March 31, 2026
The Pursuit S 288: When 30 Feet Feels Like 40
Pursuit S 288: a 30-foot center console that feels like a 40-footer, with twin Yamaha F300s or twin Mercury 300s, and a purpose-built layout…
Read the articleThe Pursuit Sport Series
The center consoles — open offshore boats from 30'0" to 37'4", rated 600 to 900 horsepower
You want to clear the inlet in the dark, run offshore into whatever the forecast turned into, fish a full day, and still have the boat be somewhere your family will happily spend a Sunday. The Sport line is Pursuit's answer: open center consoles with the helm amidships, a working deck you can walk a fish around, and — unusually for the type — a console you can actually get inside.
That console is what separates Sport from most of what it is cross-shopped against. Every boat here has an enclosed head rather than a curtain and a bucket, and from the S328 up there is a berth to go with it. Pursuit says the S358 is the only center console in the 34- to 35-foot market with an enclosed head, and having spent time in the class, that claim holds up.
We review three in depth: the S288 at 30'0", the S328 at 34'6" and the S358 at 37'4". Pursuit builds the Sport range from the S 248 up to the S 428, so these three sit inside a longer line — they are simply where most owner-operators land.
The Sport Lineup, Smallest to Largest
Every Pursuit Sport model we review in depth, in the order owners step up through the series.
Photo credit Pursuit.
The Pursuit S288 is a 30-foot center console built for serious offshore fishing — 600 horsepower from twin Yamaha F300s or twin Mercury 300s, 217 gallons of fuel, and a private head compartment with a 9-gallon holding tank.
The Pursuit S328 is a 34-foot center console with genuine offshore range — twin Yamaha F350s, 300 gallons of fuel for 348 miles at cruise, a two-person berth, and a vacuum-flush head below.
The Pursuit S358 is a 37-foot center console flagship — twin Yamaha 450 XTOs to 51.2 mph, 343 gallons of fuel, a convertible berth, and the only enclosed head in the 34- to 35-foot center console class.
Don't see the Sport model you're after — or a brand-new launch? Request specs through Yacht Specs Direct.
Moving Up the Sport Series
The S288 is the entry point and the one that surprises people. Thirty feet on a 9'8" beam, 24 degrees of deadrise — the sharpest hull in the line — 217 gallons of fuel, 10,049 lbs dry with twin Yamaha F300s, and a 600-horsepower ceiling you can fill with either twin Yamaha F300s or twin Mercury 300 Verados. There is a full head compartment in the console with an electric marine head and a 9-gallon holding tank, 60 gallons of insulated fish box and a 24-gallon recirculating livewell. One honest caveat: Pursuit publishes no performance test sheet for the current model year, so there is no manufacturer speed or range figure to quote, and you will not find an invented one here.
The S328 is the step where the boat gains a cabin. It runs 34'6" on a 10'10" beam with 20 degrees of deadrise, carries 300 gallons and weighs 12,975 lbs dry on twin Yamaha F350s. The 700-horsepower ceiling buys 51.2 mph flat out, and Pursuit marks best cruise at 27.1 mph at 3,500 RPM — 20.4 gallons an hour, 1.33 miles per gallon, 348 miles of range. Below the console there is a convertible V-berth, a Vacu-Flush head with a 10-gallon holding tank and an opening portlight forward. Pursuit rates it to sleep two.
The S358 changes category rather than just size. It is 37'4" with the pulpit on an 11'4" beam, 22 degrees of deadrise, 343 gallons, 16,618 lbs dry, and a 900-horsepower ceiling filled by twin Yamaha 450 XTOs. Top speed is 51.2 mph and best cruise is 29.1 mph at 4,000 RPM, burning 33.1 gallons an hour for 271 miles. The cabin gains a settee that converts to a berth, a proper shower and a 28-inch television; the cockpit gains split mezzanine seating and a full entertainment centre.
Read the steps honestly. S288 to S328 buys you 83 gallons of fuel, a foot of beam and somewhere to sleep, and costs you four degrees of deadrise and nearly 3,000 lbs. S328 to S358 buys another 43 gallons, another six inches of beam and a genuinely usable cabin — and costs 3,600 lbs and a third of your fuel range at cruise, because 900 horsepower drinks. If most of your days are inside 40 miles, the middle boat is the one that makes the most sense.
Our Take
The S328 is the one I put most people on, and it is not the safe middle-of-the-range recommendation it looks like. Pursuit rebuilt it from the keel up for 2025 rather than facelifting it — the motor well is gone, the cabin is genuinely usable, and the cockpit converts from fishing deck to social space without the theatre most builders make of it. At 348 miles of range at best cruise it also has the longest legs in the line, which is not what anyone expects the middle boat to be.
Here is the argument against me. If you fish four or five people well offshore, the S358's extra beam stops being a number and becomes the difference between working a fish around the boat and everyone shuffling. And its enclosed head with a real shower is the thing that turns a two-day trip from an endurance test into a holiday. If you are honest that you will do that more than twice a season, buy the bigger boat.
The S288 I like more than its position suggests. Twenty-four degrees of deadrise on a 30-footer is a lot of hull, and it rides like it. What I will not do is quote you a speed for it, because Pursuit does not publish one for this model year — and if a listing hands you a precise S 288 top speed, ask where it came from.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which Pursuit Sport model has the longest range?
The S328, and by a wide margin. Pursuit's test sheet gives it 348 miles at best cruise, against 271 miles for the larger S358, because the 900-horsepower twin Yamaha 450 XTO package on the S358 burns 33.1 gallons an hour to the S328's 20.4. The S358 carries more fuel — 343 gallons against 300 — and still travels less far on it. No range figure exists for the S288 because Pursuit publishes no performance data for the current model year.
What is the difference between the Pursuit Sport and Denali series?
Sport boats are center consoles and Denali boats are dual consoles. On a Sport model the helm sits amidships with the deck open all the way around it, which is the layout that fishes best. On a Denali the accommodation sits either side of a centre walkway under a full-width hardtop and a tall wraparound glass windscreen, which protects everybody aboard rather than only the person driving. Both lines are built on the same hand-laminated hulls with five-ply resin-infused composite transoms, and both fish. Pursuit runs a third line, Offshore, above them both.
Which Sport Fits Your Life?
Tell us how you plan to use the boat — guests, range, crew or no crew — and we'll give you the straight story on where in the Sport series you belong, new or brokerage.
Explore All Pursuit ModelsOr reach Tony directly: TS@MintedYachts.com · +1 (404) 805-9819