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late as the early '90s, running offshore with a single outboard was
verging on foolhardy. Failures were common enough and on-the-water
assistance scarce enough that venturing 40 miles out without a second
engine to push you home when the first one failed was just asking for
trouble. Today's outboards, though, are so much more reliable than those of 15 or 20 years ago that fishing offshore in a single-engine boat is by no means unreasonable. Likewise, commercial assistance outfits like SeaTow and Vessel Assist are so efficient and affordable that losing power offshore isn't nearly as dangerous as it was in the fairly recent past. Not only is single outboard power no longer a safety liability, it also offers a number of advantages over twins. Single outboards are cheaper to buy, cheaper to maintain, more fuel efficient and easier to fish around. The question, really, is why anyone would choose to put twins on a boat that can reasonably by powered by a single. Not long ago, when outboards over 225 hp were high-strung, temperamental machines not suited to real-world use, that meant any boat up to about 25 or 26 feet. Now, though, with numerous options in the 250 to 350 hp range, single outboard power is an option on still larger boats. The Safety Question The fact is that the only major, practical reason to choose twins over a single is safety. No matter how reliable engines get, two of them always have been and always will be safer than one. But not as much safer as you might initially think. Certainly there are plenty of failures that affect only one engine — malfunctioning electronic control modules, dead fuel pumps, bad starters, internal mechanical failures, etc., etc. There's also the possibility of striking a submerged object with only one engine, leaving the other functional. But what many people fail to consider is that in many cases, loss of power at sea is the result of something that can disable twins as quickly as a single — contaminated fuel (or no fuel), electrical system problems outside the engines, problems with modern "fly-by-wire" controls, running out of two-stroke oil and so on. In other words, twins do provide a substantial margin of safety, but they're no guarantee that you'll always have one operational engine. In fact, if that's the goal, a single main with an auxiliary, rope-start "kicker" running off a portable fuel tank is a better bet. You certainly won't get home as fast with a 25 hp kicker as you would with one of your twin 150 hp mains, but the kicker is immune to the kind of electrical and fuel issues that can knock both twins out of service. Of course, there are other advantages to twins, but they're all relatively small. Counter-rotating twins, for example, eliminate the "prop-walk" generated by singles. Twins also offer somewhat better tight-quarters handling, although nothing like that of a twin-screw inboard; except on catamarans, twin outboards are mounted too close together to spin a boat in its length the way twin inboards can. Finally, and most importantly to SoCal anglers, it's possible to slow-troll more slowly with one twin in gear than with a single. Maintenance and Operating Costs Obviously, initial purchase cost of a single is thousands of dollars less than twins that provide similar performance, but maintenance costs are far lower too. With twins, you'll be paying twice as much for routine maintenance — lower-unit lube changes, water pump service, four-stroke oil-changes, etc. With 100-hour service bills ranging up to and over $500, that adds up fast. Even if you do your own maintenance, you're looking at twice as much oil, twice as many filters, twice as many spark plugs, twice as many impellers and so on. Keep in mind too that although it's very unlikely that both your twins will break down simultaneously, it's twice as likely that one of them will break down at any given time. In other words, with twins, the chances that you'll have to pay for a major repair during the time you own the boat are twice what they are with a single. As far as operating costs, twins burn at least as much fuel as a single that delivers equivalent performance — and usually more. Twins are not only heavier than a single, but they create more drag. If you're willing to give up a few knots of top-end speed and a bit of acceleration by going with, say, a single 225 or 250 instead of twin 150s, you can save a lot on fuel. And of course, you'll also cut your oil bill in half if you run a single two-stroke instead of twins. Surprisingly, it's even possible to get both better fuel economy and better performance with a single big outboard than with twins. Take, for example, Edgewater's 245 CC. Rigged with twin 150 hp Yamaha four-strokes, it planes in 4.26 seconds and tops out at 49.3 mph with a peak cruising efficiency of 2.52 mpg at 32.7 mph. At a more reasonable 26.9 mph cruise, it gets 2.47 mpg. But with a single Yamaha F350, the same hull planes in 3.65 seconds, tops out 52.8 mph and cruises most efficiently at 23.6 mph while getting 2.78 mpg. At 28.3 mph, efficiency drops to 2.70 mpg, still substantially better than the twin 150s. Again, though, if you're willing to give up a bit of top end — and how much does the difference between 45 mph and 50 mph at WOT really matter on the Pacific? — you can get even better mileage. With a single 250 hp four-stroke, top end falls to 45.2 mph and time-to-plane is 6.54 seconds, but cruising efficiency at 26.1 mph is 2.87 mpg. Think that sounds insignificant? Do the math. On a typical offshore run of 80 miles round-trip at cruising speed, the difference between 2.47 and 2.87 mpg will save you about 4.5 gallons — or $18 at $4/gallon. Multiply that by a ten trips a year and you just bought yourself a new reel. Then add in the money you save not only on the initial purchase price and maintenance costs, but also on insurance (you'll pay a higher premium with twins because your boat is worth as much as $10,000 more) and even tow-vehicle fuel, and you might have bought yourself a new car, too. The bottom line is simply that if you're buying a new boat that's available with a choice of single or twin outboards, seriously consider a single. Many of the concerns that in the past made twins a no-brainer aren't valid anymore, and a single can save you a lot of money in both the short and long runs. |