Power Choices for High-Performance Boats
Picking power for your go-fast boat is easier than you think.
October 22, 2015
In some ways, you don’t choose power for your high-performance boat; power chooses you. Here’s what I mean: As a buyer, you start with hull type—V-bottom or catamaran—and then choose either outboard engine or inboard stern-drive power.
But it’s even less complicated than that, as specific hull types and styles are offered with different power—and there’s not a whole lot of wiggle room.
A study in power moves: an outboard-powered Mystic center-console shares dock space with a stern-drive-powered catamaran. All photos by Jay Nichols/Naples Image.
Within the V-bottom ranks, you have two go-fast boat styles — the closed-deck sportboat, which people typically think of as a “Cigarette boat” (though I’ve written more times than I can remember that Cigarette is a boat brand, not a boat type), and the center-console, which features an open interior layout and plenty of seating. Both center-consoles and sportboats range from single-engine 29-footers to twin engine 50-footers.
Here’s the easy part: Sportboats are generally equipped with inboard stern-drive power. Centers-consoles (currently the hottest style among performance-minded buyers) are typically equipped with outboard engine power. Rarely if ever will you have to make that choice.
Go-fast catamarans are just as simple. Called sportcats, smaller models from 24 to 35 feet are typically offered with outboard power. Cats from 36 feet on up—and they can reach lengths of 50 feet or more from builders such as Marine Technology, Inc., Mystic Powerboats and Skater Powerboats—are offered only with inboard stern-drive power.
So really, the type of power—outboard or stern drive—chooses you as soon as you choose your boat.
Outboards are the most common choice for sportcats.
But wait, as they say, there’s more. Each go-fast powerboat manufacturer offers a tested range of power for each model, and that means two or three reasonable, sensible choices. Hustler Powerboats, for example, will build its popular 29-foot V-bottom with a Mercury Racing 565, 540, or 520 engine. However, the good folks at the Calverton, N.Y. company will not—no matter how much money you throw their way—build one with a Mercury Racing 1100. The same goes for all the major catamaran builders: They stick to their established power ranges.
Smart Power Basics
Within the range of power offered for any given model, however, you will have to make choices. For example, a 39-foot center-console from Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats in Cape Coral, Fla., is offered with twin or triple engines from 300 to 400 hp.
First consideration? Budget. Even for the mathematically challenged, it’s not difficult to understand that three of the same thing will cost more than two. And in the case of engines, the cost doesn’t stop at purchase. Three engines cost more to fuel and maintain than two.
Next up on the consideration list: How will you run the boat? Are you a throttles-always-forward, damn-the-torpedoes kind of driver, or are you an “enjoy the ride” cruiser type? If you’re the former, you’ll want to choose the bigger propulsion package—but not because you want to go faster. You’ll want the bigger power so you don’t have to constantly operate at wide-open throttle, which is harder on the engines. Less aggressive drivers can do with less power simply because they don’t need to run flat out whenever possible.
The same principle applies to full-size catamarans, sport catamarans and V-bottom sportboats. If you’re a pedal-to-the-metal type, going with the least powerful—almost always also the least expensive—engine package offered is a mistake. In the long run, you’ll end up burning through overtaxed engines, not to mention fuel.
Full-size V-bottoms sportboats demand big power.
Most builders these days will ask you questions about how you like to operate a boat. Many will even ask you how fast you want to go at the top end and how fast you want to cruise. Answer them honestly, so they can help you make the right choices.
The single biggest mistake builders report seeing with new boat orders from their clients? With only initial cost considerations in mind, they order boats without enough power.
Stern-Drive Options
Custom engines shops such as Chief Performance in Miami, Sterling Performance in Milford, Mich., and Teague Custom Marine in Valencia, Calif., offer excellent high-performance marine stern-drive engines from 600 to 1,800 hp, and the amazing MV8-570 from Ilmor Marine in Plymouth, Mich. is a truly wonderful offering. Custom engines definitely should not be dismissed. That said, however, the top choices in go-fast powerboat power come from Mercury Racing in Fond du Lac, Wis.
For full-size catamarans, stern-drive engines are standard.
