OUTRAGE 22] boats?

ASIDE: I have been looking for a OUTRAGE 20 or OUTRAGE 22 pre-1990 model. I found a boat. I love the look of [the boat I found]. [The boat I found has] stress cracks and wear and tear on the interior. [The boat I found likely has] water in the hull. [The boat I found is] powered with a 1998 Evinrude 225 OceanPro. [The seller says the boat speed at full throttle is] 30-[nautical-miles-per-hour].

[Does the boat speed of 30-nautical-miles-per-hour for the boat I found] seem slow [to readers of this post]?

Welcome P.L.

Difficult to answer your question without significant information.

Q1: what model is [the boat you found]?
Q2: a 20 Outrage?
Q3: a 22 Outrage?

All models will hold up well if maintained. It depends on how it was cared for. Look to see if the fuel tank, the fuel lines, and all through-hull drains have been replaced if [the boat you found is a] saltwater boat. If original, subtract $3,500 to $4000 to the price if the listing is greater than $10,000.

Wide open throttle (WOT) performance is based on many factors. I would expect a Outrage 22, running light to reach low 40's with a well maintained, correctly propped and mounted 225-HP engine. An Outrage 20 should reach close to 50 mph.

Thanks. [The boat I found is] a [1981--always use four digits for year] 22 Outrage listed [for sale] for $15,500.

[The] exterior hull is new AWLGRIP.

Wiring (apparently ) was replaced.

The seller disclosed the interior needs some work on stress cracks and teak restoration.

In the early 1980 [OUTRAGE] models [is there a] big difference between the 22 and the 20?

[The boat I buy will] be used for day cruising in Chesapeake Bay, for tubing, and for water skiing with the children.

I am not a fan of painting a boat that has factory gelcoat. Proper hull preparation is key to avoid paint failures that show up in a year or two.

Most boats do not need painting, rather color matched gelcoat repairs.

Some cracks are expected given the age due to shrinkage. Stress cracks are a separate concern and may be an indicator of a larger concern.

The difference between the two is 2 feet in the bow. Both are admirable models.

Prices are very inflated due to COVID but still depend on condition. Location also is a factor. CA, TX coast and fresh water boats demand higher prices.

Engine compression test results? What is the explainer for the poor WOT performance? If the engine is not maintained it will be a 16-20K expense to replace.

Seller said he’s sure there is some water in the hull but [the boat I would buy] sits fine and not too low. [The seller] isn’t overly concerned.

[The seller is] replacing the fuel line. [The seller] replaced the through hull and capped another.

[Do readers think that] a survey would turn up anything significant?

Do [readers] recommend a surveyor in the Georgetown, ME [please use the full name of the state, not the postal code; ME is the postal code for Maine] area?

I’ll ask [the seller] about [the peak pressure without combustion in each cylinder of the engine].

Thank you for the help.

While the tank may be good, its replacement needs to be considered.

The fuel fill, vent and supply all should be replaced.

capped another

Yikes, this is not something we like to hear.

Surveyors are not always helpful with Boston Whalers. I would be more inclined to get a veteran owner in the area to look at it for/with you. I can reach out.

Pepper Lunch wrote:[What is the durability of pre-1990 OUTRAGE 2O and OUTRAGE 22] boats?

The boats you ask about could be more than 40-years-old. There is little basis to think that there will be some general systemic or inherent factor that will determine a similarity among all these boats with regard to their present condition in 2021. You can find boats that are like-new and boats that need extensive restoration. Their present condition depends on how well the boat was cared for and maintained for the last 40-years.

Boston Whaler boats when new are very well made boats, and this accounts for them still being on the used boat market at age 40 or older. But the effects of 40-years of use and the care taken in those 40-years will be the greatest influence on the present condition.

On the secondary topic of the performance of an individual OUTRAGE 20 or 22 pre-1990 boat with a particular 225-HP engine:

Pepper Lunch wrote:[Does the boat speed of 30-nautical miles per hour for the boat I found] seem slow [to readers of this post]?

Before answering, we need to agree on what the criterion is for judging the boat to be "slow." My assessment will judge the boat on the basis of what boat speed is obtained compared what to what boat speed would be expected for the boat and engine combination. This is the most reasonable assessment. To judge a boat speed as being fast or slow without a method of comparison to what the expected speed ought to be is not particularly useful, so even though 30-nautical-miles-per-hour is quite a fast boat speed, I don't judge the speed in the absolute sense. Rather I judge it in comparison to what I believe should be expected from the particular combination under discussion.

