For several years now, big offshore fishing boats have been running triple- or quad-outboard setups and have been capable of 60-plus-mile-per-hour speeds. Companies like Yellowfin, SeaVee, Invincible, and Intrepid build 40-something-foot boats exclusively with outboard power. Pursuit, Sea Ray, and Boston Whaler now offer 42s designed for only outboards, because of their superior performance. It turns out that people do want these big outboard boats.
So I really shouldn?t have been surprised when we were recently asked to design a 50-foot outboard-powered boat. I should have seen it coming. I should have seen the appeal of a 50-foot open sport boat with four 557-horsepower Seven Marine outboards, capable of 65-plus knots. I should have understood the bragging rights that go along with having four $90,000 outboard engines bolted to the transom with their horsepower emnblazoned on their shiny helmets.
