Any ideas on why it felt so gutless? I am surprised that it's the 330 motor I thought forsure it was the 310 as slow as it felt. Had the filter curving out to the left looking at motor.

20 HP will not make much difference. I had a 236 Larson that did mid 50 and that was a 300 HP SBC, lighter.

Would need some numbers to see what its doing. Any prop info?rpms at wot? What are you calling a dog? Did you drive or did owner just take it easy coming on plane. A 4 blade will help out the hole. It should walk right up with 25-3500 rpms depending on pitchand overall goals.

I take it easy with mine getting on plane just to not put any unneeded strain on drives. I do the same with just me or 10 ppl in boat.

Sounds like it was over proped, wet, clogged speedo, or just not running good. In 1997 we built both the 208 and 212 Islanders for that one year. If I was to choose I would look for a 212 Isl. for the fiberglass cockpit floor and 20 degree deadrise. The 208 was a cool boat but 17 degree, and that hull would hop (porpose) in long turns. The 212 is the same hull design as the 97' Hammer. I do remember one dealer meeting and we had both the Hammer and 212 Islander with the same 7.4 MPI power and the Hammer was faster buy 4-5 mph due to the wind drag from the open bow, windsheild, and air down the walkway. The added weight in the bow probably also hurt trimming it out. Still the Hammer was upper 60s and the 212 was lower/mid 60s on the wish-o-meter.

XT

If he wants to upgrade, my 292 Islander is available. I've decided to upgrade to a twin engine tunnel hull.

PM sent ;)

I had the 310 horse 95 208 and it would run 64 on gps ( me and the wife 1/4 tank of fuel) and 61 or 62 any day. I was happy with mine , it was a rough ride when the lake got rough. only reason I don't still have it is because we wanted a cuddy to overnight in.

Had a 212 with the 7.4 and it did low to mid 60's. Sound like what XT said would b on to something. I would encourage you not to "buy a problem". There will be plenty of boats up for sale at the end of October. I would also encourage bigger than 208 or 212 if you can. The boat gets small quick. I would also say make sure the islander is what you want. That's what we thought we wanted too but no one ever sat up front. Maybe 3 times we had the boat someone sat out there. The 25 outlaw brethren to the islander is a badass boat

There were actually four versions of the 454 (excuse the exact naming, no acronyms for clarity) 454 Carb, 454 Mag Carb, 454 fuel injected, 454 Mag fuel injected. I would definitly agree with XT there is something off with that boat, my 232 with 320 HP (6.2 with 19P 3-blade, so different ballgame) did 55 GPS this weekend.

As for all the "go biggers", I would definitly get a very good grasp on how you will be using the boat. After much thought our 232 is great for us, balance of tow-ability (right around 5k total weight), enough room and ability to handle Lk. St Clair most days, smaller lakes if we choose. Although I would have liked a 252 or more it would have pushed us over weight for not much additional gained in 'real' usability (Still seating for comfy 5 or tight 6).

Talking about only fuel injected, so your missing the LX version of the MPI. They have a 7.4 MPI, 7.4 LX MPI, then the 454 Mag MPI..

Thanks guys for all the info and it's good to hear that others owned the same boat and it performed well. I agree with going to the 212 islander as it's a much better hull design. Would love to go to a 232 but storage and towing won't allow it so gotta stick with the 212 at the max. Being a guy the first boats I looked at were the 22' hammer and the outlaw but wife wants an open bow so figured the islander with big block was the only way to make everyone happy. Are the 212's with the 7.4 mpi mags hard to find? I just like the idea of the most horsepower and forged internals for future upgrades.