Single inboard questions\observations

[cistdpz]

Hello to all I am going to be buying a new boat in the next few months and alot of the boats i have seen are single inboards. I was wondering what some opinions are as to how they handle in comparison to an I\O or twin inboards?

[on the lam]

There is a reason why there are alot around... difficult to handle around the dock, but some will argue more economical. personal choice I guess. Single screw with a kicker would be a good option if you were going the single engine route.

[lakebound88]

what Pete said. I love how a single runs, but docking is rough. Not much control, even worse on the tunnel drives. I personally have a I/O with a volvo Duo prop on a 28 foot trophy. It handles beautifully.... I troll with a Yamaha.

Are you dead set on getting a single screw? If not, and the size boat you are looking for is greater than 25 foot, I would recommend twins.. That's whats next on my list

[G-Daddy]

For trolling you cannot beat the clean transom of an inboard boat. Fro me, using the boat in different configurations to troll Lake Ontario, Chesapeake Bay and the coastal Atlantic, I needed a trailerable boat. So I put a size limit of 25 ft. Therefore, single screw inboard. You do have to work hard at learning to compensate for the lack of control - learn to use spring lines. Still not as easy to control as an outboard, I/O, or twin screw inboard.

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[180ccf]

I ran a single inboard tug at the marina I worked at in the 80's. That was a pretty steep learning curve before the marina owner would let me take it alone. You have to remember the rudder does not really work in tight quarters so you have to learn to blip the throttle hard to wash the rudder to get it to turn. If you have a bow thruster that helps. I'm not 100% sure on this but I think single come with a much larger rudder to help with the super slow turning. With that said, a trawler style boat with a displacement hull has a max hull speed. A single 90hp inboard diesel will push it to its max speed and save a lot of fuel. The older I get the more I like the trawler style.