Amberjack 290: Should i get I/O or v-drive?

[esquire727]

I have decided to buy this boat. But I am unsure about I/O v vdrive and power configuration.

I am no too concerned about top speed or fuel consumption. I fish a lot in shallow water and I am concerned about breaking the shaft on a v-drive and not being able to trim props up in certain situations. But I am also concerned about maintenance of an I/o.

also, need to choose between 5.0 a 5.7. is there a big difference?

thanks

Mike

 

[Ididntdoit]

Go with the inboards.......and I'm pretty sure that 5.0 are not available with the inboard configuration - the 5.0s are fine in that boat with IOs though....
I own the same basic hull your looking at with twin BIII and I can tell you there is more maintenance - but unlike you, the speed and economy are important to me

 

[Brite Idea]

Mike,
I also do my boating on the south shore of L.I. and I would go with I/O's because you know you will spend time churning up the bottom. I run a 270 Sundancer with twin I/O's and have thanked them more than once for being so forgiving. I have a friend who has a 2003 290 AJ with the 5.0 Bravo III's and he has almost 900 hours on them with no problems. If possible buy a boat that is fresh water cooled.
Rob

 

[Strecker25]

I'll vote for inboards for no reason other than maintenance. I have alphas on our 290DA and they perform fine, until one blew up. The BIII is a much better drive, but the maintenance can be a pain. Those are heavy enough that you need a couple people to take them off or on. I do the alphas alone.

 

[Jeremygavin]

If you do your own maintenance and don't mind a little extra maintenance work on the drives then they are a good route to go. There is some work involved in keeping the corrosion at bay as well as the other internals but with good maintenance they will last for a long time.
A benefit to outdrives is in the engine bay. I have 4ft of open space in front of my engines because the engine room was designed to have V-drives in it so with the motors all the way back against the transom, engine maintenance is a lot easier. I look at it like what ever time I lose maintaining the drives I gain in the engine room. Spark plugs take about 1/2hr per engine, manifolds are about and hour per engine, water pump impeller is about 1/2hr per engine and so on. While doing all those items I am either standing on the ER floor or sittIng on a board across the stringers.
I bought my boat with outdrives because we like to go to destinations each day and with the I/Os I cruise at 30mph burning 1gal/h gas total. I really like the extra speed we get. Also, when we bought it our daughters were still very young and wanted (and needed) to be on the beach so with the I/Os I can beach the boat on all of our favorite beaches no problem.
Keep in mind, Handling around the docks won't be quite as good but not a problem for me because I have a bow thruster.