I/O vs. Inboard on 28 TE 1994 Hull

[ericschlobohm]

Hello All, I am a new member, and have been shopping for a 28 for couple months, I have located one that we are looking at tomorrow. It has a volvo I/O setup. Can anyone share the pluses and minuses, or any experience with an Albin I/O setup. I am concerned it may not be the right way to go. It appears that the classic powerplant is an inboard. Thanks ! Eric

[Veebyes2]

That is the first IO 28 that I've ever heard of. By virtue of engine placement the center of the cockpit is nice & clear though also as an IO it sure clutters up the transom area.

There are two schools of thought on IOs, people love em or hate them. I've never had one but know a few who have & most are happy when they are rid of them. It is the added complexity & maintenance. It is hard to beat the time tested simplicity of a single IB. Let a barnacle or a clam pierce the IOs bellows & you have broken the #1 rule of boating.....Keep the water on the OUTSIDE!!!!!!

[RicM]

I have owned both, a Proline 251 Walk Around with a Mercruiser I/O and now a 03' 28 TE engine box inboard. Here are the pro's and con's as I see it....others may add to the list....
Pro I/O:
easier handling around the dock
Counter rotating props (most modern high end I/O's have em, you didn't say what year this boat was) that are parallel to the bottom plane of the hull
Less draft
Con I/O:
Large, complicated, metallic machine immersed in salt water 24/7
Flexible rubber bellows that is the only thing between boat & the ocean floor
Open water handling (I/O's by nature want to go in circles, Inboards want to go straight)
exposed props

Pro Inboard:
Very simple system outside the boat immersed in Salt Water 24/7. Almost all the expensive bits are inside the hull and protected from most harm.
Skeg aids in open water handling and protects prop from Lobster pots, grounding etc (not 100% but pretty good)
Engine low and midship, what the 28 TE was designed to carry
Con Inboard:
Prop points down somewhat, pushing bow up
greater draft
learning curve for close water handling (prop walk, bow thruster)

Albin made the I/O option way back, how old is this boat? The older the I/O the less enthused I'd be. Insurance statistics that I've seen published agree that most boats sink while tied to the dock, and most of those are I/O's. The nature of an I/O is such that it needs a pretty large opening in the transom, partially under water. If the bellows fails the bilge pumps will keep up with the incoming water until the breach becomes too large, or more insideously, until you dock the boat and go home. Water continues to run into the hull until the batteries give out, then the boat sinks. My I/O was 8 years old when I bought it and it was a continual maintanence issue. Most marinas take them off in the winter and bring them indoors. When re-installing in the spring there was almost always something out of alignment, a bearing that was shot blah blah blah. The boat was never in within 10 days of my planned launch date. Although I was a less experienced boater then, I did seem to end up with crap wrapped around the props a lot, I remember getting a lobster pot buoy stuck between the leg and the hull once when we were drift fishing. The drift was pretty fast so we started dragging the pot, right towards some nasty rocky coastline. We finally got the anchor to catch, but then it was tied up with the pot, what a mess! We were just outside the surf line, it was VERY harrowing!

If you think about it, an I/O's power is connected to the boat by a hinge. The power can be applied in an arc of maybe 45 degrees. This makes handling around the dock more intuitive. It also means when applying power to go straight ahead the boat naturally wants to fold or jacknife at the hinge and run in circles. An inboard, on the other hand, wants to go straight, even the water pressure from the prop "wants" to push the rudder back to the center position. The skeg also makes the boat want to go forward or backward, not side to side. While there is a learning curve to handling an inboard in close quarters, once you get the hang of it's as easy as pie. I would never go back to the I/O now. The I/O is often referred to as having all the bad points of an outboard along with all the bad points of an inboard combined in one complex and constantly corroding system. They are great for trailered ski boats, bowriders, lake boats that don't get used hard, by owners who have no interest in learning how to dock an inboard and will spend most of their lives sitting in the driveway on the trailer. etc. It would be a poor choice for a saltwater based boat that will spend the season on a mooring.

[ericschlobohm]

Thanks Ric, thanks Veebye2 for the feedback,
I've had two boats in the past, a 28 Safari with twin gas I/O's, and prior to that a 24 skipjack single gas I/O. (I'm in CA) I was excited to get an inboard next, but as fate has it at the moment I am looking at a 1994 28TE with a 230 HP Volvo IO setup. It's on a trailer, which we may utilize with a haul and launch service so it's not living in the water, corroding the bellows, and growing samples on all the small nooks and crannies of the drive if we buy this boat.
Other questions for me were the tracking while underway, and the engine placement/weight at the stern. My 28 Safari had twin IO's set wide apart adding some tracking stability. My old skippie a single IO, and it did like to wander. What do you all think of how the 28 TE hull will track without the small keel and rudder?
And any feedback out there on the 230 HP Volvo being sufficient to push the 28TE? It has approx 1000 hours.
Thanks, we hope to own a 28TE soon!
Eric

[jcollins]

Having owned both as well, I echo others. The I/O is much better for close quarter handling and higher top-end. The Volvo duo-prop helps to keep the low speed "wander" to a minimum. But, a single i/o will wander. It's just the nature of the beast.
Although I never removed mine for winter storage, I did have high maintenance expense. But, since I never had anything else I just accepted that fact.
Since I am in brackish water I never had the corrosion problems.
Additionally having the skeg has saved my butt a few times since I boat in shallow waters. I used to keep my boats on a very shallow creek. At very low tides I would raise the outdrive and could get into my slip in 18" of water. After purchasing the Albin I found myself anchored out a few times waiting for high tide. Or, I couldn't leave the slip until the tide came in. Since I'm in a marina with a least 4' of water now I don't have to worry about that.

[RicM]

Sorry I didn't notice the year of the boat in the title of your post. I bought my I/O (Proline) because it's what I knew at the time, my dad had had outboards and I/O's. It took me a while to learn the inboard ways, but like I said, I'd never go back now. 230HP doesn't seem like a lot of horses for a boat this size & weight. Another thing to consider is that if you fish, the motor box will impede your movement back and forth across the transom when fighting a big one. I have made as many as 2 complete circles around my boat when fighting a big striper on my own. Trailering or dry storage certainly mitigates some of the downsides of the I/O. I'm assuming it's a pretty good price. Whenever you go outside the norm (and this boat is not what the average Albin buyer has in mind) you will find resale issues. That said, invest in a good survey, buy it right, and enjoy.

[Tuxedo]

230HP doesn't seem like a lot of horses for a boat this size & weight.

I drove an I/O version back from a boat show, about 25 miles down the waterway. 230hp actually moves the boat right along. Don't remember the exact speed, but the Albin rep in a new 32+2 couldn't begin to keep up. The I/O is much more efficient than the inboard.

That said, I agree with the arguments for the inboard.

[RobS]

No keel on the I/O. That's gotta speed things up a bit... Here's a prior thread with pics:
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=2041&start=0&hilit=outdrive

[ericschlobohm]

We saw the boat yesterday, it's in decent shape for its age, a bit of corrosion but not terrible on the first pass. We love the layout, and everything is so accessible. We're still torn on the IO setup, and resale issue with the odd power plant, but if we can buy it right I think it may be the boat. All the feedback is sooo appreciated! We hope to join the proud Albin family. Cheers, Eric