Generally the speed of boats is given in statute miles per hour (MPH). Measuring boat speed in nautical miles per hour is usually only done when a vessel is "at sea," that is, is making long ocean passages out of sight of land.

To assess your report of boat performance for compliance with our expectations, the first step is to convert the speed to MPH, which is 34.5-MPH.

Next, we compare 34.5-MPH to the performance expected with a 225-HP engine on the boat you found, which you later informed us was an OUTRAGE 22.

The dry weight of an OUTRAGE 22 hull should be around 2,100-lbs. For a boat in this size range the total boat weight when equipped with an engine, fuel, gear, and crew will roughly be twice the dry hull weight, so we can estimate a boat weight of 4,200-lbs.

The engine is rated at 225-HP at the propeller shaft, so that value will be used for the engine power.

From the boat weight and engine power we can predict the top speed possible, if we know a coefficient called the hull factor and we know the units of speed desired. In this case, the boat has a classic Boston Whaler moderate V-hull, and we know the hull factor for calculating boat speed in MPH.

Now we find the estimated maximum boat speed according to the method of George Crouch, a naval architect. His method predicts the speed will be the the square root of the power to weight ratio times the hull coefficient, and in this case that is 180 × (225/4200)^0.5, or 41.7-MPH (because we used the hull factor scaled for MPH).

Finally we compare the speed reported to the potential speed estimated. The boat is only hitting 34.5-MPH instead of the estimated 41.7-MPH, so the boat performance is not as expected.

There are only three variables in the calculation of potential speed: the boat weight, the engine power, the hull factor used. To account for the the boat failing to reach its potential speed we can only speculate what influence has caused the poor performance. The short list is:

• the boat weighs more than we thought
• the engine power is less than we thought
• the hull factor is wrong

Because there is a substantial amount of data that shows that the hull factor for a Boston Whaler moderate v-hull boat is generally at least 180 and sometimes higher, and the calculation used 180, there is no basis to think the hull factor was wrong, and, if anything, a slightly higher hull factor might be more appropriate, which would make the gap between expected boat speed and reported boat speed even greater.

This leaves only the boat weight or the engine power as the likely cause of the boat not reaching the expected boat speed at full throttle.

Since the boat weight used in the calculation was just an estimate, the boat could actually have a different weight. The next step will be to get a better figure for the boat weight by weighing the boat on a calibrated scale while on its trailer, then using the same scale, and re-weighing the empty trailer. The boat weight is then calculated by subtracting the trailer weight from the weight of the boat and the trailer. This will give a better value for boat weight than the estimated value.

The horsepower used in the calculation was the rated horsepower of the engine. The engine may not be producing its rated horsepower. This often occurs due to two influences: the engine is in poor tune, or the propeller is not properly fitted and prevents the engine from accelerating to the engine speed necessary to produce the rated power. The next step will be to get information about the engine speed at full throttle.

With the limited information, I have told you about all I can about the boat performance.

Also note: if the seller represented the speed of the boat as "30" and was not clear about the unit of measurement, and if the boat actually only can get to just 30-MPH, then the performance deviation from the expected boat speed of 41.7-MPH is even greater than suggested in my analysis above, in which I relied on the reported speed of "30" to be, as you stated, in "knots" or nautical-miles-per-hour.

Pepper Lunch wrote:Do [readers] recommend a surveyor in the Georgetown, ME...area?

I am confused because you mention the boat will be used in Chesapeake Bay, so why do you want a surveyor from Maine? Or, perhaps there is a Chesapeake Bay in Maine.

As PHIL T comment implies, any assessment of the condition of a Boston Whaler boat with by a marine surveyor should use a marine surveyor that is familiar with the method of construction of the hull, the unique Unibond hull, and employ a marine surveyor with prior experience in assessing Boston Whaler Unibond hulls.

If you need advice on assessing the value of a classic Boston Whaler boat you are considering for purchase, you may find my article

Buying Classic Boston Whaler Boats
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/buying.html

to be useful.

Pepper Lunch wrote:In the early 1980 models [is there a] big difference between the 22 and the 20?

The OUTRAGE 20 and OUTRAGE 22 boats are believed to have very similar hull shapes, with the principal difference occurring in the aft part of the hull, where an additional two-feet of hull is found in the 22-footer model compared to the 20-foot model.

In the cockpit or deck liner, there is a significant difference in the 20-foot model from the 22-foot model. The OUTRAGE 20 will have a full-width engine splash well. The OUTRAGE 22 pre-1990 will have a deeper engine splash well that is not a full-width splash well. The OUTRAGE 22 later was revised to have the full-width splash well.