DSK wrote:

Here's a boating topic with room for general & specific observations,
theory, opinion, fact, sea stories. Let's see it.

Why would you choose one type of propulsion over another?

Fair Skies
Doug King


I like io's because they off a rear mounted engine and clean stern. For
they type of boating I do on freshwater lakes in runabouts and my cuddy
they good choice. Also they don't have a lot of noise unless you have
load exhaust. They also handel pretty well. So far with running merc's
since my dads frist runabout - A 70 Beachcraft trihull, Our family and
my own personal boats have had excellent service with these io's. The
auto developed engines are very reliable.

But I can see lots of good reason to use outboats depending on the boat
and wants of the boater. Easier to winterize, better power to weight
ratio. But shorter production runs on specialized power heads can equal
higher cost overall. I have 71 7.5 merc that needed coils and a stator a
few years ago and they were pretty expensive. But I decided after 30
years of good service it was worth it to me to get it rebuilt

I only had driven one true inboat boat. My brothers purchased a Toyota
ski boat that i guy was selling pretty cheap. The thing leaps on plane
and is great for it's intended usage. But I found did not answer the
helm at all when backing down and just cut to port. It could have been
in part to my lack of experiance. But I never did get it to back up
where I wanted it to go. :-)

So to me I guess the bottom line is it just depends on ones own application.

Capt Jack R..