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.

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.

The boat had a 21 pitch prop stainless and for life of me can't remember if it was a 3 or 4 blade and boat ran wide open at just under 5000 rpm's on tach and gps'd at 55 max but was a mutt outta the hole. Guy said that towing a tube or anything behind boat would sometimes have to have a person up front to help plane out and that was with his other 19 pitch prop aluminum. Sounds line something was up, oh and no hour meter either which in researching these 208's it's doesn't look like a lot of them had hour meters so no way to tell how much it had been used. Was a river boat so my guess was used a lot for some long trips as guy would make runs on weekends from omaha to Sioux city on Missouri River which is about a 110 mile trip via river.

your PM box is full. :(

Just to clarify: The old 454's (7.4 litre--NOT mag) were originally rated at the crank. So the 330 you keep referencing was crank HP--310 at the prop. Around 1994 mercury changed the way they reported HP and everything was advertised with PROP HP. So the 7.4 litre became 310 HP--PROP, the 454 mag efi was rated at 385 PROP HP. The 502 was rated at 415 HP at the PROP.
Just like everyone else is saying going with a longer boat and more transom deadrise will give you the best ride. At a minimum you want 25 ft and 23 degrees of transom deadrise in order to get a reasonable ride in 1-2 ft chop. 385 hp will get you to 60 mph in anything around 25 ft-27ft.

Tried scanning the 97' engine options in the back of the brochure. A little fuzzy but you can see there were allot of options that year.

XT[ATTACH=CONFIG]509891[/ATTACH]

Sorry about that. I cleaned it out now

Agreed that's what I thought was that it was prop hp and not crank. Appreciate the advice!

Boy oh boy I'd say thanks for info I think I am gonna hold out for a 212 islander no older than a 98 with a 454 mag. Seems to be the boat that would fit best for what I am trying to do.

I have to say that being new to this site you guys are awesome for info on anything to do with these boats! Has helped me really narrow down my search and look for things I normally wouldn't look for. Thanks a million!

You will prob wait a long time to find 1 with a mag, not many out their , id say it was a lot more money new and most didn't opt for it.plus your only talking about 2 or 3 mph more. My 208 pushed a 24 pitch turbo prop (3 blade) to 4800 rpm so the 1 your looking at not being able to over rev a 21 pitch don't sound right . most would have came a 23 pitch from the factory.

There is still a 310 HP 7.4 MPI and a 330hp 7.4 LX mpi model in addition to the mags.

Ours 212 was the 310 -- 6 or 700 trouble free hours w it. Had a blast! I use to say " why would you need 2 motors when I can go Almost as fast!!"
Boy what I know now- I should stayed there lol

Is the mag the only one of the three mpi's that you can mod? Was just looking at options if I decide to add performance stuff down the road.

Lol !!!! What did that 310 run for mph in the 212 and did it come outta the hole good?

Did low 60s If I remember right. As for hole shot very good, we were wakeboarding behind it.

We have a 91 208 islander with the 454 carb, 23p and runs in the low 60's. 19p on it and pulled 6 teenagers on skis with no problem. (not counting the 3 moms with camera's up front) older boat in good shape. we love it. wife says even if we won the lottery we wouldn't buy a new boat.

That's her way of telling you boating shopping for something bigger is never gonna happen!! Women can be crafty with how they convey a message! Lol!

You are SOOOOOOOO right! We live ON the water, Private dock, love boating and she is fine with what we have, ''Why do we need a big fast boat??" she says as the ''go fast'' boats blast by. sheeeesh!