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I have a 1983 inboard B26 with the Crusader 165s. I’m going to repower and thought about 5.7s but am thinking about 4.3s. Would be either the old iron 4.3s MPI (225 hp) or Volvo Gen V aluminum 4.3s (250 hp). In both cases I need to go to ZF transmissions because the motors are standard rotation. Pro...

Matt I sea trailed a B26 with two 50 hr carbureted Crusader Classic 5.7s last July in NJ. I didn’t buy the boat but recall that 3000 rpm got about 20.5 knots and it took about 3200 revs to get to 22.5-23 knots. 4000 rpm got the boat to 30 kts. The shafts were 1 1/8” . Props might be noted in the sur...

Flexman 5000 the boat has the original Crusader 165 V6s. So about 3800 rpm a side to get to about 19 or 20 knots. I’ve seen lots of B26s with V8 power. Not sure if these are all repowers. Did Bertram ever spec 8’s in the 1983-84 model run I wonder. It’s no small job (upsizing of shafts (from current...

Thanks John. In the end I bought a twin inboard B26 rather than the I/o because it was in much better condition. I am considering what to do for repower. Putting fresh small blocks under those engine boxes would be the easiest. But I will investigate going I/o for that boat. Surgery and a bigger pro...

Thanks Rocket. I know that even two fresh 5.7s in the twin inboard model have to both be working quite hard to get 22 or 23 knots (3200 rpm). This speaks partly to a bit of inefficiency with inboards but also to how much hull these boats have in the water (why we like them) with the full deep v. Is ...

I’m looking at a B26 i/o and thinking about pulling out two Merc six’s and Alpha legs and redoing the transom to go to a single Merc 8.1 with Bravo leg. Any thoughts about performance or whether this is a good idea? I wonder how many RPM I’d be running to get what cruise?