1979 Kingfisher 254 general questions

Andover_CT

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Hello all,
First post here and had a performance question on my new to me 254 Kingfisher.

The short story is that my best friend passed last month and I inherited his boat

From his storys etc... I guess it started life with twin I/Os and those where pulled out, the stringers re-configured and the transom closed in and rebuilt.

It might of been a single OMC but I'll never know... looking in the bilge I see no evidence it ever had twins... or the conversion was that good.

He owned a boat repair shop from 1968--2017, the boat was bought by him in the above config with no power. He cut the transom open for a Volvo DP 290 and in went a 260 hp Chevy and the 290 Duo Prop with a set of B4 props.

Well he ran and loved it for the last 5 years... believe it or not I never got a chance to go for a ride. There was always a dozen different customers boats or otherwise to run or test.

Yesterday I brought her out of storage and got her running. Took her out and goes up on plane easy enough, runs 20/21 mph at 3000-3200 rpm and runs 32 mph flat out at 4500 rpm. Im happy with it but was wondering what you other folks with Kingfishers are getting performance wise.

Boat runs perfect and im not going to change anything... just curious.

Thanks
Tony
 

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JeffN

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Another oldie - nice pick up but sorry about your friend. I have an '83 Kingfisher that began life with twin Mercruiser 470s. I purchased the boat in 1987 and ran it with the twins thru 2006 season. I repowered that winter with single Mercruiser 496 Bravo I, I was looking at twin V-6 but they had grown wider over the years and much work would have been required to go twins again. Put in the 496 and have been very happy - it is a torque monster. At 3300rpm I am running around 24 to 25 knots. Tops out at 38 knots. Hope you enjoy your new ride, I have really enjoyed mine over the years.
 

Andover_CT

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Hi, thanks for info... I had a 496 in my last Silverado 2500. It would outrun and pass EVERYTHING but a gas station!

Been doing some looking aroind and my research says im doing pretty good at 32 mph with my single 350.

Thanks

Tony
 

JeffN

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I think my fuel consumption with the 496 may be better than my old motors and they were pretty much a cheap date - particularly before the advent of 4 strokes. With the 496 I average 2 NMPG with my usage. I'm OK with that. Be interested what you are averaging when you get through the "new to me and seatrial" phase. I'm sure the duoprop is nice - the tech that did the repower recommended for simplicity because there is no sterndrive tech on island to go with the Bravo I. I did go back and forth on engine size and finally just went with the 496, Tech said I would not look back. He was correct. Called Grady one time years ago regarding repower suggestions and the engineer I spoke with said they had produced some 350 single kingfisher/sailfish I/Os and also some 454 powered singles. I have never seen either.

My '96 Dodge Ram had the 360 my new Ram Rebel has the Hemi - really nice. Had the Hemi in a Grand Cherokee and the '16 version in the Ram is nicer and way fun.