Awesome stuff.
 

Save your money on the reeds though. If you do back to back testing, as in before/after w/no other changes....., you will see ZERO.

What would you suggest Gary?? I think milling the heads for more compression, new reeds (mostly for safety) and intake spacers should yield me a bit more torque and top end performance...I pretty impressed with the performance so far for a BIG boat! (there were a few who thought I'd be lucky to get mid 60's) I'm also wondering if I should've run 20" mids..I've got my 25" motors mounted as high as I can go and still have plenty of water pressure with 24" of setback..I'm going to have to put a straight edge against the bottom and see where my nose cones line up with the bottom...

Yep, I was ....
 

one of them. I'll be interested to see how it runs w/the cabin interior back in it. Weight in the bow makes a huge difference in a vee.

On the reeds, I've probably installed as many sets as anyone and never seen a thing. I do it more for insurance in case the motors ingest one. Nylon Vs steel. Al Stoker (racer on S/F) did a killer dyno test/story on them (search for it) on a hot rod OMC. The stock reeds actually made more power than the Chris Carson reeds but evidently no one read the story as he's selling the hell out of them any how:whistle:

I don't know the Mercs well enough to coach you on those motors other than the basics. I know on the OMC's, the only difference between the 200's and 225's are the carbs so it's a cheap, easy 50HP bolt on for twins and your 200's may be similar.
Increasing the compression on a two stroke is only going to help acceleration. They build and retain too much combustion chamber temperature (firing twice as often as a car motor) to build any additional power for long.
Porting is everything in a 2 stroke and where you go to get everything. It's the cam shaft, valves, rocker arms, and head ports to a car motor. I can add 100 HP's to a 225 OMC fish motor w/a die grinder.
One of the negatives to the Hi Perf Merc motors is they are either chrome or Nikasil plated cylinders which are very expensive to re-plate after porting (or after popping one like I did) compared to my steel bores that I just run a hone through. My repair would have been 3 times the price.
IMO, one of the better Merc hot rod projects for load and longevity are the 225 Pro Max's. These are 2.5 steel sleeve motors that already have most of the good parts in them and are easy to make into 260/280 style/ported motors for the right guy.
They start at about 245 - 250 HP's stock and I know run right beside a 225 HO carb'd OMC and they're 254 at the crank.

Hope this helps.

Had a great winters day on the water last sunday. Left Jupiter inlet and headed north to St. Lucie Inlet in 2'-3' seas. It was nice to air the boat out in some swells!! Headed to the Manatee Pocket for lunch and then joined some friends at the Stuart Sandbar for the afternoon. Saw a pod of bottlenose dolphins on the ride home and got back to the boat ramp at dusk. It was a great day!! Here's some fun for ya:

Rooster tail shot at 65mph:
http://youtu.be/SzM3n2QffG0

Me and the wife enjoying some idle time:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200648408793174

It's been 4 months now that I've been running the boat since piecing together and hanging the twin Mercury 2.4's. The motors were long overdue for some much needed attention due to the fact that they sat for many years not being used (I was amazed they ran as well as they did until the gremlins started showing up last week!). I also wanted to swap the gear cases to spin the props in. Due to my lack of spare time (and knowledge) I dropped the boat off to my good friends at Nicks Creative Marine in Riviera Beach, Fl and had them go to work. Port motor had 135lbs across all 6 cylinders and the starboard motor had 120-125 lbs across all 6. We installed new plugs and Hi-Performance plug wires on both motors. The starboard motor also received new switch boxes and a stator. Fuel pump on the port motor had a pinhole in the diaphram so the pump was replaced. All the bleeder hoses were changed and both motors were treated with PowerTune to remove old carbon deposits. Gear cases were swapped and cables adjusted to spin the props in.

