My wife and I are looking to buy our first boat and of course it needs to be FAST!!! We are looking at Donzi, Powerquest, and Baja. Which one out of these three do you all think is the better brand to buy??? My thoughts are Donzi is a step above the other two. Are Powerquest and Baja are about equal??
Thanks all
Looked at all these boats also this year but decided on a campion chase 800 a canadian made boat. Check out thier web site www.campionboats.com (http://www.campionboats.com) and down load the video on the chase models.There is a test report on this site also.MY boat goes 70.6 mph on gps with 496HO with a lab finish mirage plus 25 in at 5000 rpm
thanks bill1134. checked out the campion website. not bad-nice boats. what made you decide on campion versus donzi, baja, etc?? how is price comparison? did you test drive all these boats to compare?
I read alot of test reports on these boats. This boat had the highest speed in it's class. Quality is very high, great fit and finish.Price was $83.000 CDN.Also bought this boat not only for the speed and quality,but to have something different.I get alot nice comments about the boat from the numerous baja and powerquest owners in my area
Speedy;
I had a Baja 26, I really like the boat. Great cockpit room and loved to jump the boat. After that we got a 28' Nordic Heat and loved it. Out of the ones you posted I like the Baja the best, however it depends on how you boat and the conditions.
Hey speedy, I just bought a 25 Outlaw with 502 about 2.5 months ago. With supposedly 415 hp on tap and 23 pitch Merc Mirage 3 blade the boat would run at best 62 mph at 4400 RPM. I have talked to many other 25 Outlaw owners with my rage and they all see about 4800 RPM with the same prop. Baja's solution thus far has been to put a 21 pitch prop on it and low and behold to motor turns up to 4800 but still only get 62 mph. Many hours of fighting with the "customer service" department has led now where as of yet. I still am trying to be patient before I hire a lawyer and tell them to come get their P.O.S. out of my driveway. I do love many things about the BAJA and it has some great features that others in the class don't have. But my experience thus far is Baja's "Speed Changes You" slogan is that a serious lack of Speed and no help to correct the problem leads to bad boating experience. I actually ran in a Baja Challenge Pocker Run and couldn't keep up with a BAJA 272 with a 454 in it. Yeah sure there is nothing wrong with the motor. If you do go with Baja make sure the boat is living up to the speed you want prior to taking it away. And don't let the salesman blow any smoke up you know where about the motor just isn't broken in yet. Another boat I considered was 25 Tantrum from Active Thunder Marine. They sell from the factory in Pompano Beach, FL only and were willing to get me a 2002 25 with HP 500 motor with external hyd steering plus everything else that my Baja has for the same price. The only catch I would of had to wait for them to build it. Boy, with my current problems I definenlty should have waited. Of the three you listed go with the Donzi, a little more $$ but its cuddy is nice and the stepped hull hauls ass. ***boat had a good comparison of some boats recently you should look at. Don't take my experience a gospel because I know there a plenty of satisfied Baja owners out there but I would expect that when something like this comes up they would take a serious look to determine what is wrong rather than trying to brush it under the rug and B.S. an engineer into beleiving that nothng is wrong. Happy Boating.
Larry
thanks larry. sad to hear of your current bad baja experience. spend all that money on a boat only to have it let you down. sucks!! I've heard both good and bad about the baja's. i'd say 50/50. of the three the baja is my 3rd choice right now. i really like the 26 Donzi ZX and the 26 Powerquest Legend SX. a buddy of mine has a 34 powerquest with twin 502's that really hauls. my concern with the powerquest is their quality. early this summer my buddy was running his 34 pq in a 3-4 foot chop and had his windshield let loose and basically fall in his lap. this is at 60 mph. that has drawn red flag for me. then again, that may be a one in a million experience. my concern with baja is that they seem to be mass-produced. they are almost a dime a dozen versus donzi or powerquest. i don't know if that equals less attention to detail and poorer quality or just a larger production facility and staff???
thanks for the input. good luck with the speed.
Originally posted by 25 Outlaw 502:
With supposedly 415 hp on tap and 23 pitch Merc Mirage 3 blade the boat would run at best 62 mph at 4400 RPM...Baja's solution thus far has been to put a 21 pitch prop on it and low and behold to motor turns up to 4800 but still only get 62 mph
Hey Larry-
What gear ratio do you have? Is it a 1.36 ratio Bravo? Is that speed on GPS or speedo? Just shootin' from the hip, those 1.5 ratio numbers are questionable:
1.5 Ratio
23"- 62MPH @ 4,400RPM = 2.3% slip
21"- 62MPH @ 4,800RPM = 2.9% slip
1.36 Ratio
23"- 62MPH @ 4,400RPM = 12% slip
21"- 62MPH @ 4,800RPM = 11% slip
If they installed a 1.36 ratio drive, that may be part of the problem. Either way, I would have them check your tach and GPS your speed, if you haven't done so already.
Good luck! http://www.goldenplasma.f2s.com/foru...es/happy25.gif
[This message has been edited by Havasu Hangin' (edited July 13, 2001).]
I'm satisfied with Baja, I have a older '92 Baja 270 with a 502mag.(carbed) runs 68-70mph @ 5,000rpm,21p mirage. If I were looking at another boat I would check out Sunsation, I've heard a lot of good stuff and there looks are kick ass!!
My 2 cents, Posey
Havasu, ran with a hand held GPS one day and it checked pretty well against the speedo. At reading just over 60mph I saw 58.6 mph on GPS. Not really sure what the tide and currents were at the time and I didn't do a two way run. Baja customer service wants me to have the dealer check the speedo with GPS and I am going to go for a ride with the guys so there is no questions. They told me it ran 64 mph for them first time I took it in to get the speed checked. As for the tach it checked against the DDT computer when hooked up. I don't know what drive ratio I have but I will have the service department check. I hope it is something simple and since I have a nick in me skeg I would love a new drive. Any other ideas or if you hear anything else give me a note.
Larry
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