Thoughts on 97 208 islander
 

Thinking of buying a 208 islander with the 7.4 mcm that guy says is fuel injected. Says on ad it's a 7.4efi and my question was is the 7.4efi a good motor or should I hold out for a 208 islander or 212 islander with a 7.4mpi. I have narrowed down the two boat models I am looking to buy to the 208 islander and 212 islander and definitely want the big block just didn't know if either motor was more reliable/better than the other. Thanks

There were 3 454's a 310 hp,,, a 330 hp and a 385 hp mag

The 330 looks like the 385 and the 502 style injection

The 310 has the flame arrestor in the front.

Either is fine,,,, buy the cleanest best taken care of option

If you could afford it I'd buy bigger, but that's just from personal experience with my Islander.

My only thought is go bigger ;) Fellow boater has a 232 and wants a bigger one already.... Like Tbag said, buy the biggest you can afford.

Thanks for advice and info guys I appreciate it! Trying to stay under 22' long for storage purposes (or at least until I build a bigger garage) :) any probs with the efi systems compared to the mpi systems both on the 7.4? I know the mag has better internals than the other two models but from what I have heard they are all pretty reliable, just didn't want to fight a bunch of gremlins if the efi is a sub-par system compared to the mpi. Thank you

Yes you are correct. Both engines 454 MAG MPI and 7.4 EFI are both good fuel injection systems if you ask me. Steve's 232 has the 7.4, I have the 502 MPI. Neither of us has had any problems, ( besides common problem of vapor locking on 454/502 mag MPI's ).

If you don't care about the HP # / top end speed, go with the 7.4 efi, 330 HP, its plenty fast for a boat under 22'. It will not vapor lock like the Mag mpi's. FYI: Steve's 232 runs out at 59 mph with the 7.4 efi ;)

Awesome thanks guys appreciate the info!

Our 2nd boat was a 97 212 Islander- fun boat had the 310 motor. never any problems in over 700 hours that I can recall, other than typical- water impeller- drive coupler ext.
Personally I would wait till you can go to 232 or something w stand up bolsters. Much better ride!
As for Vapor lock issues- had it Several times w the 29 Outlaw we had next with 454 Mags. Put in the kit that's for sale and solved problem. Sorry do not recall kit name but it does away w cool fuel bs.
AND those Mags are Still running strong for a friend _ over 11oo hours and never opened up.

So met guy with the 208 islander for a test drive today at the lake and I must say for a 21' boat with a big block this thing was a mutt! I couldn't believe how slow it was out of the hole and topped out in the low 50's for mph. Motor was clean and no obvious signs of fatigue so my question is if there is that much difference between the 385hp mag and the 310 and 330 hp mpi's cause I was expecting a lot more out of it. Any advice would be much appreciated. I took a pic of motor cover with all the numbers on it so here is the link to that pic . Was curious which of the 3 it was. Thank you

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...ps07ad2c5b.jpg

Its the LX MPI which is 330hp. The throttle body looks like the mag motors.