Offshoreonly.com - 288 Mercury ITS

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I just bought an older 288 mcob and am planning on repowering with something much more potent than the base 496 at some point. Either installing a Raylar HO600 511CI kit in the current low hour 496, or 525/600sci. Regardless, the existing standard bravo drive and transom assembly need to be replaced with something much stronger with external steering. I love the look of the ITS assembly and by the time I buy and install an external ram and everything the price is about the same as a HD transom assembly plus I get the set back.

My question is, how do these boats work with the set back? I have seen a couple of them with the ITS. WIth 550/650 HP is a sport master lower an advantage, or worth the money?

Thanks for any insight.

Nobody has any input here?

I had a 2008 288 SSR with a 525efi standard hp gimble. Ran 80-82mph all day. I know a couple guys with 288 MCOBs with raylar 496 to 525 packages and they could never keep up even ran stand off boxes and didn’t gain to much. I also ran the boat with a 3.3L whipped on the 525 and ran around 95mph. Boat was steady. I suggest a regular hp gimble with an XR sportmaster