PS Check out the video of it I posted on the forum.... http://www.hydrostreamforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1359

Ive been struggling with the same issues for my future Vking lol . And from the information I've obtained from this forum and elsewhere is that if you have a smaller lighter boat that you want to fly at high speeds, like your viper, lighter rebuilt or low hour 2.5's or other engine options similar to that are the way to go. You could put an Optimax on a viper but it would most likely be too heavy or you would have to lower the HP. For example anything over a 175 opti is 500 pounds and up. RussF helped me out on that one....You can get away with it with attention to setup on the bigger streams but I wouldn't suggest it on a viper. For example there's a guy up in my neck of the woods who is running a 18 vking with a 250 opti on the back....runs almost triple digits but again, larger boat.

Have the funds up to have my boat worked from top to bottom, also have funds for powering it now also. Im doing alot of looking online, and finding alot of optimax mercs, are these motors 3litres? im wanting a 2.4 or a 2.5, but im not sure what some of these newer motors im looking at are. Can anyone here steer me in the right direction? would like a newer 2.5, so what should i be looking for? Im looking for a 200hp motor, lots of them out there, just dont want to wind up with something too heavy for a 15' viper.