I read your original post wrong and thought you were buying the boat you rode on. What power was on the test ride boat?

Guess: 250 Opti's would be around 50MPH @ 25GPH which would get you another 50 miles range. If that is true- 250 mile range vs 300 mile range to push all that extra weight around all the time wouldn't be worth it IMHO.

Vinyl is a great choice! In X amount of years if you wanted a "new" boat get a new steering wheel, peel the vinyl, new bezels and you got a "new" boat. You can do that 2-3 times for what paint cost. My next choice without a doubt!

The test boat had the 300 suzuki on it, it was the boat JC took around LI

The 300 suzuki pushed it nice, with a top of about 60-61 and John thought with a setback, it could do 65, but I wanted a little more speed. The merc 350 verado was an option, but the merc 'non race' engines are currently coming with 5 year warranties, so it makes sense to build around one of those and I basically wanted twins from the begining anyway.

Have some time to make a decesion on the engines still, so will take my time and figure it out, but right now, leaning towards twin 250's

Ever find out what the issue was on that test boat that made it take on water?

The mold for the engine well wans't completet yet. It will be completed this week. Even if it was in. The waves in the basin were 3 plus feet, the motor stalled, and it took wave after wave over the transom. My 22 Mako would have definately gone down in the same situation. and I have a well. The first wave would have filled the well, after that, all the rest come in the boat. No bilge pump (s) could keep up with that. 50 plus gallons every few seconds. This basin was like a washing machine!

Just Make Sure You Have The Boat Built With A Full Transom And Put A Bracket On It Or At Least Have A Well In It ,Especially With Twins On It,,,You Dont Want Any Problems With It

John, Sean and I already discussed it. Thats the way he's going. A full transom w/setback. This should be a fun build, and I'll get pics up each week on the progress.

Rick Thats Why You Should Build A Full Transom With Boxes Built In For Fish Or Storage In Them,,,And Hang A Bracket On There ,,,,That Would Be A Mint Set Up

Atta Boy Rick,,,,,,,,Now Your Talkin,,,By The Way Hows Things?????????

Full transom is the way to go.
I’d want an outboard bracket with swim platform and ladder.
I’ve seen a couple of Donzis this way and it’s a real nice.

Yea, I saw one of those on a scarab cc, definitly looked nice