1997 Chaparral Boats Signature 310 — Scituate, Massachusetts

A 1997 Chaparral 310 Signature at Scituate, Massachusetts, asking $19,900. Thirty-one feet of express cruiser on twin MerCruiser 5.7 EFI V8s with Bravo Three duoprop drives — around 591 hours on the pair — and an integrated swim platform aft. Chaparral's Signature line was the yard punching up at Sea Ray, and the build shows it.

Twin V8s at a single-engine price. The affordable-cruiser band centers on $29,900, mostly for single sterndrive boats a size down. This asks $19,900 with two engines — docking authority and get-home redundancy on one side, two of everything to maintain on the other. Survey like a twin-engine buyer: both compressions, both bellows, and the exhaust risers, the classic big-block wear item at this age.

The instructive neighbours: the Carver 310 Santego answers the twin-engine maintenance question with brand-new engines for five thousand less:

Where one engine is enough, the Bayliner 2855 is the economy play with a freshwater history:

And ten more years of design at the same mission money looks like the Regal 2565 Window Express:

If the second engine is why you came, this is the one to sea-trial: