Help with a 88 Hydrostream Voyager XT and 87 Evinrude 275

[TBURNS8690]

Just bought this rig, and the boat is perfect, garage kept since new by original owner. Motor, a different story, has one burned piston. It is a 1987 Evinrude 275 V 8. From what ? who knows? boat came with a CMC hydraulic jack plate, Bob's nose cone, foot throttle, nice 30" Mazco RE 3, and a spare 28" chopper for "running around". Question is - I want to use for "running around" with good top speed on occasion, but still want to be able to ski with my kids, should I fix this motor and buy a 4 blade prop of some sort for skiing? or just dump it and move to an OMC or Merc V6? Anyone out there running this setup? Any input? Been out of high perf boating for a while, just getting back in looking for some of the great feedback from these forums (previous boat- 21' Talon, Merc 2.4 Bridgeport).

[action20]

Voyager is a great all around boat and i feel it can handle that Horsepower and weight. You are looking the cost of new controls and prob most of the gauges. If you go to a merc. If it were me i would fix the V8. I have had experience with the 2.0 V4 looper and the 3.0 V6 looper OMC which is basically your 275 HP less two cylinders. Those motors are reliable and have some great torque which will do the trick on your boat.

There are some V 8 guys on here that know OMC very well that may guide you better but thats my 2 cents.

one more reason:

That motor must look HUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge on that boat !! another reason to keep it.

[wideglide55]

There is a complete powerhead for sale for that setup on S&F, it is a factory replacement powerhead that has never been fired.Just bolt it on and ride. Make sure you get that gearcase cross pinned,if not it will become a problem if you start running it near the surface.