atlmover wrote:
I was just curious of price and availability.. Figured a boat dealer might do install.. Just figured there would be more interest from others about modding and improving performance. Can't help it... if you give me 300hp I want 400hp!
There is a lot of interest in improving performance on boats, BUT it just isn't "worth" it.
As I mentioned earlier, if your boat is good for 50 mph, you need to add 40 hp to get another 2-3 mph based on the specs direct from Four Winns. To get that much more power is a few b.o.a.t bucks and honestly is that worth 2-3 mph? Not to me and not to many others either.
This is especially true b/c in most cases you can get a prop that will increase your speed by a few mph for $200-400.
Also, you bought a conservative, family boat. It is not and was never meant to be a "go-fast" boat. My guess is, that you can do everything that is reasonably possible, prop, cam, exhaust, intake etc., spend $4000-5000 or more and you MIGHT have a 55-57 mph boat. It might touch 60 but that hull isn't really designed for that speed and at some point the VP SX drive is going to be a limited....power capability and also ability to pick up cooling water for the engine....also drag...the SX is not a high speed drive. Then you will be looking to convert to a Mercruiser setup so you can get a real high speed drive and spend $10,000....then you might get a reliable 60 mph....then something will break and you will be out another $4000-5000 to rebuild/repair....OR you will get a 60 MPH boat that is unctrollable/unsafe b/c the hull can't handle the speed.
Then you will realize that when you use the boat, you normally just have a few friends and family on board and after all the mods the boat is LESS useable b/c it is loud, has a hard time getting on plane with a load and is finicky b/c of all the mods....and you will wish you just had a simple easy to use, reliable 50 mph boat that did everything without much fuss.
Focus on getting the prop tuned to your use and call it a day. Or buy a couple props, one for speed one for grunt and swap depending on the mission of the day.