Quote:
Originally Posted by thomasf
Hi
I'm thinking about buying an used Cougar 27
The thing am most curious about is the boats tendencies to topple over.
Why is that so? Is there a design fault or is it all because of the engine?
If I put on an Mercury 300X instead, will it stop behaving like that?
Sorry for my english I'm from Sweden.
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I have not had mine in the water yet despite owning it for three years due to many modifications and conversion to inboard. However I spoke to many people about the issue of them rolling over and there seems to be differing opinions.
A couple of very experienced racers on this forum believe it may due to the hull and rear end design which may be true.
On the other hand I believe it is a combination of it being a long and narrow design that was particularly top heavy with the Honda 225 engine. I was told that fitting the Mercury XS300 totally transformed the boat being lighter and not so top heavy, however with the lighter engine and 75 extra horses supposedly increase the top speed to around 85mph and again with the extra speed made it easier to get it wrong.
Paul C on here made the following comments.
http://boatmad.com/forum/showthread....ght=cougar+225
"David,
Totally agree a very under rated hull. I will go so far to say that there is nothing out there that will come close to competing with this hull in rough conditions accept something a lot bigger and heavier! Make no mistake this hull comes with a health warning. It is an extremely technical boat to handle and rewards those who get it right and punishes those who get it wrong. Marmite springs to mind..! you will love it or hate it.
Reasons for Honda 225 roll overs:
1. Broken saddles
2. Broken engine mounts
3. Broken steering hydraulics
4. Turning tight and too hard at high speed
5. Collision with another boat
6. Lack of 225 experience
7. Driving like a ****
8. Trim failure & driving it like a 150 (That was me driving like a **** with lack of experience).
9. Trying to stay up with modified boats some 4+ mph faster. Then suffering from a seized gearbox. (That was also me but did pass twice before going over)."
Daze on here fitted a XS200 and said with the lighter engine it was quite a good combination. In hindsight with the time and money I spent on mine I would have properly been better off fitting a Mercury 250EFI and stomaching the fuel bill, I believe this would be a great combination.