Offshore,

I am looking at a re-power for my 47 Wellcraft Excalibur(Heavy Cruiser). I wish to upgrade from the 496 twins to a bit better. Im am starting with new induction and ignition(see lists below). But, there are so many options for builders. There are those with great reputations but they cost a lot. I know, you do get what you pay for. At the same time, Im not going for killer top gun performance, just reliable but better than stock performance. My goal is to go with big cubes to give me all the Hp/tq I need at lower RPMs. A 540-572 with mild cam and compression, but forged, balanced, and quality components. I have found one engine builder that seems to fit the bill, but there are no mentions on this forum about them except for some confusion between to unrelated companies that share a similar name.

My ask: Who has any knowledge of this company being used in a marine application? skipwhiteperformance This is not the same guys that have a bad reputation whiteperformance.com. There are related by family, but not in business. So if anyone has good or bad reviews for Skip White, please let me know. There are always a lot of great opinions on this forum, and this forum did help me already helped me find a great mechanic (BUP is the man!). He is part of the reason I am asking for help from this forum. Skip White seems the real deal, and the reviews online are almost all very positive, but I cant find anything about their engines in the marine world. Automotive builds dont last in boats, but Skip White says they know what they are doing. But I need so validation before I proceed. As a note, I am a Corvette owner, and there any many folks in the Corvette owner forums that claim Skip is everything he claims on his site. This seems to be a common thread in the reviews, but there is precious little about their engines in marine applications, so that is my focus there. This is also a lot of discussion on offshore parts. This is a debate I hope we can avoid here. It is almost religious sometimes! I have optioned the engine with what I believe to be proven value parts. Some may be offshore though, please advise if something is to be avoided based on facts. So I know the bits about to good to be true.... I hoping to focus on facts about Skip White. Is he who he says he is, and can he build a good marine motor or not.

The following is the engine Im am looking at along with upgrades for marine application. BTW, I cant post URL yet so edit as needed below.

skipwhiteperformance dotcom/catalog/bbc-chevy-540-555-engine-stage-70-dart-block-crate-motor-724-hp-base-engine_89340/
540/555 Base engine, Dart 325cc heads 8.8:1 CR, Cam option #3, ARP Rod bolt upgrade, Forged Crank Upgrade, Race Balance, Inconel valves for wet exhaust, Tucker Marine valve seats, Dyno tune and break in engine. They claim this to be a 600hp/625TQ engine in this config. Cost per motor comes it at just about $10,000. Makes you want to go mmmmm.

Im looking at these manifolds
eddiemarine dotcom/shop/exhaust-and-accessories/emi-thunder-exhaust-1/emi-thunder-exhaust-big-block-chevy-1/emi-thunder-exhaust-system-bb-chevy-with-high-perf-ss-risers-emi-511

And this induction system:
edelbrock dotcom/pro-flo-4-efi-system-for-big-block-chevy-rectangle-port-engines-35860.html

Let me know your thoughts! And thank to all in advance.

^^^^^ Thanks for the compliment above.

I have never heard of him nor have any experience ZERO with this builder for any type of marine builds so it is good to be asking. I do know the other whites performance does not have a good name period.

Does anyone have info about Skip and or any related marine engine builds or anything marine related for this builder in TN ? I even asked some other people who work in the marine industry and even live in TN, they never heard of him.

Not saying this is good or bad but the OP is looking for real world experience before he does anything. THANKS

LINKS DO NOT WORK on my end --- seeing if this helps and A BIG NOPE still do not work.

Have heard nothing about skip white, and not real sure Smitty (articfriends) would build a motor for you, but if he would I would bet it would be a great build. After the build you would still need them tuned aboard the boat for full performance

he is looking at ground up brand new builds and the price of doing 2 of them on a certain budget is the concern here. He is looking for the best bang for your buck on the 2 new engine builds. I could build them as well but I do not have the buying power for new blocks and all related new parts that a daily engine builder has whom buys in volumes.. And in my area Machine work is high as well plus persay not really a go to for daily marine engine builders around either. Tough area for true marine performance engine builds.

There have been a few threads where Skip has built engines for members. The engines seemed to be fine and ran good. I believe he is the uncle. After everyone got past the name recognition (good or bad) I have not heard anything bad about the builds.

No way you can build a 540 marine engine from scratch with new good quality parts for 10k.

Not marine but here is their website and description.
Here it is:
https://www.skipwhiteperformance.com...pentine_90358/

Add $10,000 more to complete it!

Just read the negative feedback on ebay, that alone would have me look else where.