You want two engines, weather protection that covers everybody rather than just the driver, and a head that closes behind a door — and you want all of it inside 28 feet. That combination is rarer than it sounds. The Pursuit D 266 Denali is one of the few boats in the class that delivers all three as standard equipment rather than a stack of options.
At 27 feet 4 inches overall with an 8-foot 9-inch beam and 21 degrees of transom deadrise, the D 266 sits one rung up from the D 246 and gains the things that change how a boat gets used: a second Yamaha, a fiberglass hardtop that comes with the boat, and an enclosed port-console head with an electric freshwater marine toilet, a Corian countertop and a 13-gallon holding tank. On a 27-footer, that head is the feature owners talk about years later.
Who It's For
The D 266 is a family boat that fishes properly, aimed at the buyer who runs a mixed program — tubing and sandbars with the kids on Saturday, a serious trolling or bottom-fishing session on Sunday, and a run to a waterfront restaurant somewhere in between. Owners describe exactly that split, and the boat is built for it.
It also suits people moving up from a bowrider who want to go further offshore than a bowrider should. Twenty-one degrees of deadrise, a hand-laminated vinyl ester hull, a five-ply resin-infused composite transom and 316L stainless hardware throughout are what make that a reasonable ambition rather than a risky one.
With the motors up, draft is 1 foot 9 inches; motors down, 2 feet 9 inches. Fuel is 139 gallons and fresh water 20 gallons. Clearance with the hardtop is 7 feet 11 inches.
The Efficiency Story: Best in the Line
Pursuit is one of a small number of builders that publishes a real performance bulletin for every hull — rpm by rpm, with mph, gallons per hour, miles per gallon and calculated range. The D 266's sheet was run with two aboard on a full 139-gallon tank, full water and all optional equipment fitted, at 8,149 pounds of test weight.
Here is what the twin Yamaha F200s do:
- Wide open, 5,975 rpm: 51.3 mph at 40.2 gph — 1.27 mpg, 159 miles
- Best cruise, 3,500 rpm: 27.7 mph at 11.3 gph — 2.46 mpg, 307 miles
- Fast cruise, 4,000 rpm: 33.3 mph at 15.1 gph — 2.21 mpg, 277 miles
- Economy, 3,000 rpm: 20.8 mph at 9.0 gph — 2.32 mpg, 291 miles
Range figures are Pursuit's own, calculated on 90 percent of fuel capacity.
That 3,500 rpm line — 27.7 mph on 11.3 gallons an hour for 2.46 miles per gallon — is the most efficient cruise on any Denali test sheet, large or small. Twin 200-horsepower four-cylinders on a 6,770-pound hull turn out to be a very well-matched pairing, and 307 miles of range makes this a boat that can genuinely leave its home bay for the day.
There is a second number worth having: zero to 30 mph in 8.0 seconds. That is the quickest figure in the Denali range, and it is what two engines buy you. The D 246 takes 12.9 seconds to do the same thing.
Layout and Weather Protection
The hardtop is the differentiator against a center console, and here it is standard: molded fiberglass on powder-coated aluminum structural supports, with dedicated locations for a VHF antenna and outriggers. Under it sits the tempered glass windshield in Pursuit's vacuum-infused fiberglass frame, with a center walk-through door and a starboard wiper.
The practical effect is that the boat gets used in March and October. Weather protection across the full width of the boat — not just a T-top patch of shade over the helm — is why families board a Denali on days a center console stays on the lift.
Forward, the open bow has full wraparound seating, with an optional sunpad that converts the social zone to a lounging one. The adjustable helm seat gives good access to the instrumentation and to the optional Garmin electronics package. Aft, foldaway seating clears out to leave an open, fish-ready cockpit.
Fishing Package
Standard fishing equipment on the D 266 is genuinely useful rather than token: a lighted 20-gallon recirculating insulated livewell with a Plexiglas lid, fed by an 1,100 gph tournament-series pump through a bronze seacock; a 31-gallon insulated in-transom fish box with a drain; four stainless gunwale rod holders; a molded transom walkthrough with a hinged door; and a dedicated transducer location.
Add the optional four hardtop rod holders and outriggers on the dedicated mounts and you have a boat that can troll a proper spread. The twin F200s come with digital electric steering and Helm Master EX digital electronic control as standard; the joystick, with Set Point and autopilot, is an option worth pricing if you dock in tight quarters.
What It Isn't
Two things to be straight about.
There is no cabin and no berth. The port console head is enclosed and properly finished — electric freshwater marine toilet, Corian counter, sink, 13-gallon holding tank — but it is a head compartment, not accommodation. This is a day boat that lets you stay out a long day. If you want to sleep aboard, that conversation starts at the D 365.
And the hull has history. Pursuit's own performance bulletin for this boat carries a test date of 12/13/2018, and the Denali name arrived on it as part of a line-wide renaming rather than as a new design. Owner reviews on Pursuit's own page go back years under the previous badge. That is not a criticism — a hull that has been in production this long has had its problems found and fixed, and the ownership feedback is consistently strong. But buy it understanding you are buying a proven boat, not a clean-sheet one.
Beam is 8 feet 9 inches, three inches over legal towing width, so this is a permit tow rather than a hitch-and-go. And 20 gallons of fresh water is modest for a boat that will spend all day at a sandbar.
The Cross-Shops
Grady-White Freedom 275, Boston Whaler 270 Vantage, Robalo 277 and Sailfish 276 DC are the boats you will look at alongside it. The D 266's arguments are the standard hardtop, the enclosed head with a real holding tank, and the published test sheet — 2.46 mpg at a 27.7 mph cruise is a number you can hold a competitor to.
The Bottom Line
The D 266 gives you the two things buyers normally have to go bigger to get — twin engines and an enclosed head — inside a 27-foot boat, and it backs them with the best published efficiency in the Denali line. It is a day boat, and its hull is a known quantity rather than a new one. If those are acceptable, it is very hard to fault at the length.