Has anyone ever ran 2.4 or 2.5s on a 28, which is now the 30? I am getting sick of these optis, was thinking of a pair of used 200's that are not 3.0l optis? Would this slow me down, right now I like where my speeds are with the 3.0 opti 225s, but the cost of powerheads is much more.

In order to keep the same speeds, you would need to run 260's or 280's, and fuel consumption would likely triple, while reliability would be less than half.

I don't have any experience with old carbed 2.4 or 2.5s, but I have run both Mercury 200 and 250 efis on a 30. The 200s are miserably slow - low to mid 50mph range. Swapped them to the 250efis and the boat runs significantly better. High 60s on gps everyday, and will break 70 mph on good days.

Looks like I should stick with the 3.0ls then, the optis I can not even work on, which is what I dislike the most about them, and the last powerhead went approx 40 hours before loosing the number 6 hole. I might try to find a pair of 250efi drop ons.