New Buyer Question on Twins

S

shadow

New member
After years of looking and thinking, I have finally decided to sell my 27' Albin and buy a CD-22. I principally use my boat for fishing in the Chesapeake, with the occsional trip out into near coastal waters....not real far offshore, but far enough to catch fish. In my discussion with the prospective dealer on outfitting the boat, I told him I wanted twin 50's versus the more conventional (and less expensive single 90). He questioned whether I really needed the twins. He also said that the 50's were not counter-rotating and thus boats equipped with twins were subject to some clearly noticeable torque effects to starboard.

I am just looking for some anecdotal advice from those of you out there who have twins and your experience with them. You single owners please pipe in as well with your advice and comments. I just want to make sure that the extra $4-5K is worth it, and what the drawbacks to twins are.

Thanks for your help.

Robert Holt
Suffolk, VA
 
Robert, lots of info on the site about twins vs one engine. I've got twin Honda 45's and I can tell you that there's no noticible effect with the props rotating both directions. More often, the wind is blowing and this has a LOT more affect on docking, maneuvering at low speed. In many cases it's personal preference, how you feel about redundancy and whether you do a lot of slow trolling. The twins look neat too...

Drawbacks? Maintenance on a big engine costs about the same as a smaller one. If you have twins, that's 2X the maintenance. Of course, after the warranty period, if you do it yourself as I do, the cost is just 2X for the parts (filters/plugs/gaskets, etc). Labor is free and usually fun...

My boat runs fine on one engine, will really idle down and troll nicely. I frequent the Chesapeake, have been down through Portsmouth and into both ICW canals and across Albemarle Sound. If you're going out in the blue water, you might seriously consider a kicker if you get one engine, just for peace of mind and take home as well as trolling.

Charlie
 
Twin Honda 40s here (for a while longer anyway), there is no noticeable torque effect to starboard at all. There might be other reasons to go with a single (we went with a single on the new 25), but this sure does not seem to be one of them...


shadow":1fzgz8va said:
After years of looking and thinking, I have finally decided to sell my 27' Albin and buy a CD-22. I principally use my boat for fishing in the Chesapeake, with the occsional trip out into near coastal waters....not real far offshore, but far enough to catch fish. In my discussion with the prospective dealer on outfitting the boat, I told him I wanted twin 50's versus the more conventional (and less expensive single 90). He questioned whether I really needed the twins. He also said that the 50's were not counter-rotating and thus boats equipped with twins were subject to some clearly noticeable torque effects to starboard.

I am just looking for some anecdotal advice from those of you out there who have twins and your experience with them. You single owners please pipe in as well with your advice and comments. I just want to make sure that the extra $4-5K is worth it, and what the drawbacks to twins are.

Thanks for your help.

Robert Holt
Suffolk, VA
Click to expand...
 
Robert -
Agree with Charlie and Pat about the lack of torque with twins. Another advantage with twins, not always considered, is that they make maneuvering far easier. One forward, one reverse and you turn on a dime. We have cruised our twin Honda forties with another CD 22 with a single Yamaha 75, and our fuel demand is almost exactly the same. They give us redundancy and hence piece of mind (for a non-mechanic) and twice that redundancy brought us 'home.' The weight of our twins vs. counterpart single is not significant -- main downside is cost at purchase and cost of maintainence.
 
Hi Robert, welcome to the family.
What Charlie and others point out is very true. Every thing is 2X, including the peace of mind. The weight factor seems to be a wash if a kicker is in the equation.

I went with twin 90s on the CD25. If you would like to have an upclose look, please feel free to let me know. Sea Angel is stored at Marina Shores in VA Beach. If WX permits... we can get her wet and you can feel how she handles. The heavy cross currents at the marina location, in reality, preclude trying to use the throttle stearage; but, application of smart maneuver planning. The sail area can also have a great effect because of where and how our dockage is positioned.

My pager is 757-661-9522

73s
 
Robert, extra maintenance aside, one more thing I didn't care for was twice the controls. With twins its starting two engines, warming two engines, trimming two engines, syncing throttles on two engines and then shutting off two engines. Then raising two engines. The way I poke around here and there and stop and start, speed up and slow down, stop and swim or whatever twins is a lot of extra work I don't need. A big single and kicker gets my vote. When I get cabin fever I like to run the boat from the cockpit. For trolling what better place to run the engine than from the cockpit? Hard to do with twins unless you get the outohelm.
 
Poking around, we lift one of our forties and just putt with a single. We do the same whenever we are coming in to an anchorage or chug along in shallow water -- saves a prop and engine to get us home if we ding the bottom.
On one lake, with horsepower restriction to 50hp, we talked with the law and he approved our lifting one of our forties out and let us head on out.
But the discussion of one or two has good points on either side -- comes down to a personal preference. Good luck on your boat!
 
I will say from experience that having 2 motors affords a level of comfort; especially if you have a family on board; I was heading home one night and lost a motor and my 5 year-old never even knew anything was wrong! If you don't mind the extra maintenance go for the twins.
 
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