Yellowfin 39 Offshore, the Quad-Engine Brawler Reviewed

A Yellowfin 39 built on the 42's bones

The Yellowfin 39 arrived at the 2011 Miami International Boat Show, where the first boat ran demo rides by day and fished for tarpon in Government Cut by night with Sport Fishing's Dean Travis Clarke aboard. Marlin's Karl Anderson tested it the same spring and explained the concept: the 39 was based on the larger 42 hull and carries a foot and a half more beam than the 36, which lets it hang four outboards without crowding them.

That extra width changed the character of the boat. Where the 36 is a narrow, quick-handling tournament machine, the 39 is a heavier, steadier platform that Yellowfin itself calls an offshore fishing beast that can run with the big dogs. It has stayed in production for 15 years, becoming the builder's second-largest model by 2019 and then slotting below the 42, the new 48 and the 54 as the range grew.

Kingfish crews still use it the way Yellowfin intended. Yellowfin reports that Capt. Garret Fulcher's team won Leg One of the Cape Lookout Shootout North Division with only 10 hours on a new 39 Offshore, then took second in Leg Two.

What 11 feet 6 inches of beam does for a stepped hull

The hull is a twin-step deep-V with 22 degrees of transom deadrise, a proud bow, a knife-edge entry and Yellowfin's sweeping sheer. On a 39-foot-8 hull, the 11-foot-6 beam gives a length-to-beam ratio closer to traditional offshore boats than the 36's slender 10-foot beam, and testers noticed the difference immediately. Clarke called the boat as stable as a jetty, and Anderson watched it barely dip with three people on one side.

Underway, the stepped hull still behaves like a Yellowfin. Clarke found it carved sharp arcs and leaned into turns, made a terrific head-sea boat and stayed exactly where he put it when maneuvering in a tight marina. At an 8 mph trolling speed, white water from four propellers dissipated by the third wave back, and Anderson noted the bubble trail gathered cleanly on centerline, useful for anyone pulling a spread or flying a kite.

Current boats come with a Seakeeper Ride 750 Quad system as standard, a hardtop with rear legs (standard since the 2024 model year, when it replaced a canvas top), electric steering and C-Zone digital switching. A gyro stabilizer has been on the option list.

• LOA 39 feet 8 inches, beam 11 feet 6 inches
• Hull draft about 22 inches
• Approximate weight 13,000 lb with power and light fuel on current boats
• Fuel 564 gallons (550 on the first boats)
• Triple or quad outboards up to 1,800 hp

Speed and range across four outboard generations

Few center consoles have been tested this often. In 2011, with quad Mercury Verado 300s, Sport Fishing recorded 72.2 mph at 6,200 rpm on 118 gph, 40 mph on 34 gph and 50 mph on 40 gph. Marlin's boat on the same engines reached 70.2 mph before the tester backed off with speed still climbing, and loped along at almost 45 mph at 4,000 rpm on about 38 gph, roughly 1.2 mpg and close to 600 nautical miles of range.

A 2023 test with quad Mercury Verado 400s showed 70 mph at 6,500 rpm, with a maximum range of 721 miles at 2,500 rpm (1.28 mpg on 18 gph) or 549 miles at 3,500 rpm (0.97 mpg on 37 gph). In the 2024 buyers guide, quad Mercury 400 V10s on 27-inch Rev X propellers delivered 75 mph flat out, a 48 mph cruise and a 550-mile maximum range with three people and 150 gallons aboard.

The pattern is clear. Modern quads add top speed, but the real gift of the 39 is that it cruises in the mid 40s to high 40s mph at around 1 mpg, which is why Hendricks, writing about a weather-shortened Key West kingfish tournament, said his crew ran hard to the Dry Tortugas in rough seas and arrived ahead of everyone.

The carbon 39 and the Under Armour kingfish run

In 2016 Yellowfin built a carbon-fiber version of the 39, sometimes called the Carbon 39 or 39 CE. Carbon replaced much of the fiberglass and saved about 2,400 lb, roughly 18.5 percent of the original dry weight. Sport Fishing's Jim Hendricks rode the Under Armour team's quad Verado 350 boat 88 miles from Key West to the Dry Tortugas area in 6 to 8 foot seas during the 2016 Stock Island Village Marina King Mackerel Tournament, where a 39.81 lb kingfish earned the team second overall and first in the pro division.

On test day the carbon boat hit 74 mph at 6,400 rpm on 147 gph and stayed above 1 mpg from 35 mph to 50 mph, with a best of 1.09 mpg at 35 mph. Its captain had previously seen 78.9 mph. Boating put the carbon boat at about $400,000 with quad 350s, against a base MSRP of $378,545 for a fiberglass boat with the same engines. Carbon boats are rare on the used market and deserve a premium only if the documentation proves the construction.

A stand-up head, big bait capacity and room for a crew

The console is a major reason families buy the 39 rather than a 36. Marlin described a walk-in console with a port-side door, a finely finished stand-up head compartment with electric head and shower, teak-and-holly flooring and good access to the back of the electronics. A sub-console head remains standard on current boats.

Fishing capacity is generous. The 2011 boats carried a 72-gallon transom livewell, an 80-gallon livewell in the leaning post and a 165-gallon macerated fish box, with a 530-quart box under the optional coffin box forward. The carbon tournament boat had three wells, 80 gallons in the transom with a viewing window, 50 gallons under the cockpit sole and 19 gallons under the aft seat, fed by eight pumps from a sea chest. Today's standard package includes a plumbed transom well, a second well in the leaning post, a livewell pump box, an insulated fish box with gulper pump and 14 Gemlux rod holders.

Yellowfin's site says a refreshed 39 is coming with a new console frame and a top-to-bottom enclosure, so check which console a used or new boat carries.

Buying a used 39 and what it costs to run

Used 39s from the first years, typically with quad Verado 300s, trade from about $190,000 to $260,000, and the engines are usually the biggest variable. Boats from the mid 2010s range from roughly $240,000 to $450,000. Recent boats with quad Mercury V10s or comparable Yamahas, Seakeeper Ride and standard hardtops reach $750,000 to $950,000. Quad-engine boats generally resell faster than triples, but triples cost noticeably less to maintain.

Budget seriously for running costs. Four outboards mean four sets of annual service, and at a 45 to 48 mph cruise the boat burns roughly 37 gph or more. Insurance, a slip or high-and-dry storage for a 40-foot boat and electronics updates push typical annual costs to about $35,000 to $80,000 before fuel and depreciation. The 11-foot-6 beam also means this is not a boat most owners trailer.