Same story on the R4. It has been in the current sterndrive book and MyCobalt never posted it. Not new for 2026. The new boat this month is the R26. The R4 is the small R-series sterndrive: 24′ 3″, 8′ 6″ beam, 50 gallons, 13 persons, no head. Factory line is “Smooth, agile, and built for effortless days on the water.” Translation for this club: it is the one you can actually trailer without making a career of it, and you will not have a toilet.
It sits under the R26 and the R8. Same 8′ 6″ beam as those two, so the garage-door question is the same and the length is the difference. On this site we already have a lot of R3 talk from the last decade. I am not going to pretend the R4 is an R3 with a new decal. I also do not have an official “R4 replaces R3” line from Cobalt, so I will not write one. It is the current small R. That is all I can honestly say.
Factory specs
- LOA (w/ swim platform): 24′ 3″
- Beam: 8′ 6″
- Fuel: 50 gal
- Capacity: 13 persons (2,100 lbs w/ gear)
- Head: no
- Dry weight (varies with options): 5,290 lbs
- Draft, drive up / down: 19″ / 36″
- Engines: Volvo Penta 300–430 hp, MerCruiser 300–430 hp, Monsoon 350–430 hp
Fifty gallons is the small tank in this R-series group. The R26 carries 68. The R8 carries 80. If your days are a lake loop and a long lunch, 50 gallons is a number a lot of us actually live with. If you are the person who hates looking at the gauge, this is not your boat. No freshwater tank is listed (the spec line is “na / na”), so I am omitting a made-up water number. No head. That is the other honest line. The R26, R8, R31, and A29 all put a head on the card. The R4 and the CS boats do not. Plan the day accordingly. I have done plenty of no-head Cobalt afternoons. They are shorter afternoons.
Dry weight at 5,290 lbs is the lightest of the current R sterndrives I am posting this week. Draft is 19″ up, 36″ down, close to the R8 and much shallower than the R26. Factory exterior copy mentions a deep-V hull and easy trailering. Dual Garmin 743 glass cockpit is on the standard list. Power starts at 300 hp on Volvo and Merc, 350 on Monsoon, all the way to 430. That is a lot of engine for a 24-footer if you tick the top box. I am not going to guess what it does to the bow. Flip-down Swim Step is standard. Aft rumble seat is an option here, not standard like on the R8. Still Kevlar. Still a Cobalt. There is an R4 Surf and an R4 Coastal in the book. Sterndrive page first.
This is the size I see on lakes around here more than the 31s. People buy Cobalts and then remember they have a driveway. The R4 is the current answer to that memory. It is also the boat a lot of you will be selling a 23- or 24-foot numeric Cobalt to get into, or selling when you jump to the R26 / R8. Either way I want the photos.
Club photos welcome at editor@mycobalt.net. I live in the Seattle area and I would still rather ride in an owner’s R4 than stare at another 900-pixel PNG. If the R4 means something is coming out of the slip, list it for $25 (or $50 premium). This is not a boat-for-sale post.
Photo: Cobalt Boats. Specs from cobaltboats.com, August 2026.