I managed to squeeze in a run right before dark on tuesday. Boat ran like a champ! Motors idled nicely and no longer stalled (which was a real pain in the azz when it came to docking). The boat jumped out of the hole and accellerated really strong!! With the props spinning inward the boat felt lighter, the stern seemed to fly higher and the boat rode very level with no bounce. I could actually feel the boat ride up on the pad and get loose!! I managed 70.44MPH GPS with 75 gallons of gas in 80 degree weather with flat calm water and heading into a 15-20 mph wind directly off the bow. If I had more daylight (those channel markers jump out of the dark when you can't see them) I may have squeezed a couple more mph out of the boat with more driver input! Overall I was very impressed with the changes that were made!!! Thanks Nick and crew!!!

Good Job,

Nick's a good guy.

Congrats on getting it dialed in! I miss my twin outboard Thouroughbred.

Cabin restoration is almost complete! Moving into the cockpit next week!

http://www.screamandfly.com/showthre...-2800SX-begins!!

putting in any bulkheads?

Yes, I reinstalled the V-birth bulkhead and glassed in a Nidacore mid cabin bulkhead and a Nidacore bulkhead between the cockpit and cabin.

I was asked to post recent pictures of the progress on my 2800. After getting the boat back on the water it was time to start on the cabin and cockpit. As of today, the cabin is 95% finished...just a couple of things to finish. Last monday I installed the Lonseal Loncoin flooring in the cockpit. Next we'll begin making combing panels for the cockpit and finish the rear bench seat! Enjoy the photos, they're long overdue!
I'll start with the gutted shots first. I stripped the cabin down to bare glass. I also glassed in a Nida Core mid cabin cieling bulkhead and deleted the overhead cabinets that ran above the seats.

I also deleted the screwed in teak bulkheads that separated the cockpit from the cabin and replace them with a glassed in Nida Core bulkhead. The teak bifold doors were scrapped for a framed bifold door.

I refinished the port teak galley and starboard teak hanging locker in Ebony Polyurethane. All the trim moldings were sprayed red to match the cabin vinyl. All the seats were recovered in white vinyl with red trim and black piping. New white headliner was installed with silver cabin liner on the hull sides. Charcoal gray Aqua Turf carpeting was installed on the floor, under the seats and inside the cabinets..

The cockpit sides have been covered in silver hull liner and the Loncoin flooring installed. The rear seat box has been recovered along with the backrest corner pieces.

Lastly, a couple of v birth shots looking forward. We used silver carbon fiber vinyl on the trim that covers the hull/deck seam.

Couple of water shots!

Wow that cabin looks great!

Awesome Awesome job!.....It gives me inspiration!

wow! nice update!

Other than installing my cabin lighting I finished off the last items on my cabin restoration. The new "V" shaped panel that conseals the back of the dash is now installed along with the valance above the cabin door that gives access to the back of the radio and compass. I also built a wedge to the bottom left of the cabin door to cover the fuel tank fill and vent tubes! Lastly, I picked up a few early xmas presents for the boat! A new West Marine 240 watt am/fm/cd/mp3 stereo with 6.5" Coax speakers and some 4" dimable LED lights. Both the speakers and LED's will mount inside my recessed cupholder/speaker/storage pods for the new cockpit combing panels.

Combing panels are done and almost ready for installation. Just have to finish the box around the shifter/ throttle box!

Very nice man, it seems to be coming well.

Here's a couple cell phone pics shot at dusk last week showing the progress on my cockpit. I'm in the process of moving the motor trim switches off the center of the dashboard and mounting new trim switches just forward of the shifter box. The center of the dash will receive a new switch panel for the cabin lights, cockpit lights, running lights, bilge pump, acc., etc.). There's a valance that will cover the shifter/throttle box that matches the carbon fiber combing panels..

Here's a couple updated cockpit photos. The cabin valance that covers the back of the dash and the radio is finished along with the wedge that covers the fuel tank fill tube. I'm currently in the process of replacing and moving switch panels on the dashboard. The shifter box valance is complete and installed along with new motor trim switches just forward of the throttles. New Eddie Marine switches for the trim tabs, Nav lights, Bilge pump & depth sounder will be installed in a carbon fiber panel mounted to the dash. Drop out bolsters are being powder coated red and new vinyl being cut for the bolsters to match the new interior!

Got my drop out bolsters painted and some new accessories arrived from Eddie Marine. New fusion coated cupholders, grab rails for the back of the bolsters & new switch panels!! Getting closer to finishing my restoration!

