Long post - forgive me.
I was a little premature on putting the side skirts back on during rigging. Took them off to double check everything before heading out. Shift linkage was off by three rounds on the adjuster. Tied up some wires, drove right past the hose on the way to the lake. Stopped in at Sonoco for some go-go juice. Put her in the lake at 7:00. This motor is a little heavier than the old EFI it replaced, I don't like that but it is what it is. Idles better than the old 250 EFI, quieter too. Warmed her up with a series of holeshots. Maybe a little faster to plane than the old motor with the same 23P Tempest prop (guessing 2.5 to 3 boat lengths) After I got over my "Is this Biotch Gonna POP" jitters, I dropped the hammer for a brief period, 30 minutes later I let off the throttle. If she was gonna blow that shoulda done it. Plum flogging her I tell you. 90 degrees,wind 5 to 10 out of the north, humidity 100% best speed 59.8 MPH at 5800 RPM.
So no new top speed number. Is it any faster than the old motor? YES it is, at least it sure feels like it. The motor reaches the limiter easier so I am confident we will see a new number in more ideal conditions. Temperature and Weight is a huge factor in how fast this Wellcraft can go. Motor has a lot of pep and the boat feels very loose on top. Trimmed out I felt the boat floating around and getting a little flighty, only felt that way before when the boat was lightly loaded. A reminder to put on the life vest and attach the emergency stop switch lanyard. (Intentionally NOT referred to as the KILL SWITCH) Dark thirty was unsafe for high speed running so I tested the cruise speed, holeshot and handling.
I picked up a few rattles as anticipated. The back two hatches need some rubber/silicone something to keep them from rattling when I am leaning on the throttle. I was thinking the pop up cleats would make noise due to the solid motor mounts but they were quiet. Overall a lot more refined than the top fuel dragster sound of the EFI at idle and throughout the RPM range. This motor is not gonna be a dock crasher. Smooth shifting in and out of gear in tight quarters and the motor never changes in RPM.
Other results:
Boat will plane at 3100 RPM no tabs required 26 MPH
40MPH = 4000 RPM 46 MPH = 4600 RPM 50MPH= 5000 RPM That has long been my goal and now it has been achieved. According to the fuel gauge I burned 1/8 tank of fuel in an hour of hard running. Easily went 35 miles in that hour. No idea on mileage yet but that appears to be much better than the EFI. Not a single hiccup from the Opti. It did everything I asked of it. I did a series of figure 8's and a series of hard over turns to check handling characteristics. No disappointments although positive trim lets the prop ventilate just a little due to the maxed out engine height. I need to drop the motor another hole and put the 21 Mirage copy (Lightning) on it for mileage. It should come out of the hole as if catapulted off the deck of an aircraft carrier.
Impressive so far.




Plan to use it all weekend on the Suwannee.
That is all I got except for a couple of bad pictures I will post up in a few minutes.