Trading my 260DA for a 290AJ

[charlieft]

Hello All,

We finally pulled the trigger and put a deposit on a 2003 290AJ today. We liked the 260 so much that we wanted to go a little bigger and be more comfortable staying overnight ... also wanted inboards because the boat stays in salt water all season ... and Buzzards Bay gets a little choppy for the 260 ... not unsafe, but uncomfortable for wife and grandkids. Any advice from the 290AJ owners (or anyone else) would be welcomed?

-Charlie

 

[saltydogz]

Good luck and welcome to the AJ club...
Sorry have not had it long enough to let you know what to watch out for. We got ours at the end of Sept '08 and only ran it for about dozen hours before I winterized it. Started this weekend cleaning it up and get ready for the boating season and rockfish in April. crazy weather 13" of snow Monday, mid 60's and 70's this weekend.

We found running the boat in the chop down here that the extra weight of the boat cut through it and gives us a nice ride. I am adding a Bennett ATC this spring to the trim tabs. Plus later in the year thinking about going to four bladed props.

I will keep you in mind as anything good and I hope not bad come up throughout the season.

 

[charlieft]

Good luck and welcome to the AJ club...
Sorry have not had it long enough to let you know what to watch out for. We got ours at the end of Sept '08 and only ran it for about dozen hours before I winterized it. Started this weekend cleaning it up and get ready for the boating season and rockfish in April. crazy weather 13" of snow Monday, mid 60's and 70's this weekend.

We found running the boat in the chop down here that the extra weight of the boat cut through it and gives us a nice ride. I am adding a Bennett ATC this spring to the trim tabs. Plus later in the year thinking about going to four bladed props.

I will keep you in mind as anything good and I hope not bad come up throughout the season.

Thanks for the info...

Why are you thinking of going to 4-bladed props and the ATC system after only 12 hours of experience with the boat?

Thanks,
-Charlie

 

[berth control]

Charlie -
Just curious - do you fish much? You mentioned that you wanted more space for spending the night, but the 260 has a mid-berth and the AJ doesn't, right? It seems like you would get a bigger boat, and for sure a smoother ride, but maybe not gain that much space in the cabin. Why not a 290 dancer? Like I said, just curious.

 

[saltydogz]

Thanks for the info...

Why are you thinking of going to 4-bladed props and the ATC system after only 12 hours of experience with the boat?

Thanks,
-Charlie

I have been reading around and talking to a number of people on both topics and I have heard mostly positives about both. There are a couple of threads on CSR about both. The cost of the ATC was only $280 and if it does what it says will be worth it when cruising and people moving about.

Most of the stuff that I have read dealing with 4 blades prop and light cruiser (over 23 feet) cover these points... providing smoother operation, quicker acceleration from idle, slower minimum on-plane speeds and even fuel savings while traveling at cruising rpm levels. I going to research some more and get some prop qoutes to see if I will this way. At least I can use the old props as spares.

Berth Control...the 290 AJ has a mid-berth, but I believe that the 270 AJ did not add it until the 2007 model.

 

[charlieft]

Charlie -
Just curious - do you fish much? You mentioned that you wanted more space for spending the night, but the 260 has a mid-berth and the AJ doesn't, right? It seems like you would get a bigger boat, and for sure a smoother ride, but maybe not gain that much space in the cabin. Why not a 290 dancer? Like I said, just curious.

Hi,

Like salty said, the 290AJ does have a mid-berth. I wanted to go with inboards, so that narrowed my choices to a used 320DA or a used 290AJ. We never found a 320DA in our price range and we got a decent deal on the 290AJ ... If you could get a 290DA with inboards then I would have looked at one. The 290AJ has a 1 foot wider beam than the 290DA. No, I don't fish much, but we like the open cockpit and the cabin has a lot more room than the 260DA. My grandkids wouldn't go into the mid-berth in the 260 because it was closed in. THe 290AJ has an open stairway so the mid-berth is open

-Charlie