Hello All,

I'm looking at stepping up from my 88' Formula 223 BBC to a 1998 ZX 28 with a single 502 MPI. I cant find much information on them. Basically I'm wondering if its under powered. It seems to be a long boat for a single engine. I know right now with a full tank and 4 people my Formula will dig a while before it planes out. Anything else I should look for or be concerned with on this model? I'm going to look at it this weekend.

Thanks for the expertise,

DB

Are you sure is a 28, might be a 27??? I'm pretty sure there was a guy on donzi.net with a 27 running over 100, with big power of course. I'd say a 502 would get you about 60-65

If it's big power like the one that was on ebay (red/white), it will run in the mid to upper 70's. Most west coast boat manufacturers that build 28' boats power almost all of them with single big blocks. I ran with the one I mentioned and she was strong. good luck in your search,

tom

I've spent probably 100hrs on a 28ZX (it was either a '97 or '98) with stock 502MPI. This was back before we all really got into GPS, therefore I do not know tru GPS speed.

A good, but WAG would be low 60's. It came with a 23" Mirage + and would spin it to 5000rpm.

Was a great rough water boat. Very solid....but very tankish also. Never felt like the step bottom freed up. Never played with different props as it wasn't my boat.

Cabin very nice. Cockpit very nice. Sharp boat.

Engine compartment laid out extremely well. Could sit in it and work on everything without issue. This is a big factor for me as I find myself in many different engine compartments.

Only con about the boat I could ever see, was it's size/weight for a stock 502MPI.

That said, planing full of fuel and 8 or so people was not issue. It had Bennett dual ram trim tabs. Just top end was not all that great.