On the lower end of the power scale, Mercury Racing has three naturally aspirated engines in its line—the 520, the 540, and the 565. (The numbers stand for horsepower ratings.) These are solid performers that you’ll find primarily in single- and twin-engine sportboats up to 38 feet long long, as well as in custom go-fast deckboats.
On the supercharged side of things, Mercury Racing is down to one model -- the stalwart 700 SCi. As a general rule, they’re ideal in twin-engine sportboats from 39 to 43 feet long, such as the Cigarette 39 Top Gun and the Outerlimits SV 43. With twin Mercury Racing 700 SCi power, both models run well north of 100 mph.
However, the flagships of the Mercury Racing engine line are the QC4v series of twin-turbocharged 1,100-, 1,350-, 1,550/1,350- and 1,650-hp mills. At present, the company’s 1350s are the most popular choice in high-performance catamarans more than 40 feet long, and in V-bottoms from 40-plus-feet to 50 feet.
A Mercury Racing 1350 up close.
For the largest V-bottom sportboats—the 50 Marauder from Cigarette is a fine example—the 1350 and it siblings have been nothing short of revolutionary. Prior to the release of that engine, the first in the QC4v line, those boats pretty much required triple-engine installations and all the nightmarish plumbing, drive work, and maintenance headaches that come with them. But computer-controlled, high-tech twin 1350s can do the same work as old-school triple 900s. Not only did they eliminate the complicated rigging necessary for a third engine, they eliminated the extra weight of a third engine—and the extra weight of its drive.
Before the advent of the Mercury 1350, a triple 900-hp-engine equipped 50 Marauder couldn’t touch 120 mhp. With twin 1350s, that speed is attainable. With twin 1650s, an SV 43 V-bottom from Outerlimits set a V-bottom kilo record of more than 180 mph.
Of the four Mercury Racing QC4v products, the 1100 is the most bulletproof and the 1650 is the most temperamental (it requires high-octane race fuel). And that is reflected in the warranty of each engine -- just something worth noting if you’re in the market for a boat that can handle this kind of power. Also worth nothing? Twin Mercury Racing 1350s have become the power package of choice in most large high-performance V-bottoms and catamarans. For those who want a bit more in rare moments, the power-switchable (via key fobs) 1350/1550 is the answer.
Outboard Leaps And Bounds
Though both are popular on center-console V-bottoms, neither Yamaha nor Seven Marine outboard engines are targeted at the high-performance center-console segment. Still, it’s worth mentioning that both make excellent products. For Yamaha, the transom target tends to be serious center-console fishing machines, whereas Seven Marine—with 557- and 627-hp V-8 monsters—is looking at super-large, luxury-oriented center-consoles. (Editor's Note: Volvo Penta took Seven Marine outboards out of production in 2021).
Five 300-hp Mercury Marine outboards in a row aren’t an uncommon sight on today’s performance-oriented center-consoles.
So that leaves go-fast buyers with Mercury Marine and Mercury Racing outboard options. On the Mercury Racing side, there are two offerings that apply to the go-fast market—the 300XS and Verado 400R. The 300XS is a direct-injection two-stroke product that is popular in the sportcat world. The 400R is a supercharged four-stroke and is the most powerful offering in the Verado line. At present, three sportbcats from 29 to 32 feet long have been equipped and tested with the twin 400-hp on their transoms, and all have easily topped 100 mph. A new Skater 318 catamaran—the first one built—with twin 400s had at press time reached 114 mph (and a custom set of propeller is on the way).
On the Mercury Marine side, the Verado 350 is an amazing option, and while it hasn’t yet attracted interest in the sportcat world, it’s making a big splash in the performance-oriented center-console segment. So confident is Mercury Marine in this outboard beauty that they're offering the engine with an eight-year warranty, which is groundbreaking stuff in the marine industry.
So that’s it, a power primer for go-fast powerboat buyers. Truth be told, it really isn’t all that complicated and—as noted previously—most builders will guide you through the power-choosing process. Without question, Mercury Racing is the dominant player in the market. On the other hand, the choices have never been better.
