new owner....curious question

[brack]

ive had the boat for over a year , just found this forum...... 1984 Supra rider with a PCM 454 , my question is this , the majority of the boats ive seen or read about have small blocks in them . Is a big block boat in the minority ....and pros & cons of it ......

[OneCent]

Well...

Big Block cons:

- you pay more taxes here in switzerland
- the engine is more expensive
- you don't really need the HP
- needs more Fuel

Big Block pro:

- you can never have enough HP for the fun ;-)

:cool:

[sybrmike]

Small blocks were the standard for tournament style inboards for years & still are. Plenty of umph for most hulls in the 18-21' range (comp, rider, sunsport, mariah, etc.) and activities (skiing, wakeboard, jump, trick, etc.). The larger boats (saltare, priata) benifited from the larger hp big blocks (although they started using higher horse GT40 small blocks later in these as well). A big block can also help with the higher speeds for barefooting and heavier weights for surfing.

Older marine engine's were "de-tuned" so they could better survive the demands of boating (constant stops/starts, heavy loads of towing, sustained high rpm). If you wanted more hp back then - no substitute for displacement. As engine technology evolved (fuel injection, electronic ignition, etc.) the small blocks could be tweaked for more reliable hp, so they're the standard today even in the bigger boats.

Like OneCent said:
BB pros - more hp/torque (plus they sound good!)
Con's - couple hundred pounds heavier and fuel consumption (carburated big blocks are thirsty beasts)

[saltare inverts]

Big Block PRos, sounds better to say you have a big block, easy to get more horspower wuth upgrades, look awesome with a blower

Small block pros, none

Just my two cents, of course when I used to have a baby small block I had pros for it. Ok Ok the big block can suck some gas. But when you load 2000 lbs of ballast I prefer to get on plane a soon as possible. I think the HO 496 is best option for us all or a Duramax.