patriot 680

[kapper76]

hi i'm looking at buying a 680 patriot, have seen two that interest me so far. one with twin johnson 140hp four strokes the other with a 250hp verado mercury. any idea as to which would be the better option.

[dfox]

Big spender mate!!!!
Hard call, proven performers the johnos(suzukis), or the new supercharged merc?
Guess it depends on how far out and where you'll be using it. The extra safety issue may apply with the twins ,but as a family boat with the odd offshore venture the single merc would have it over the twin installation. Hard one to answer...foxy

[SeaSaw]

:o Nice boat.

Personally I would go with the twin 140 Johnsons. They are really just 140 Suzuki's with a white cowl intead of a black one. :-X They seem to be getting a real good reputation and are the best power to weight around that size.

The verado's are a bit unproven at this point in time, and in my opinion the supercharger is just adding complexity and more things likely to go wrong. I have had experience with supercharged holden cars and the superchargers are always playing up and making funny noises, belts slipping etc. Based on my previous experience with car engines, I just would not trust them until they have proven themselves.

In the end it depends on your application. Do you need the reliability of 2 engines for wide offshore work ? or would you prefer the lesser cost of maintaining a single engine. If you do go for the single I would be looking at the 250hp suzuki 4 stroke.

Cheers,

Mark

[Spaniard_King]

Hi ya Kapper,

680 niiiiiiice [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

I don't think you would have a problem with either choice, I suppose it would depend on the weight factor.

Have you test driven both boats. I would go on the performance rather than an opinion.

Garry

[megafish71]

G'day Kapper.
Bloody nice rigs those 680 patriots, I wish my wife let me spend up and buy one of them. Personally I'd go with the twin rig set up over the verado. I have a mate with twin 200hp verado's on his 8mtr haines horizon and he is not completely happy with them as yet, but hey they have only got 25hrs on them so I spose a little bit more sorting still to do. The 140 jonos are a proven product so I'd tend to go that way.

Best of luck with it

Ron

[kapper76]

thanks guys, i've been leaning towards the johnos. just had an omc engine on my last boat and wasnt overly impressed, so just looking for others opinions on both.

[Kerry]

So why a 680? Compared to other makes in that length, they can be rather a back breaking mongr..., especially for those that travel any distance in ordinary type weather.

Cheers, Kerry.

[kapper76]

looked at just about everything i could think of. needed something that was mainly good for fishing but also had some cabin and luxuries for the missus and kids.
looked at mustang cruise craft trophy seafarer, the patriot had just that classier touch. for the same price. big killer on it is the weight thou.
looked at the new 650 classic, but something just doesnt gel?????

going for a test ride next week to finally decide. any reasons why its a bad choice would be welcome just means i'll either have to learn to live with it, or back to the drawing board.

[cooky]

can be rather a back breaking mongr...,

I thought they were renowned for being bloody good riding - hence the reason people put up with the weight factor.
Most people probably think that's the advantage of the weight (which I'm sure there is some in choppy weather).

[Kerry]

Cooky, Really for what is supposed to be a 6.8m boat one wouldn't call them heavy weights, not by a long shot. The size v weight is probably very deceptive.

The 680 is fairly flippy floppy at rest and really doesn't put all that much boat in the water, especially when running as it tends to sit on all that transom/stern bulk.

Cheers, Kerry.

[SeaSaw]

they can be rather a back breaking mongr...,


Kerry says this about any boat that doesn't have two hulls ;) ;D

I have not been in the new Patriots, but can speak from experience that the older 680 hulls are very good riding in rough water, as long as you set them up right. I found mine was a little back heavy and didn't put as much boat in the water as Kerry suggested. I then installed a set of 305x305 trim tabs and the extra lift from them levels the boat out completely and changed the ride like you wouldn't believe. You don't even have to have them down, it is just the extra lift generated by water flowing over and extra 2 sqaure feet off the transom that keeps the nose down and working in a sea.

Still not as good as two hulls ::) ::) ::) ;D is it Kerry.

Mark

[michael_k]

just sold my 680 as i am upgrading to a bigger boat. must say it was the best riding trailer boat i have ever been in.

[kapper76]

kerry can you expand a bit on what you went by flippy floppy at rest. are you implying not real stable, i heard that they dont tend to keel to much. am i wrong?

I also have a pretty shallow bar to contend with and the weight is causing me some concern as to how i'll go crossing it, wondering if the twins will help push it out of the hole reasonably quick. or will the weight of the twins cause it to drag it ass too much.

[Kerry]

Kapper, Any deep V mono can be unstable at rest and in the 680's case it really doesn't have the weight to sit in the water that some comparative mono's have. Really one needs to forget the moulded length and look more at the waterline length, that's what really counts as far as sea capability is concerned.

As for engine weight if your within the specs (both HP and total engine weight) then there really shouldn't be a problem. They are fairly broad in the stern.

Cheers, Kerry.