I'm looking at a Rinker family runabout for water skiing and tubing to keep my go-fast boat company. I want to get the the 496Mag engine and I'm wondering how much more performance, if any, I can expect by opting for the Captain's Call thru-hull exhaust vs thru-prop. I know the sound alone should be good for 3-4 mph... .

Not sure about the noise vs (perceived) speed, but any time you relieve exhaust back pressure you'll see a difference.
You could go to a Captians Call type and have the best of both worlds. Quiet around the dock and open pipes for running.
With the current trend towards noise restrictions I'd look into mufflers too.

BTW I had a Fiat 850 that at 6000 rpm in second gear it sounded like it was going 90 mph. Looked at the speedometer and all I was doing was 30 mph.
Sound vs perceived speed.

In my opinion, if you're talking about the 375HP 496 you may not see any performance difference IF, you're talking about a Bravo with the open, short tube type exhaust bellows. I understand that some (or maybe it was older ones), had a full bellows into the lower and that might be a restriction starting at around 350 HP. The open tube type supposedly is good up to about 400HP. That may be why the HO includes thru hull exhaust, because the thru drive can't properly support 425 HP.

So there's an opinion that may not hold water but I gave it a shot.

Let me know,if you don't mind what boat and how much, a freind of mine has been a rinker dealer for many years, mabye I can help you with a bargining price

If the chip is not reprogrammed for open exhaust it may actually slow down and/or damage the engine due to lean out. Might want to check with Mercruiser. OTOH the 496 HO must have open exhaust to work properly and maintain warranty.

Thanks for the insight. The outdrive would be a Bravo 3 on this application. The thru-hull would exit just above the chines on the side and be factory installed.

Sounds like with the regular 496 mag, thru-hull won't buy you much.

Yup

liquid asset,

The boat we're looking at is a Rinker Captiva 282. The one we saw at the Chesapeake boat show last month had the 6.2 MPI, no trailer and they wanted about $49K plus tax and transportation.

We don't have a price for one with the 496 Mag upgrade.

Thanks,

Bravo 3's are a great choice on a single engine boat this size but they are even more restrictive than bravo1's, thru hull seems like the ticket especially if you are going with the 496HO

the problem with through hull on a rinker is they dont have room to go straight ou the back,,, they do a side exit and all the bends are going to steal alot of what you would gain.