Today we visited Ray & Anne at their official launch party for their new Jumbo Tolman Skiff. Ray's boat looks great with attention to detail and a fine finish showing everywhere. We went for a spin with the diesel and it was impressive. At about 3200 rpm, the GPS was showing 20mph which is about what our Suzuki 140 powered Jumbo does at a little under 4000 rpm. It's a comfortable cruising speed if there is a little chop that would keep you from running faster. Ray says that at those rpms he should be getting 8+ mpg. That would be a good reason to have the diesel. I get just under 5mpg cruising at 20-25mph with the Suzuki. The boat acellerates hard but has a top speed of about 30mph vs. 37mph for my Suzuki powered Jumbo.

Ray did a great job with his anchor deck. It looks great. His paint looks good and his boat has a nice yacht finish. The top of the motor box makes a good seat and his aft deck seems nice and roomy. He has fuel tanks on the sides in the cabin like my Jumbo with a dopped cabin sole so the boat has lots of headroom inside. His windows are lexan and they have some nice sliders. Again, the fit and finish are top rate.