July 2025 Column HOW MANY OUTBOARDS FOR YOUR BOAT? PART 2... SINGLE VS. TWINS By Capt. John N.Raguso In last month’s column, we introduced the topic of deciding between a single engine outboard vs twin power for your boat, detailing a plethora of pros vs cons for each format. We also introduced a similar question for larger boats in the 32-to-38 foot range, where the decision must be to decide between twin vs triple outboards. With engine manufacturers consistently raising the bar and expanding the envelope of how many sea horses can fit under one engine’s cowling, the endless horizon seems to be the limit right now. Mercury Marine is currently offering 350 and 400 HP V-10 powerplants, plus the 600 HP V-12 mother-of- all-outboards that features a unique two-speed gearbox! Honda has recently joined the 350 Club with their recent introduction of a V-8 a few seasons back, with bigger stuff on the drawing boards. Suzuki Marine has been trying to keep up with the demand for their popular 350 V-6 powerplant and rumblings indicate that they might be working on something even bigger. Yamaha upgraded their F425 XTO to an F450, plus recently introduced a relatively svelte F350 V-6 that is currently the light- est engine in the 350 horsepower category, which makes installing twins, trips or quads an easier task. And just when you thought that four outboards hitched to a boat’s transom might be enough, there are a few 50-to-60 foot designs that currently run a total of five Mercury 600 HP V-12 outboards! Putting all of the theoretical possibilities and conjecture aside, let’s take a closer look at some real world factory performance tests that pit a single outboard powered hull vs its twin powered sister ship and see what we can learn: Performance Comparison #1 Sportsman Open 252 Single Yamaha F300 V6 vs Twin F150 I4s These Yamaha sponsored factory tests were conducted a few months apart back in early 2024. The Yamaha F300 V-6 powered hull was spinning a 15.25”D x 18”P Saltwater Series II 3-blade stainless steel prop, while the twin inline-four F150s were turning counter-rotating 14.25”D x 18”P Reliance 3-blade stainless steel wheels. The performance of each power and prop set was as follows: /d]gjhZ<[$dI[ÃÆÃqQjPÂr9<Z<P<ÄÁÁ /d]gjhZ<[$dI[ÃÆÃqQjPÃr9<Z<P<ÂÆÁh .+! !+ + !+ .+! !+ + !+ ÂÁÁÁ ÆÆ ÂÅ ÅÁÈ ÂÁÁÁ ÅÉ ÂÉ ÃÇÅ ÂÆÁÁ ÈÄ ÃÃ ÄÅÁ ÂÆÁÁ ÇÈ ÃÊ ÃÄÂ ÃÁÁÁ ÉÊ ÄÉ ÃÄÈ ÃÁÁÁ ÉÅ ÅÉ ÂÈÇ ÃÆÁÁ ÂÂÅ ÆÆ ÃÁÉ ÃÆÁÁ ÊÁ ÇÈ ÂÄÆ ÄÁÁÁ ÂÆÂ ÇÊ ÃÂÊ ÄÁÁÁ ÂÅÉ ÉÉ ÂÇÊ ÄÆÁÁ ÃÂÆ ÉÊ ÃÅÃ ÄÆÁÁ ÃÅÆ ÂÁÃ ÃÅÁ ÅÁÁÁ ÄÂÄ ÂÃÅ ÃÆÄ ÅÁÁÁ ÄÁÄ ÂÃÇ ÃÅÁ ÅÆÁÁ ÄÇÄ ÂÇÁ ÃÃÈ ÅÆÁÁ ÄÆÄ ÂÇÃ ÃÂÉ ÆÁÁÁ ÅÂÁ ÃÁÉ ÂÊÉ ÆÁÁÁ ÅÁÂ ÃÁÉ ÂÊÄ ÆÆÁÁ ÅÆÅ ÃÇÆ ÂÈÂ ÆÆÁÁ ÅÅÅ ÃÆÉ ÂÈÃ ÆÉÁÁ ÅÈÁ ÃÇÉ ÂÈÇ ÇÂÁÁ ÅÊÆ ÄÄÈ ÂÅÈ
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