New to Cobalt

[dentech]

Greetings fellow Cobalt owners. I am a Sea Ray owner of 20 years and will be making the move to an R30. I ordered a 2021 with twin 350's VP's to be delivered in September of this year. After much discussion with our dealership (the Harbor) at Table Rock lake, we decided to get the joystick option. Just curious as to the benefit vs the cost of this feature for such a relatively small boat. I look forward to hearing from some of you R30 owners. We have had a Sea Ray 270 sundeck with a Mercruiser 6.2 since 2000. I suspect I will be satisfying my need for speed with this upgrade. Dan.

[AsLan7]

Hey Dan. Welcome to the Cobaltchat forum. So glad you found us!

Sounds like a great boat for ya’. You’ll definitely notice the difference in ride and quality over your Sea Ray. Any pics of either?

Curious about your joystick experience as well. Be sure to post a Captain’s report.

Again welcome aboard mate!

[dentech]

I will post some pics of the 270 this weekend but the R30 pics will not be posted until the end of Sept. Dan.

[AsLan7]

I will post some pics of the 270 this weekend but the R30 pics will not be posted until the end of Sept. Dan.

.
Sounds good my friend....although summer is coming to an end at that time-frame.

[jhnmdahl]

It’s a bigger, heavier boat than a 30’ Sea Ray, and at the point where things like twin engines and joystick control are nice. I think freeboard is also a bit higher, so you’ll catch more wind as well. Basically, a 30’ boat that will feel closer to 35’ in a lot of ways. Should be a blast - let us know when you get it!

[cmattj]

Welcome den!

Twins are fun and a joy to park. Looking forward to pics and joy stick report!

[Big Block Power]

Congrats. Any reason why you didn't jump to the 380's?
There's a r30 parked at the end of one of the docks. What power did he put in that one. Why hold back. You have lots of shoreline to explore.

[dentech]

Yep i considered the 380's. I test drove one with twin 350's and its seriously had loads of high end power and low end power too. The dealership advised me that the extra 380 power \ to extra cost benefit is actually quite low. Also I would have struggled to convince my "co-captain" that the 30 extra HP per engine was worth 12K!

[dentech]

Oh ya, the grey one at the end of the dock has 350's and is sold.

[Big Block Power]

Correct. As long as your happy and you already done one it sounds like a done deal. We will see you in July!!

[tgrace98]

Hey dentech welcome aboard!

Hey I bought my R7 from the harbor. Actually keep it there as well. They are great people and have been awesome to work with servicing my R7.

I have the dreams of an R30 in my future once we decide to upgrade. If it were me I would get the joystick option. I have never owned twins but watching my dock neighbor with an R30 with twins and joystick dock has me beyond jealous. It can get pretty rough and windy around there and he pulls right in with ease. While I am back and forth on and off the throttle.

Will you be keeping it at the Harbor?

[Table Rockin]

Get the joystick. I've not used a Volvo version but I have tinkered with them on a 42' SeaRay Sundancer. Different boats obviously but sooooo nice. It really is push to the right, boat goes goes to the right like someone is pushing you from the side. Plus think about resale (though congrats to you for holding onto a boat for 20 years - frankly thats incredible). Your boat will be much more desirable for a buyer with the joystick, so some of that cost will get recouped theoretically.

[Table Rockin]

if you get the joystick and keep really good care of it I might be your next buyer 5-7 years from now......assuming you dont keep this one for another 20 years

[CaptBob]

My previous boat was a SeaRay SLX300 with joystick control. (Merc Axius drives) It was fun. Works as intended/described. Easy to put the boat where you need. Can you do it with twins, yea, probably, but it's alot more fun with a stick. My only concern is when the drives are doing what they need to be doing, it is very busy back there, and there is alot of water moving. not for the faint of heart, and not for marginal water, they will be doing some churning back there!

[Ytmsn]

Welcome from Oklahoma! I bought my 262 from the Harbor. And see, were all one big happy family here! In a few years, Table Rockin buys your R30 and I buy his R7. See how that works?