Visit our Popular Forums

Duckhead · 15-11-2006, 14:45

I spent 2 great years cruising FL, east coast and the Bahamas on a Gemini 3000 and loved every minute of it! They came with a horrible outboard by Evinrude (I think). We bought ours with a 35 Honda, the motor pivots with the rudders so it's very maneuverable, we never wished for two motors.

For shallow water, nothing beats a Gemini, especially the early ones with the rudder cage where you can lift the rudders out of the water (30 and 32). We would see shallow water ahead, walk back and lift rudders till you passed over the shallow bit.
These rudders are both the boon and bane of this model as you won't find one that hasn't had welding repairs to them. Hint here: keep only as much rudder in water that you need (there are about 4 adjustable depths) Change the steering cable too when you find yours... it's cheap peace of mind. Gemini's keep their value too we paid 45K and sold for 54K two yrs later. Duckhead

Talbot · 16-11-2006, 01:58

Quote:

We bought ours with a 35 Honda, the motor pivots with the rudders so it's very maneuverable, we never wished for two motors.

Makes parking relatively straight forward. However, if you are motorsailing into a significant chop, having the engine turn with the rudder is a drawback, as the thrust gets vectored away at a critical moment. I have my outboard set up on a seperate steering system which has a handle on it instead of a wheel, and thus I can turn the outboard to whatever angle I want independent of the rudders.

Needs a bit more thought when parking, but is much more flexible.