Bushwacker as always,gave great advice.
You won't be happy with the 4.3.I have a 23 Tsunami with a 350 5.7 GM/Mercruiser and Alpha drive,and even with that it's not a rocket ship at top speed.
It does however,hop up on plane almost instantly.and runs effortlessly at cruise speed.I've had a few similar size boats with the smaller,305 GM engines,and they were much slower out of the hole,and were harder to keep speed in nasty water conditions.
I'm probably around 260-270hp on my 350 and am spinning a 15-1/2x17 Mirage SS prop.This combo seems to work the best for me.The 350 definitely has the torque needed to move this boat in all situations,and doesn't have to work as hard as lesser cubic inch engines.
Somewhere,I have my performance numbers written down,but I'm around 36-38 mph at wot,and in the neighborhood of around 25-27 mph at 3000-3200 rpms.
Actually,I'd like even more HP,but at the time I did the restore,I was able to get a bargain on the 350.
Had money not been an issue I would have gone with a 383 stroker,or maybe even a 454.I may be mistaken but I think Water Rat,Chris Downey runs a 454 in his 23.
I'd like to see what his performance numbers are.
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All this,just for a boat ride
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