The gas boat engine is the heart of these large high powered boat hulls. Each gas boat engine is easily in excess of 2.0hp and may be well over the 5.0hp mark on fully modified engines.
There are a small number of engines available on the market. However, most of the engines can be purchased already modified in several different stages from plenty of different engine modification shops or stores.
Which gas boat engine will work best in my hull?
If you are new to gas boats it would probably be in your best interest to select a stock engine. A stock Zenoah boat engine is a great place to start and will provide you with exceptional speeds.
More experienced boaters will have the option of choosing a stock, mid modified, and fully modified engines. Each engine option out there is designed to output more horsepower for greater speed capability.
The following list will provide a rough estimate on given speeds with the popular Zenoah engine. Keep in mind different hulls perform differently and modified engines vary quite significantly. These values can be quite different than specified.
Gas Boat Engine – Mono Hull / Cat Hull
Stock Zenoah G26 Marine Engine
Mid Modified Zenoah G26 Marine Engine – Approaching 80km/h (50mph)
Full Modified Zenoah G26 Marine Engine – Approaching 100km/h (60mph)
Gas Boat Engine – Hydro Hull
Stock Zenoah G26 Marine Engine
Mid Modified Zenoah G26 Marine Engine – Approaching 96km/h (60mph)
Full Modified Zenoah G26 Marine Engine – Approaching 112km/h (70mph)
Gas Boat Engine – Zenoah Marine Engine Mount
Many hulls are setup with 125mm (5″) spacing between the main stringers, where the engine is to be mounted. There are several engine mounts specific to the Zenoah marine engine. Most of them contain rubber isolators to absorb some of the engine vibration. Be certain your stringer spacing will fit the mount planned to be purchased.