Twin or single

[jsmagnum]

I'm putting together a 28 ft. Magnum style boat,it is full balsa glass construction.Approx. weight hull only is 3000 lbs. I would like any suggestions reguarding power. I'm considering either a single 502 or twin 350s. Any help would be appreciated.!

[DogHouse]

I always thought a couple of aluminum 434 small blocks would be a super nice package in a boat that size, assuming the cost isn't a problem. Of course when it came time to put my own boat together I went with a single big block because cost was a problem! The twins have some nice advantages. You could easily put 1000-1100 hp to the water using stock Bravos and not be worried about breaking drives all the time like you would with a big power single setup. Then there is also the redundancy advantage. About the only drawback I can think of is that you lose a lot of good storage space under the hatch.
-brian

[DUCKY]

jsmagnum:
I'm putting together a 28 ft. Magnum style boat,it is full balsa glass construction.Approx. weight hull only is 3000 lbs. I would like any suggestions reguarding power. I'm considering either a single 502 or twin 350s. Any help would be appreciated.! I would go with a single, big inch blower motor and a B-Max drive or an Arneson surface drive.
I believe Howard built one of their 28's with a 1100 hp(at only 6000 rpm) quad-rotor blown EFI motor and B-Max that runs in the low triple digits, and idles like a stocker.

[DaveA]

I agree with Duck, stick with a single engine setup and spend your bucks on making it one bad piece with all the bulletproof stuff. Only one engine to build, one outdrive to buy, one hole to cut in the transom, one x-dimension to fret over, etc etc. However, if you're the offshore nut among us, and want the redundancy of twins to get home on or face a storm with, I understand. I'd fly with 2 engines instead of one if I were into serious instrument gotta get there flying! Just multipy everything by 2, then add 20%, and you'll know what you'll have to invest.

[jsmagnum]

Thanks for all the input.
I'm mostly going to run the boat on a lake that's 30 miles long by 20 miles wide and it can sometimes blow up a storm. I would like the boat to run comfortably in the high 70s and top out at 85 or so. I like to get my speed thrills from my Mach z snowmbile which does 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and tops out at 130 mph, so the top speed in my boat is not that important.