alphas hold up just fine with bigblocks. its all about the nut behind the wheel. if you holeshot and air out your bb and alpha combo, you're not going to be moving very long. if you logically lay into the throttle and you are careful not to be wave jumping with them, they do just fine. the 242 is a relatively heavy boat, but as long as you're conscious of how you run it, you won't have any problems. there are many people on this forum and others that are still running their original 20+ year old alpha. i look at is as, i can replace an alpha for 500 used and 1200 sei with a warranty. i'm looking at 2k+ for a used bravo and upwards of 5k for new/rebuilt units. i can replace alot of alphas for that, and even then i can still have problems. the only drawback is if you are going to be adding big power or forced induction. i have a mild built ~400hp 454 mag, and i like my alpha. they're easy to work on, easy to remove and replace, they're lighter, parts are WAY cheaper, and the list goes on.