Bayliner or Maxum?? HELP!!

[smoothbadger]

Right I need your help....My friend and I are about to buy a bowrider and want to know whats the better power plant.

We have narrowed it down to two boats: Maxum 19ft 3.0 Mercruiser and Bayliner 20ft with 4.3 Mercruiser.

Both boats are 1999 Bowriders and simular condition, but we want to know what one out of the two will empty our pockets more, mainly in terms of fuel useage. - also what about the power diffrence between them?

We want to use the boat for wakeboarding/towing toys and general runabout.

weve heard a few storys about the 3.0 using more fuel as it has less power, so will be revved more than 4.3 - is it true?

any advice would be much appreciated.

cheers guys and gals

[rossl]

If you want to wakeboard I would go the 4.3 as its a V6 and will have more torque for getting out of the hole and give a more solid pull, the 3.0 will be under powered if you want to fit ballast sacks and loads of mates.

cheers
ross

[smoothbadger]

cheers....what do you think will drink more?

[rossl]

Most boats are normally around same, as with the 3.0 your have to give more throttle to get a boarder up than the 4.3, with our 5.8L we run under 3000 rpm and only have to use half throttle to get the boarder up.

The biggest fuel user is weight of the boat and hull design. 3.0 on a 19 footer sounds a under powered, The 3.0 are normally in the 17 footers.

This is just from my experance, I am sure some others out there can give more detailed info on this.

For a bench mark our 5.8 will full ballast and 4 people will use around 50-60L a day.

Cheers
ross

[brutto 76]

Everything Ross said is bang on. 3.0L seems too small for that size boat. I don't think you'll be happy with it.

Tower Boy is a Maxim expert - what do you think TB?

[saltwater_cowboy]

3.0 in a 19ft is defo underpowered. I ride regually on a 17ft searay with a 3.0 mercruiser and that struggles to pull be out on a wakeskate with only 2 people in the boat. On a wakeboard its fine with up to 6 people on board but you certainly know its working hard.

The 3.0 will use less fuel than the 4.3 if you run no ballast or just 2-3 people on board. As soon as its pushing some weight you'll be lucky to see a difference in fuel consumption between the 4.3, especially if the 4.3 is EFI.