Cougar 23MTR

[23MTR]

Hello, I have just stepped up to a 94 Cougar 23MTR from my Eliminator Daytona 21ft jet boat. So this whole I/O deal is new for me! My jet boat buddies tell me I am going to loose my whole shot and excelleration thrill?? I was out last Labor day and watched a 25ft single I/O plane out very quick and chase down a 90mph 21ft Daytona (luckly not mine) . I have heard the cougar hulls are very well built and stable at speeds in excess of 100mph?? I looked up the hull weight and it is 1220lbs no motor or drive. I am planning on putting together a 496BBC with a 1071 BDS. I was told that I can run it 10% undriven and still get a honest 1000hp on pump gas?? I am aware of the fact that you get what you pay for. My question is what out drive should I be running??Or can I get away with running. I have found the Bravo XR drives are the least expensive and the Imco 1000hp model is very expensive. I have read a few ads were guys are running slightly modified bravo units that were originaly rated at 575hp and running them over 100mph?? This was in a 25ft Daytona. Anyones input would be greatly apreciated. The last thing i want to do is explode one of these thing off the back of my boat and ruin my weekend. Also anyone who has owned our currently owns a 23MTR I would like to get some more info on what you thought of the boat. Thanks for your time.

[andy01]

You can not run a big cat I/O hard out of the whole with any type of bravo style drive, the only drive to take that will be a number six. That will cost probably more then you paid for the boat. Nice looking boat btw. Take it easy on the drive when you take off, don't hammer it. If you baby a xr you might get a season out of it. If you hammer it you might get a weekend out of it. If you put a IMCO on it and baby it you might get two maybe three seasons out of it, IF you go real EASY on it. If you hammer it you might get one season out of it. Just depends on how hard you are on your boat. Baby the drive it lives, drive the boat to the point you are having fun and it will break. Then it will cost from $1,000 to $7,000 to fix it.

[riverracerXXX]

Nice boat! You'll love the performance and handling of that hull. Its true I/Os don't take very well to being hammered out of the hole. Not much can compare with a jet, or maybe a v-drive out of the hole. That being said, what you give up on hole-shot you get on top-end. I/Os are much more efficient than jets at faster speeds due to the fact that I/Os allow the the boat to lift higher out of the water. The opposite is true of jets. Because of the mechanics of that drive system, the intake sucks the boat down hard against the water creating a lot of friction. Conversely an I/O, because it lets the boat rise higher in the water has less wetted surface and friction. Therefore it takes relatively quite a bit more HP to reach a certain (higher) speed than it would take an I/O... More bang for the buck. All that to say, yes, take it easy on an I/O out of the hole. Once you get on plane, go for it.
My .02