[Fr. Frank]

Money no object, I would go diesel sterndrive also.
But being a person who likes to go 60+ miles offshore and come home again, I would go with twin 4 cyl Cummins-powered 120hp 1.7L or 170hp 2.8L Mercruisers with counter-rotating drives.

For example I know of a 1986 26' Intrepid in Largo repowered recently with the twin 170hp setup, and he burns 3.6 gph per engine at 28 kts, with a top speed of 38 kts. He says that on one engine he can still plane off and run at 22-23 kts burning 4.4 gph.

With the 100 gallon fuel tank of a Sceptre, that gives a range of over 12 hours running time on both engines including a 1 hour reserve, or a useable range of over 330 miles.
The same basic Cummins 2.8L engine is also available as a turbocharged model producing 200 hp.
Complete sterndrive systems weigh 653 lbs for the 120 hp and 870 lbs for the 170 hp using the Alpha drive setup, according to the brochure.