Single or double Rotax??

[diggin4aliving]

I am looking for opinions on purchashing a boat. I have a 1996 Challenger single engine 110 and have an opportunity to upgrade to a 2000 twin 85hp challenger for a small difference in dollars. Is this worth it or stick with what I have. I would like to get a little more hp than what i have. Is having the 2 engines a headache and should I stick with just the single engine even on another boat. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[BMANN06]

I am looking for opinions on purchashing a boat. I have a 1996 Challenger single engine 110 and have an opportunity to upgrade to a 2000 twin 85hp challenger for a small difference in dollars. Is this worth it or stick with what I have. I would like to get a little more hp than what i have. Is having the 2 engines a headache and should I stick with just the single engine even on another boat. Any info would be appreciated.

Twin engines can be twin headaches, twice the maintaince .. parts ... gas mileage etc... But also has benefits. More power, you can limp home if one dies etc. If you need the power for pullin up skiers or whatever .. sure giver.
If I were you I'd prolly stick with what yah got. If you know it well and have maintained it ... you never know what you'll get. I bought my twin engine boat used of course ... got about 15 hrs on port engine then crank bearing failure. The same problem with starbrd about 10 hours later.

 

[diggin4aliving]

I am doing a lot of reading in the forums. I find that it seems to be lagging on take off and doesn't seem to have the top speed that it used to. I think it needs some work but wondering what it may take to get it back running top notch. I am going to have it checked out and see what they say about the impeller , wear ring and such. maybe a good carb cleaning as well and see what's what.

 

[JohnZ]

I agree on the twice the maintenance, and repair cost , BUT the peace of mind in just knowing that you can, exactlly do as BMANN says - limp home if something happens to one of the motors, one of the props, one of the drive shafts, or, whatever else.... It is worth it to me! plus we're calling it limping but for the single motors it's all they got.

Oh IDK if you know but if one motor goes bad, you can't just run on one, it doesn't work out well!

 

[Jeb911]

With gas prices as high as they are, single. I have a single and can ride all day and not use a full tank.

 

[cli55er]

if i had to do it again....i would go single engine.

 

[parrothd]

I don't think there's a challenger twin with 85 hp engines, you sure it's not a challenger 1800 twin with 110hp each?

 

[parrothd]

Depends on what you want to use the boat for, putt putting around or performance...

You can't beat the performance of a speedster twin, awesome hole shot and crazy top end speeds, with my 95 speedster twin I'd routinely scare myself and passengers.... You're not going to get that with a single...

 

[100guard]

....you can limp home if one dies ...

I skimmed over the manual and remember something about 'in emergencies only'., how fast exactly can you run on one engine?

 

[JohnZ]

not fast at all! 10 maybe, probably less, it will barely lift the front of the boat up - at least with my Speedster.... thats why we're calling it "limping home"

 

[RFoster130]

yeah if you wanna use 1 engine, it is emergencies only and only under 5 mph.

 

[Busted Grouse]

As a Sea Doo rookie, there's not much in the twin engine compartment on my '95 Speedster, and it uses lots of gas. But, it's also a lot of fun (when it's running right) to jam the throttles forward and scare my wife. The kids love doing high speed power slides.

 

[Busted Grouse]

I meant "not much room".

 

[JustD00It]

Twin is better for making turns sharper and if you lose one engine you still have one to make it to the marina or trailer

 

[Stevego]

Twin will weigh more, keep that in mind depending on what you are towing with. Top speed may not be that much higher due again to the additional weight. It will take off faster so if you are pulling a skier. Fuel and maintenence casys will be much higher as mentioned above.
As for limping home has anyone thought of maybe storing an electric trolling motor on-board? I know it would not steer well but may at least get you to shore faster than rowing.....