Hello Keith, I remember talking to you about the Fredericksburg flyin we did this year. Good to see you on the message board.
It's all about the mission that would justify a change in aircraft. You have given some profile in your message above so here are my thoughts. Nothing wrong with the A36, in fact I have talked to many Bo pilots and owners and understand the passion for such an aircraft. The performance of the A36, especially with the 550, is more than adequate for the mission given above. I can only imagine leveling at Flt Lvl 120 with your machine and watching the miles go by. Clean airframe, built for speed and efficiency has always tugged at my interests. I have so little Bo time, none as PIC, so this perception is only from reading and talking
Now, flying across the ocean, even the relatively short distances in the Caribbean, in a single engine airplane happens all day and every day. I haven't noticed reading daily reports about single engine planes dropping into the pacific ocean. But once you have experienced flying a multi-engine airplane over what can be, uncomfortable terrain and water, it is hard to ever feel right again in a single engine airplane. My uncomfortable terrain is mountainous, especially at night, IFR and night IFR, night VFR, Great Lakes summer or winter and oceans. But for those that haven't had the experience might just be fine flying a single engine in and over these scenario's. The greatest justification is "how many times have you had an engine failure in a single engine airplane"? I seem to see more pilot induced issues than mechanical issues. We need to know the airplane, know the maintenance and make smart decisions.
Would I fly a single engine out to the Bahamas, yes. If I know the airplane and know it's capabilities. Would I fly over Lake Michigan in February in a single engine? Again, it would depend on the airplane, it's capabilities and my comfort level for make the right decision. The Pilatus PC-12 is a single engine airplane. A Cessna 172 is a single engine airplane. I might have different comfort levels for those two aircraft. So back to your question, yes I think you would love a Skymaster. How could anyone not? It's a great airplane and offers a huge amount of comfort. It's roomier for you and your passengers. It has the redundancy that single engines do not have. At sea level the basic normal aspirated birds are very strong and fun to fly. It hauls almost anything you can stuff into the cabin. Has great range and flys stable as a rock. There is literally no CG issues unless you just load it with something stupid. Visibility is better that any other high wing out there. The military proved its built like a tank. My normal aspirated is very kind on maintenance and easy to work on. The rear engine accessory case is the only place that makes me cuss a little, the later model had an access door to help that issue but it didn't have a baggage door. There are just a lot of good about these planes and not much bad. People beat up the Continental IO-360 engines but I have had great success with mine. Fly it right and treat it right and they will go way beyond TBO. Would I like a different plane? Yes there are times that I would like a different plane. When I am at the gas pump and when I am at Flt Lvl 120 I want to see a higher TAS. But even flying to Fredericksburg last September I would have only saved 30 minutes or so over the Bo's speed. Mine burns 18 GPH ROP and trues at 154 kts. It's not so bad and gives me a lot of comfort.
I think the A36 would be just fine for your mission above but that second engine is nice when flying and all is good. Maintenance is going to be a little more and fuel burn might be a little higher or close to the same but you are probably going a little slower. The normal aspirated are the basic platform. If you get into the P model it's a different animal and I am sure there will be lots of opinions about the two. The P model is a much heavier airframe and doesn't really give much more speed unless you go real high. Takes a good amount of time to get up there but will perform better at high teens. The Riley converted are also nice as the all the systems have been updated but they are getting long in the tooth as the last one was converted in the late 90's. There still may be some good aircraft out there but be careful as there are some seldom flown Skymasters out there that will need some TLC. Those idle birds can be resurrected but just plan to spend about 20% or more of the purchase cost to get it comfortable in the air.
Lots and lots of good info on this message board. I encourage you to use the SEARCH feature to explore specifics and the second thread in this MESSAGES section has lots of info and opinions.
BTW, the Riverview Pilots are going to the Bahamas in March. Come join us and look over a couple of Skymasters that are attending.