Mac 26X Repower to New 90 HP Suzuki 4-Stroke

[PSNA]

I can remember when the 26X was introduced.

A friend of mine was a large Mac dealer at the time and he advised there was a lot of dealer discussion with the factory on max horsepower.

Roger MacGregor got so pi$$ off that he told the dealers involved that if he determined they were installing anything larger, they would be banned from selling another boat.

Stern weight was obviously a concern. But it also had to do with how the boat would travel and handle in waters that were not flat as a board.

MacGregor has made many outlandish claims about his boats over the years. Many could be attributed to marketing hype, but some quotes inferred his boats were capable of doing things when they couldn't

In this case, the designer and builder of the boat vehemently told his dealers not to do it. I think I would follow his advice.

[Starscream]

Like I said. Your money, boat, and your life. However, you are not a structural engineer or a naval architect. You have no business promoting this reckless advice to the general public when the boat's manufacturer clearly states differently.

Lol, well actually, not to get into a twitter fight, but I AM a structural engineer, with several patents to my name including one for a high strength fiberglass structural panel. I have done a lot of R&D work including the design and testing of mechanical systems, including for the Freedom Tower (shameless name dropping sorry), and a lot of work on structural and non-structural FRP. I will concede, however, that I'm not a naval architect.

Of course, anyone who puts over a 50HP motor on the X is in violation of the manufacturer's instructions and has to bear responsibility for the risk to themselves and others.

During the R&D phase of my career, I learned to put a lot more stock in operational testing of manufactured units than factory testing of pre-production units. I made a (semi) educated choice to go to a 90HP only after there had been dozens of installations in the "wild", including one at 140HP and one at 115HP, and I had many boat-decades worth of field data available on the 90HP combination. I would have never even considered being the first one to do it...that would be just crazy.

But please, don't take my personal decision as a promotion. I realize that it may sound like promotion because I love the 90HP / 26X combination so much, but what several on this site have said about the risk and responsibility are very true.