www.iFourWinns.com

All correct, Cappy.

The 7.4 liter 310-hp was the venerable 454 cubic incher. Had a whopping 444 lb-ft of torque!

Makes me think the 8.1 is somewhere between 450 and 500 lb-ft !!

By the way, I did find that the 5.7 liter 320-hp (really 310hp) Volvo small block is showing 378 lb-ft of torque ........... but this is at a higher RPM than the big-blocks.

Here's a link to an article that Boating Mag did a few years ago, comparing the then current Volvo 280 & 320 small blocks and the 375 big block, all in identical 250 Horizons. Take note of the last two paragraphs.

http://www.boatingmag.com/article.asp?section_id=8&article_id=483&print_page=y

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

Most of the used 268 I have looked at in my area have the 8.1L, our local dealer orders amost all vistas with big blocks, even 22-24' open bows and cuddies.

I ended up with a small block 5.7L because I bought it out of state and for a "good deal". That good deal has disappeared now that I want to repower it.

It is a fine, get from point A to B boat. It just has a horrible hole shot. Yes the out drive is geared for high altitude, and have F3 props to get proper RPM at WOT. It just needs the 8.1L IMHO

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
Videos

Wow .... F3s !??! You must be turning some healthy RPM for a standard 25 to 30 mph cruise.

And I thought my F4s were "tiny" (had F6s on the 245 Sundowner with same engine).

I turn about 3200 RPM for a 25mph cruise ... tough to keep it on plane much below this, without applying some tabs. The engine torque falls off below this RPM and the speed will begin to drop.

In comparison, the 245 would cruise at 25 mph at about 2500 to 2700 RPM.

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

Gordon, you boat at what elevation, few hundred feet??? I am anywhere from 4000 ft elevation at Lake powell, to 6500-7500 at mountain lake around home.

If I remember correctly, 3100 rpm produces just under 25 mph. It has been a sad year, we only got the boat out of storage in may, used once in aug, going to winterize this weekend and take to storage sometime in the next month or two.

I did a search in the Northeast corridor (we are in MA) and see that all 268's 2002-2004 are all equipped with the 280hp 5.7 Penta.

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/cache/searchResults.jsp?cint=100&searchtype=advancedsearch&Ntk=boatsEN&fromYear=2002&hmid=0&sm=3&enid=0&luom=126&cit=true&toLength=27&currencyid=100&boatsAddedSelected=-1&fromLength=24&ftid=0&fromPrice=0&man=four+winns&slim=quick&Ntt=268&rid=100&resultsLayout=0

Even if a rare 2004 8.1 did pop up it would command a price that is above our price range.

The 268 is a 6500lbs base weight boat. The 248 is a 6000lbs base weight boat and in most configurations come with 5.0l 270 Volvo Penta. If all other things are equal, which one do you think is better stock better powered - i.e price versus performance?

Kind regards,
George

On the 248 I would look for a 280-DP

On the 268, the 280-DP is basically fine. Yes, in the northeast there are no big-blocks. We saw a few in the Great Lakes areas when we were shopping, but very few (if any) in our closer area (northeast).

And .... when I say the 280-DP is basically fine ....... note that this is coming from a life-long hot-rodder and a boater that can have a fair load of people on the boat. Would I take a big-block (375-DP) over the 280-DP? In a heart beat. However, if the right boat is not showing up this way, the 280-DP is fine.

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

A query on yatch world for 248s produces only a 5.0 270hp combination. It's probably that most dealer configured it for this but then again when looking for a good deal it's hard to find an outlier.

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/ ... elected=-1

Hmm .... yes, the 248 with the 280-DP does seem to be a rare bird in the northeast.

Note that many of the 270s are single prop. I would really suggest a dual prop with any engine, especially at the lower HP ratings.

Here's a Boat-Trader search for 500 miles from Portsmouth, NH (couple of loaded 268s in there, as well as nicely priced 278s)

http://www.boattrader.com/search-results/NewOrUsed-any/Type-any/Zip-03801/Radius-500/Make-four%20winns/Length-24,28/Year-2000,2008/Keyword-vista/Sort-Length:DESC/Page-2,25/Searchid-3656258/

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Gordon Arnold
New Hampshire

2003 268 Vista ..................................................................Prior: 97 245 Sundowner

A 248 equipped with a 5.0L around my neck of the wood is a rare bird. 5.7L is common, with 8.1L being in a fair share, and I have seen a 5.0L being advertised before, they tried for many seasons to off load that STD powered unit.

Even thought the specs say there is only a 10 hp difference between the 5.0 and 5.7L motors, you could not get me to take a 5.0L. there is no replacement for displacement! I still believe that there is more important numbers (torque) that the bigger motors produce that they dont post.

Knowing how good the 248 runs with the 280/5.7 it would be insane with an 8.1 and as someone who owned an 8.1 merc, I WISH my 248 had one!

The Merc 8.1's are in my opinion one of the nicest packages out there for those of us who trailer and have to deal with winterize. To winterize my 8.1 I hooked up the pump to the schrader valve, pumped it a few times to dump the valves in the manifolds which blew them out, that's it... Your done! The engines are all fresh water cooled and have aluminum lower exhaust manifolds (no rust out) with stainless risers...

And did I mention it hauled ass? 70MPH GPS in a 23' cuddy that weighed in around 6200lbs full of fuel.

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Brett DiMichele