Need an opinion, thinking of buying a 30 ft Checkmate with twin 2.5 racing engines (new). How reliable are these engines? I can change spark plugs, winterize and do a little wrenching, but nothing major. Are these things going to need major overhauls every 100 hours? Any opinions on this set-up? Is this too much HP for this boat? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Definately not too much horsepower for that boat. I know of at least one with 300X's, he runs right around 90 with it.

The 2.5's are awesome motor's but you can't get a whole lot of hours on them without tearing them down. Plus you will be going through a lot of gas on a boat that size with twins, manually adding oil is a pain.

A pair of 300XS's would be a better alternative.

Just a quick thought, not sure what body of water you're going to run the boat in but a good buddy of mine brought his Check from his lake to run it in Long Island Sound when he moved here. He got rid of it after the first year because it was basically going to be rubble if he ran it any longer out here. I see Moriches in your location so I suspect you'll be running the in the Great South Bay? I've only run there a couple of times and it seemed fairly tame, but watch that boat in the tough stuff.

The 2.5 racing engines 260, 280 and 300 drag are just what they say they are. RACING engines that are high maintenance and need rebuilding every 100 hours without exception or you risk blowing them up. I have owned to many and have blown them up at least 10 times. One piston is more money than a full set of pistons on a BBC. For that boat I would pass on that setup. That boat would be more fun with some later model 250 or 300 Mercury 3.0L engines.

I had 2.5s on our 28 and we decided to repower the boat with 300's. The 300s are much more user friendly so to speak.

Brad and cowisl are correct. I have been down that road many many times

Buy 4 more drop on powerheads with the boat and a shop crane to swap them out. You will need it.

You can also purchase the boat with the 2.5's then sell them and re-power with 250xs.

OR You Can Buy My 29 Progression With A Pair Of 300s On It For A Lot Less Than That And Will Run Circles Around It In The Ruff Stuff Its In The Classifieds Here

Thanks for all the responses, that's exactly what I was thinking. And yes, I would have been running the boat in Great South Bay/Moriches Bay area, and once in a while out to Shinnecock and then Peconics. BUT, maybe I should re-think this. Every 100 hours to rebuild 2 is beyond what I would want to spend. And by saying watch where I run this boat, I guess you are referring to Checkmate's reputation for cracking? I did own an '86 Sportfire (16') and that had stress cracks like crazy. But I didn't think that would be a problem on a 30 footer. One thing you cannot argue with however, their gelcoat work is awesome.

Thanks again for all the responses, my son is going to be bummed!

I have a 28' checkmate w/2.5, 260 offshores. Boat is a blast but engines are high maintenace and mixing the oil is a pain. Thinking about repowering wth newer 4-strokes. Won't be the same as the 2.5's but less hassle.