Boston Whaler 280 Dauntless Test Video 2023 by BoatTEST.com

The all-new 280 Dauntless continues Boston Whaler’s successful lineup of inshore fishing and family dayboats. This is truly a remarkable boat in many ways, including the fact that she can be powered by a high-horsepower single outboard engine or twins.
For our in-depth Captain’s Report, test data and more on the 280 Dauntless, visit boattest.com/b...
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[@davidodonovan1699]

Wow, I love how that helm area is designed. Lots of thought went into that. Well done Captain Steve and team, for the great work you do in pointing them out in an easy to understand and straightforward way.

[@boballison123123]

awesome boat and very useful review (as usual)! Well done, thanks!

[@cjphillipsyoutubechannel593]

Hey Cap’n Steve. Do you ever add list price to your evaluations? Just curious what a boat like that runs. Thanks and we’ll see you…on the water!

[@mattyboy999]

North of 200k.

[@oceanreef9276]

Keep going, over 300k

[@alexandriahammond337]

We don’t usually put it on the videos because many boats are custom however we do usually try and mention it on the website :)

[@federicomarino9295]

We run the Dauntless vessels down here in the Florida Keys due to their versatility and ruggedness.

[@tomcat2039]

Interested in buying a 27 Daunt. How are they in a 2-3 foot chop

[@JWH4]

I’d really like to see something with this class of boat featuring conventional vs sharrow propellers. Theres been a lot made of the 30+” vessels, but not so much in terms of the 18-28ft class.

[@georgedoolittle9015]

Not bad for a Center Console!

[@gerhardvanwaltsleben8944]

Lekker man lekker 🇿🇦

[@autonomous_collective]

Get twin Suzuki 300B dou prop outboards, with Sharrow props!

[@alanploetz7100]

Probably not a likely combo on a Brunswick Division boat brand when it can come factory packaged with a Brunswick brand engine.

[@richie7872]

What they don’t tell you is the plastic thru hulls, horrible birds nest rigging that can creat fire hazards, inadequate cabling to power sources, and the bigger the whaler the more issues it has. I’ve put about 60+ transducers on brand new Boston whalers and a lot of times they come water logged from factory. With the price tag on this boat go get something much better.

[@sdvten]

About on par with a product from a Brunswick company.

[@kidkurrupt007]

What would you recommend ?

[@davidodonovan1699]

Personally I would choose a twin engine over a single one even for a small boat like this, just for the peace of mind incase anything went wrong. I live in Ireland, which has a lot of large peninsulas, leading out to either the Atlantic ocean or the Irish Sea, which are not places you want your engines to ever fail at. Mostly it's fine, and thankfully modern technology is far better at forecasting, but there are still fatal maritime accidents unfortunately. Having said that, in the last 20 or 30 years, I can only remember three major incidents: A fishing boat that lost 5 out of its 6 crew in a storm. A rescue helicopter that crashed into an island loosing all of its crew during a zero visibility weather pattern where the island cliff wasn't mapped on the digital mapping and I have no idea what was up with its radar warning systems. Some drug smugglers that put diesel into a petrol (AKA gasoline) engine, over powering the boat to tip water in the aft section of the boat, and a storm happened...drug dealers trying to make it onto the cliffs, one made it up onto land and went to a local house for help...trying to make up some excuse...the rescue teams and the Irish navy noticed the bails of cocaine floating in the ocean...thankfully this lead to a series of massive arrests and raids...and the boat was called "lucky day". It was very lucky, thank God, for the country that the drug dealers where caught and the drugs either seized or went out into the ocean. Thank God for the Irish Navy raid teams drug raids that resulted from that incident.

[@charlieodom9107]

This is an inshore boat, so the need for peace of mind is irrelevant. Also, instead of spending all that money on an extra engine, you could get a tow boat subscription for a few hundred bucks a year and save yourself a ton of money.

[@davidodonovan1699]

@@charlieodom9107 That's a good point, but my local inshore area has a nine knot speed limit, (it's a major port area for the country) so the temptation to go out into the ocean for proper speeds would be great.

[@charlieodom9107]

@@davidodonovan1699 then go offshore. Having one engine instead of two isn't an issue, and never has been. Many commercial boats have only one engine and spend weeks offshore. If you are too scared to go out in a boat with only one engine, then boating might not be for you.

[@davidodonovan1699]

@@charlieodom9107 That's a very good point. Thank you. You got me for day and weekend boats. Well done. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it. Also from memory of my childhood, I don't think I was ever in a small day boat that wasn't a single outboard engine. Makes sense. Thanks again.

[@sdvten]

@@davidodonovan1699 You had it right. This boat performs better with twins, has little fuel mileage loss with twins and is better offshore with twins. I'd take twin 200s vs one 400 any day of the week.

[@Jay-tc9on]

This boat needs twins. Single isn’t enough imo.

[@charlieodom9107]

Your opinion is ignorant at best! Single engine is plenty fast. It has less maintenance, less initial cost, less fuel burn, and weighs less. The only benefit to twins is the top speed and joystick, if you choose the option. Everything else about a twin engine boat is a drawback or compromise.

[@Jay-tc9on]

@@charlieodom9107 ouch… unless you are only going to use that boat to run to the sandbar and back you are going to need twins. You have to remember test conditions are with just safety gear, 1 or 2 people and usually not much fuel. As somehow who’s owns a 26 with a 350 I think I am somewhat qualified to speak on the matter. 5000 rpm’s to achieve “optimal cruise” is a lot. Once you get 6 people a full tank of gas and a live well full the performance is going to change quite a bit.

[@charlieodom9107]

@@Jay-tc9on I have been on plenty of single engined boats that weigh considerably more than this one, and with a full weekend full of gear, so you're full of shit! Express cruisers up to 30 feet have single 300hp engines and they do perfectly fine with WAY more weight. You need to actually ride in boats and not just spread bullshit propaganda that you know nothing about.

[@jasonsokol5803]

@@charlieodom9107 Wouldn't really call his opinion ignorant at all. Your response sure was though. There's pros and cons to both single & twins. It all boils down to how you use the boat... I'm sure for you 3 minute run to the local dock n dine once a month, a single is fine. But this boat can be fished hard and brought offshore on the right days. Twins would be optimal for that person. The major concern here is what @Jay said too...5000RPM to get optimal cruise?? That's ridiculous, never heard of a modern outboard that needed to be ran that hard to get optimal cruise.

[@charlieodom9107]

@@jasonsokol5803 do you even know what ignorant means? Apparently not, since you think a single engine boat can't go certain places. You obviously have never been on any commercial boats, moron! A single engine boat will do everything a dual one can with all of the benefits I listed in previous comments. The ONLY benefit a dual has is top speed and advanced controls like joystick for idiot proof docking. As far as having a 5,000 rpm cruise, you obviously don't understand the first thing about hydrodynamics or engines. The Verado is a high revving engine, and 5,000 rpm is only 500 rpm higher than most cruising rpms for outboard boats like this anyway. If you want lower rpms, then choose a lower rpm motor, like the Yamaha 425. The Verado is a supercharged small displacement engine, so it needs the rpm to make power. It makes peak power 1,000 rpm higher than the 300 tested on this same boat, so you would expect a large difference in results. A single engine is more than enough for this boat, and having seen many boats of this size with single engines that run just fine, there is no reason for twins, as the OP stated. The single engine option on this boat, and many other brands, such as Sportsman, Contender, Everglades, Pursuit, Yellowfin, for example, are the reason why they are so popular.