Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

Aside from the old 21? Scarab I had several years ago, I?ve always had outboard powered boats. I?m looking at getting my first bowrider and I was wondering if you guys could give me some info on what size boat, motor, and type of outdrive I should look for (or stay away from).

The lake that I boat on is pretty good size, lots of big ski boats and 25?-30? cruisers on the lake that really churn up the water. I think I would like something in the 21?-23? foot range with 5.0 or 5.7 power. Something that will handle rough water good, hold 8+ people if I really need to cram them in there, and not guzzle the gas too bad. My budget is up to $25,000 max?..I?ve seen several nice Crownlines, Bryants, and Cobalts in the range. The 5.0?s all seem to have the Alpha 1 drives on them, the 5.7 powered ones come with the Bravo 2 and Bravo 3 drives. How to the B3 drives compare to the B2 and A1 drives as far as reliability? Are they any better on gas since they are more efficient and spin two props? Are they worse on gas?

Can you guys give me some info on what size boat, motor, and type of drive I should go with? Any info at all would great.

Thanks

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

A 21-23 foot bowrider will likely be rated to carry 10-12 people. A fuel injected 5.0L engine with an Alpha drive should be adequate. Its a solid engine/drive package. If you drive it hard it will guzzle gas but so will any other boat of that type.

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

Well, it looks like you've picked out some good brands to start with. The 5.7L is really what you should be looking at for that size range, and most of them will have Bravo I or Bravo III drives, Bravo II's are usually for larger cruisers so they don't appear on runabout too often. You could get by with a 5.0L, but the 5.7L is a good step up and helps the resale later on. It doesn't take any more or less fuel to run the Bravo III drives, but you will have a much more expensive prop set to ruin if you run it into shallow water. However, the tracking and hole shot with a Bravo III is amazing and worth having if you can get it. The Volvo Penta drives like the SX (like Alpha I) and DuoProp (like Bravo III) are also great options. I'd say your ideal engine setup is a 350 MAG (300HP 5.7L) and paired with a Bravo III or Volvo DuoProp. That is about as durable and powerful package as you're going to get while not breaking into the high-HP has guzzlers (6.2L's, 7.4L's).

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

How do the Yamaha dual engine jet boats compare to a standard I/O bowrider? I've seen some for sale in my area, and I don't know anything about them.

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

IQRaceworks said:

How do the Yamaha dual engine jet boats compare to a standard I/O bowrider? I've seen some for sale in my area, and I don't know anything about them.

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Very nice boats. From what i've seen the resale value on them is unuslally high, so unless you have a need for a jetboat, you can get sometime similar for cheaper. (of course, it goes without saying that I'd hop on any yamaha jet that I could find for a decent price!)

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

Another question for you guys........

When it comes to inboards/stern drives.........how many hours on a boat is "too many" when you are looking at used ones? I've seen a few boats with under 100 hours, but the majority of the used ones I've seen all have right around 400 hours on the motors. If property maintained, how many hours will most V-8 marine motors go before you start seeing problems? If I plan on keeping a boat for several years and not getting rid of it any time soon, what should my "limit" be for the hours when I'm looking at a used boat?

Thanks!!

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

Alpha one is up to 300 HP on single prop
Bravo I/II is over 300 HP on single prop
Brav0 III is rated over 300HP in dual counter rotating props

Now not exactly comparing apples to apples but I had an alpha 1 one my 21 foot stingray ski boat and my new boat a 25 foot Bayliner Cruiser has a Bravo 3. There is so much more control with the B3. If I was going to get anything larger than 21 I would go for the Bravo 3. The grip and dock side handling are so much better.

I am sure you are asking then what is the point of the single prop Bravo 2/3. The point of those is one prop has less drag so they are better for boats that need to go really fast. I would rather pay the 3-5MPH penalty I would incur with the dual props and have the better grip and handling then the extra speed.

Down side the Bravo 3, the props start at about $900/set......

As for gas I don't think the drive is going to make much of a difference. The Alpha drive is super cheap you can replace the whole drive for about $1,500 vs about $4,500 for the Bravo drives (just part price). The Bravo is more of a sea going drives vs the Alpha which is more lake boat thats not to say that they don't cross over in to each others territory.

Also Bravo have the water pump mounted to the motor where the Alpha has the pump inside of the drive which requires cracking apart the drive to change it. Not a big deal, some people can do it in 20min.

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

If you want a rough water boat, look for a very deep V and something you can stand in.

You might find a Baja 242 Islander in (or close to) your price range. Some have stand up bolsters....good rough water boat for it's size. Some will have a 6.2, but you're better off with the 496.

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

agallant80 said:

The Bravo is more of a sea going drives vs the Alpha which is more lake boat thats not to say that they don't cross over in to each others territory.

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Not even remotely true. Alpha vs Bravo is based almost entirely off of the engine in front of it. If it's sub-300HP, it's usually got an Alpha, 300HP+ usually has a Bravo I/III. Seagoing vs lake boat (whatever that means) has nothing at all to do with the type of drive on a boat.

agallant80 said:

Also Bravo have the water pump mounted to the motor where the Alpha has the pump inside of the drive which requires cracking apart the drive to change it. Not a big deal, some people can do it in 20min.

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Edited:
Well changing the impeller is an infrequent service item (3-5 years), so it's not really a big deal.

Re: Help educate me on 21'-23' bowriders. What should I get?

Alpha I Gen II drives use an engine-mounted water pump as well.[/QUOTE]

Yes, they have a circulating water pump on the front of the motor; but the sea water pump is located in the out drive.