Merc 228 life and large boat performance

[redmen62]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking at a 1987 Regal 277XL with twin 228's. The boat is 30' LOA, 10' beam, and weighs in at 8000 lbs. When new these boats came with all sorts of different power options, everything from twin 470's to twin 350's... my understanding is that the 228's are small block 305s that are rated at 228hp. I know the 350s are rated at 260 hp, so i'm not too worried about the lower hp 90% of the time. I'm sure once I load it up with 8 or so people I'll have to really give it some throttle and use the trim tabs to get on plane, but i'm a little worried about the low end power difference. Anyone have any experience with these engines in larger boats?

The engines have about 1425 hours on them and haven't had any major work done. I'm kind of worried that at some point in the near future they're going to need some pretty serious work and/or rebuilds. Anyone have anything to share on longevity or durability of these engines? Or how hard they are to work on?

Thanks in advance

 

[kmarine]

The 305 4 barrel small block chevy engines were extremely reliable and if the correct props are on the boat it should plane easily .My friend had one or these with twin 350 engines and it was a very fast boat. As for lower speeds it should be similar from a performance issue as the prop diameter will be the same. 1425 hours may seem like a ton of time for a boat, some of the ski boats around here have more than double that. the question is how the rest of the boat was maintained.what condition are the drives in. if properly maintained the likelihood of major mechanical issues with those engine blocks are rare.

 

[biggjimm]

Agree with kmarine. Although the 305's aren't as robust as the larger displacement small blocks, they are just as reliable. If they've been maintained properly they'll provide years of service. But as with any engine, you have to take care of them if you expect them to take care of you.

As far as working on them, in my opinion, you won't find an easier V-8 to work on. Good luck with it if you get her. Jim.