CONTINUOUSWAVE

I am a complete new guy here and seeking some advice from the enormous experience bank in this forum.

After looking at the used [Grady-White boats on the] market, I decided to expand my search and consider the Boston Whaler Conquest line in the 27 to 30-foot range. [I] really like the midship berth feature.

Having been a Coast Guard search-and-rescue pilot for several years, I am sold on the Conquest [versus] a [Grady-White] for several reasons --one being its seaworthiness. I am here to tell you that bad things happen out there and Boston Whaler's hull design, build quality, and seaworthiness are second to none--especially when considering the used boat market. My family is worth the expense.

The boat will be used for pleasure cruising and some fishing on Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, and the St. Lawrence Seaway, where hard compressed chop is common. I may even tow it up to Maine for a week or two.

I have read many posts that seem to indicate that the 275 and 305 series has had concerns about with planing and ride. There have been many discussions regarding propeller type, engine performance, engine power, trim use, etc., but no real solution stated in any case. Posts indicate that some models were underpowered from the factory, and, as engines become tired over time, perhaps the planing concerns become more pronounced. Major hull designs changes that include dead rise, transom design, and chines were implemented I believe in 2002, 2006, and 2011. So I ask:

What model years and engine combinations do you recommend to stay away from that seem to have these concerns?

I am considering a 275 CONQUEST with decent engine and a possible re-power, or a later model with newer engines.

Are there any other known problem areas to be aware of when looking at the used Conquest market?

I contacted Boston Whaler. The tech rep denied any planing problems stating that it was boater error--boaters do not know how to trim--and all hulls were terrific. Hmm. I think there is more to the story.

Thank you in advance for your time and information.

In a much earlier discussion about a Boston Whaler 305 CONQUEST, I gave my impressions of the boat's ride and ability to get on plane. See

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001414.html

Others contributed their comments about the ride and performance in that thread. Generally all remarks were very favorable. I am unclear where you found all the negative comments. As I explain in my comments, I did not perceive any problems with the 305 CONQUEST hull and getting on plane. In fact, I was quite impressed with it.

If looking at older hulls, I would avoid ones that were rigged with the Mercury 225-HP FOURSTROKE engines. Those engines are first-generation large V6 four-stroke-power-cycle engines actually made by Yamaha and then painted black, sold to Brunswick, and relabeled as Mercury engines. Those engines are not particularly powerful, and they probably contribute to reports of marginal performance on older Boston Whaler boats that were rigged with them. Many of the larger Boston Whaler boats of that era sold with twin 225-HP engine were used in saltwater, and those engines have become somewhat notorious for corrosion problems in their cooling system after many years of running in saltwater.

For a while Boston Whaler also sold Mercury OptiMax engines, and you might find some larger hulls set up with twin OptiMax 250-HP engines. Those engines are likely more powerful than the Yamaha-repainted-to-Mercury four-stroke-power-cycle engines, but they will likely be first-generation OptiMax. There may be some durability problems in older first-generation OptiMax engines. Mercury at one point had to stop production of them and work out some major problems. Later generation OptiMax engines, called at one point by Mercury "OptiMax The Next Generation (OTNG)" engines, were more reliable and durable. For more about the improvements of the OTNG engines see

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/011847.html

In general, larger Boston Whaler boats which need twin engines have come onto the market at attractive prices, probably because the cost of re-powering these boats will be steep. You can probably count on spending $40,000 for two new modern engines in the 250-HP range when re-powering. I think the possibility of a costly re-power in the future has caused the price of used, larger, twin-engine boats to be held down.

Thanks for the excellent information. The planing problems were in the 27ft range with motors in the 200hp range. Now that I Know about the particular motors, I will go back and see what motors were being used. Do you think 200hp is enough for the 27ft hull or 225hp?

For these modern-era hulls, Boston Whaler has published extensive performance reports. I would rely on that data to document performance more than estimates from readers, unless readers have first-hand data of their own. If you can't find older performance reports on the present-day Whaler website, you can often find archives of older Boston Whaler webpages on the internet way-back machine. See

https://archive.org/web/

Thanks Jimh for the info. I will begin the research tonight.

I own a 1999 280 Conquest with twin 225 OptiMax outboards. The only time I have problems with getting on plane is when I've chosen to fill my two fuel tanks. I only ever fill them when I'm headed offshore and need the full 298 gallons.

Norm

I highly recommend that you sea-trial different hulls in fairly rough conditions before purchasing. I had a 1999 28 Conquest (later known as the 295 Conquest) and I was never happy with its ride in a head sea.

I suggest buying a Conquest with really bad engines and re-powering. Rather than buying new, you save $100,000. I bought a 28 Conquest last year for a really good price. I got rid of the two 250 Yamaha Ox66 engines because they consumed too much fuel and I wanted reliability. I also have a 25' Revenge, but my wife wanted the head, heater, galley, etc. The Conquest hull was in really good shape. I sold the two Ox66 engines and bought two pro-deal one-ear-old Evinrude E-TEC G2 250-HP engine. Wow, what a difference. The fuel consumption is so much better. Everyone compliments how fast the boat gets on plane. I live near Seattle and the boat can handle practically everything on the Puget Sound and up north into the Gulf Islands of Canada. I am very satisfied with the ride.