That's not good David. I had the same thing happen with a brand new 300xs with 12hrs on it. First time I ran it out it blew up. You could see from one side of the block to the other. That boat of yours needs 4 new 300's fully warrantied. Then you can just drop on another one.

PLEASE INFORM HOW ON EARTH IT COULD BE ANY WORSE FOR ME , THEY STARTED COMING APART IN 10 MIN UNDER 1500 ON TEST STAND !! Atleast you had a few boat rides and those 2.5s are known for short lives as they spin 7500 . All of this crap reminds me why I got of Outboards years ago and went I.O , they really blow !! The last Big block I.O 550 HP was in 3 OPA races and had the **** kicked out of it for 12 years and still runs with zero issues !! These god damn glorified weed wackers have 25 % fewer parts that 4 stroke yet cost twice as much to rebuild m WTF ????

This one blown engine cost me over 10k (new long block from mercury), and I'm sending the other one to diamond for Marty to tear down and go through, do the math Larry.
I kinda been dropping hints to mercury marine that I'd be a willing guinea pig for 4 of their experimental 400 hp verado w/sportmasters

The transom will fall off !!

I have been hearing about them for years now. I saw the pics for the ones on the X Cat but no videos of the boat running. Just a few pics. They need to do something. Larry any bites on the boat yet? Sure you don't want to change your mind? I still think it would best to finish the boat minus the power.

"I don't hate myself to have a triple or quad OB boat " That was quote I heard years ago and I kinda live by it .

No way it's a skater!

It was still worth it, the only thing I'd do over is send my engines to a reputable builder who has a backlog of work, which tells you something

David that's to bad that it decided to put a window in the block, back in 99 when my dad had one of the first 280's one did the same thing within the first 10 hours, fortunately it was covered by mercury.

I do think it is time mercury gives us a new high performance outboard, seems all of the attention has been focused on building inboards.

Yes number 6 piston stuck in the hole and connecting rod tore through the block. It happened after a wide open speed run, when I pulled back on the throttles, I literally felt the throttle cable get severed by the rod coming out. Couldn't believe my eyes when I removed the engine cowlng, chunks of metal everywhere

That was right after a guy in a regal l o st control at the launch ramp and rammed into the side of my skater, which helped to decide to g o a h read and get the custom paint job