Got one bolster seat completely finished! One more to go!!

The final results after a long renovation!

Just read the thread. A very nice job on the restoration.

All my hard work payed off:

Damn good job.....no.....Great job. Gives guys like me that doesn't have the latest and greatest and 1350's some hope and inspiration! Really like the cockpit and the interior.

I love that this boat runs 70 with an old pair of 2.4s. I think this just goes to show us all that setup is everything. Thanks JP!

Rick, I'm probably going to build some 2.5L powerheads this winter to pick up a little more speed.

Just thought I'd update my old thread...In the past five months I've sold the old twin 2.4L Mercs and replaced them with a matched pair of 1994 Counter Rotating 2.5L 200's with 1998 Offshore Cowls. I've also built a bracket to spread the motors from 18" centers to 24" centers (so I can use the 1998 Offshore Cowls and get better dockside manners), raise my propshaft height, and increase setback by 1". I also bought two 2-hole CLE cases, had them powder coated and stuffed with stock 1.87 gears. Just waiting on newer front mount steering to complete the "second" rerig. I'll get some pictures and data once completed..

Any updates JP?

Wow, I guess I forgot to update this for a while. I ran the Merc 2.5L/CLE gearcase combo for much of 2016. The boat didn't get as much bow lift running the CLE gear cases and ran very level. With a full tank of gas, 24" centers and the new cabin the boat was consistently running 66-67 mph. So no speed increase over the old 2.4's at 18" centers with the new cabin. I knew the 24" centers would slow me down but I had to prepare the boat for 3.0L motors. I sold the 2.5's a few months ago and re-rigged (for the 3rd time) a low hour pair of Mercury 3.0L Carb Offshore motors. They're supposed to be about 240hp at the propshaft. I've also installed brand new Xtreme shift/throttle cables; the 30+ year old cables were getting really stiff. I'm at the very tail end of finishing up the re-rig with the 3.0L motors and should have the boat back in the water soon...I may even install a new helm while the boat is apart. I'll keep you posted. I'm hoping the torque of the 3.0L Offshores will get back into the low to mid 70's!!

Time for an update. Been playing with setup on the twin Mercury 3.0L 225 carb Offshores. Started with them spinning out but didn't like the feel of the boat. It ran wet and wanted to lift the bow too much. Went back, switched the gear cases (and cables at the box) to turn the props in. The boat came alive! With 70+ gallons of gas on board, spinning Mercury Chopper 26's @ 6200 rpm the boat GPSs at 72mph banging on the rev limiters. The motors are still too deep. I'm going to raise them a couple of bolt holes and try a bigger set of wheels, maybe some Bravo One 28's. I think there's another 3-5mph in the setup and the boat should run consistently 75mph when finished! The 225hp 3.0L motors run really strong and the boat launches out of the hole!

New update, On my 4th set of motors. The boat is now rigged with twin 2002 Mercury 250 EFI's. I definitely need a bigger set of wheels as I'm out of prop on the rev limiters at 5800/5900 rpm. With 26 pitch choppers at 67mph I'm showing 19-20% slip numbers.. I think I need to try some Bravo One 28's to bring my slip numbers down and speed up. If I can spin the 28's at 5800 rpm with 10% slip, speed shows 79mph!

Ran the boat two Sundays ago with a brand new pair of Bravo One FS 28's and recorded a GPS speed of 74.1mph with more to go. Due to numerous boat wakes, boat traffic and safety reasons I never got the chance to stretch her out for a real top end speed number but the 74.1 that I recorded is very respectable!!! I'm sure there's another 2-4 mph if I stay on the throttle without having to back out due to boat wakes...

Damn you make OB's sound better all the time lol.
i know I can't get that out of a 500hp I/o....

We did a run to Lake Okeechobee last weekend. Round trip was 50+ miles. With 96 gallons of fuel on board and two adults, my boat ran 75.5 MPH on GPS! Not to shabby for a 34 year old boat!

1. https://www.screamandfly.com/attachm...4&d=1535991049