Single engine or twins

I am upgrading to a 27 foot sundancer. I am getting "help" from people who recommend twin engines for the redundancy, and better maneuverability. Others tell me that the singe is better because you do not have "two of everything".

I am buying used and I see way more singles than doubles. can someone please give me a bit of an education on the toipc. I am certain that there is no one answer, but any thoughts or opinions are welcome.

I moved up from single to dual drive system. The dual drives really improves slow speed maneuvering. However, now that I just winterized the boat doing two engines/drives is a lot of work. I guess everything is a trade off. The larger the boat the more benefit twin drives give. I will let others that have the size you are interested in give their expert opinions.

In that size boat, the 454 is sufficient. I don't know that you need to have twins, but they are nice. If you intend to load the boat up with people and stuff, the twins would be a better choice. If lightly loaded, the 454 would make sense. Even with twins, I can't say that I've needed them everytime I've docked the boat.

I would think twins you would have a better chance at not being towed

eman369 said:

I would think twins you would have a better chance at not being towed

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only thing bad about twins is if one thing goes bad on one engine u should be ready to fix the other one so its double the cost two engines running burning more fuel yeah it would be nice for the docking aspect but u can get used to single and how to use it.

I moved up from single to twins and I don't think I would go back to a single for a Cruiser Style boat. To me, it made all the difference in the world for maneuverability and in regards to having people on the boat--without a doubt twins.

However, it is my (one of my) goals to get a 20' or so single for quick fishing trips, tubing, skiing and as a tender--dropped my wife and her friends off over the summer and had to take a ferry back and forth--a F-ing Ferry.

So it really matters what you are going to use it for.

I made a similar move to what you are considering this late summer, You don't miss what you never had. We are still learning tight maneuvering, but it can easily be done with practice on a single. I concur with what has been presented here and want to add a couple of additional thoughts.

You didn't indicate a year range for 270s you are interested in. Some years were trailerable, some were not. Some models with twins did not have room for a generator. Do you desire one? That small of a bilge is stuffed with twins making maintenance tough and billable hours higher on repairs, as something always has to be removed to get to the item needing repair.

Good luck in your search,

MM

At a certain point, based on how much weight you need to move, you don't have a choice. For example, the mfr wouldn't put a single engine on a boat that weighs 20K lbs. I suppose a 750 hp engine isn't doable. Counter to this, I'm not sure you would "need" 2 engines on a 20-25 foot boat, unless you needed sheer speed; and, perhaps maneuverability around the dock. That is the biggest benefit I've appreciated since moving from 1 to 2 engines. Docking is a "non-issue" with 2 engines. I always had problems with the single engine; perhaps because I didn't take the time to "master" it, and partly because the boat just doesn't go where you want it to with 1 engine. With 2, it does go where you want it to go, however it isn't perfect. Lastly, with regards to redundancy, sure you may be able to get home on 1 of the engines; however, the boat will be extremely difficult to run as the steering is thrown way off, for obvious reasons, when only 1 engine is operating.

Yako, does a 27 ft SD come with either a single or twin engine? If yes, I'd take the 2, because of the fact that if they offer it, the boat with the single engine may be underpowered, in which case you may not save much gas money, as 2 engines working less, may use less fuel, as compared to 1 being overburdened. Of course, the maintenance on the 1 versus 2 will most likely more than offset this. The overburdened single engine may require additional maintenance to keep up. In the end, go with what you believe is right, and have fun!!!

For a long while we were looking at 270's, but most were single-engine 454's. I saw a couple of twins for sale, but the engine room just looked way too crowded and I thought it overkill for that boat. But then we really got to thinking about having two engines, and that's when we made the jump to begin looking at 280's. Twins are much more standard (I wouldn't look at any with singles), theres still room around them to work on, generators are more common, and you get a radar arch. It was more money as the year range jumped to '02 and above, but we could still afford it and it seemed like there was more value there.

So I it were me, I'd go with a single in a 270, but a twin in a 280 and above.

I looked at both and bought the 270 DA single. I should have driven both but did not have that opportunity. I bought the longest boat I could afford and tow! The cost difference of the two used 1990's I looked at was $7,500 more for the twins. I never owned a 454 Bravo1 boat and wanted to give it a try. It is a good motor so far. The 454mag would be a nice upgrade but I'm not sure if they installed many of them. We looked at (6) 270's and none had a 454mag. I would go with twins in a 280 or 300 and with no less than the always reliable 5.7L/350 or 6.2L/383 merCruiser. The V6 just did not offer the big power difference for me for the added maintenance and I do like Alpha1 drives. The added weight in the 270 was also a concern....800 extra lbs and only 100 extra hp for 4mph. I think twin 6.2L FI in a 31-33ft Sea Ray would be ideal. Since we wet slip and trailer for vacation, the 9' beam and 10,000lbs is more than enough to trailer around. We just love the 270 cabin! No other boat can offer the cabin space we have in the 1990-91 270/290 with a 9' beam, Mike.