Hey what about the race boats we drove with crash boxes? You have to shut the motor off, bump the starter button and shift into forward or reverse, then start the motor again and be ready to shut it off when you want to go to a different gear. Now add a nice wind blowing or current running and about 1,000 spectators on the docks watching every move you make....nothing to it!

Well not so easy if the props are spinning in..

I knew a young ex Navy pilot once, while running a rack marina, who after some homework, bought a 31 Scarab empty and had it powered with black 502's for his first boat. Nice warranty and all. It was a nice boat, great for learning and his wife and he used it all the time. A few years later he bought a 38 top gun then eventually a Outerlimits with big big motors. He, eventually, wound up in federal prison but I always respected the way he went about his getting into large speed boats. Very methodical and educated. The Navy way.

Its not bad once u get used to it. I am fine now

I agree with this. Black motors are best, but the blue Merc 500s are pretty turn-key too. With an aggressive maintenance schedule, I've had zero problems with my hp500s for three years (that is, until I blew one of them last August :hitfan: ) LOL

And by the way, I wouldn't worry too much about the 'jump.' I went from a SeaDoo to a 33' Scarab with twins, and it was fine. As long as you're not a knucklehead, you'll be okay.

The bigger the power the more frequent the maintenance. Merc of course has very reliable packages, but there are other choices too.

Our engines are same as Nates and are very reliable. Sometimes I want more of course, but they always work and you can run them hard. Blower setups like Merc 700s could be used the same way, but will require more $$ in fuel and maintenance.

The best advice I EVER got on OSO is, it's not how fast you want to go, but how fast you want to spend. In fact, that could be one of the few TRUTHS on OSO:)