5.7 or 6.0?

[dreddy]

My apologies for posting this in advance because I know the topic has been beat to death but...

We are looking at a couple of 24V's. Both are in good condition, low engine hours etc, but one has the 335 hp 5.7 and the other has the 375 hp 6.0. Based on previous experience with my friend's 22v, the 5.7 was plenty. By the way, this is heavily loaded for surfing at 6000' elevation. Does the 24V NEED the 6.0 for this application? Here are my calculations gathered from various places. A web-based calculator gives me 275hp for the 5.7 and 307hp for the 6.0 at 6000'. But... torque matters and the the 5.7 and 6.0 torque curves are very similar until high revs. Surfing always happens around 3000rpm in my experience if propped properly. Fuel useage? Power prop? The local Tige dealer recommends the 6.0 for all 22' and 24' new boats in our locale? I'm not worried about how fast it can get on plane for wakeboarding. We would probably do that without additional ballast anyway. We CAN afford the cost difference, but do I NEED to?

Can I be happy in the long term with a 24' boat and the 5.7? Help!

Thanks for any comments or direct experience you can provide.

Dreddy

[cpropes2005]

I have the 6.0 and honestly I think I would prefer to have the 5.7 especially if they are trying to charge more for the 6.0. Like you mentioned most of the research I have seen indicates that the torque on the 5.7 is very similar and from what I can tell the 6.0 has a few more mechanical quirks. The 6.0 has variable valve timing (vvt) and the 5.7 does not. VVT is a proven technology that helps boost performance and should be reliable but mine is currently in the shop for a vvt related issue and if I had to choose between a motor with a few extra hp vs a motor with one less complex system to break I would go with the later. That is just my 2 cents based on my personal experience with the 6.0. If mine was running great right now I might be singing a different tune.

[whitlock87]

I have the 5.7 marine power and they rated it at 330HP.
I would look at the boat test website, so you can see the GPH on each engine. ( For my 20V it is 5.4 GPH at 20mph)
That not to bad and I have a 38 gallon tank so I can do over 6 hours of boarding and still make it back to the dock.

[dreddy]

Great idea on checking boattest. I just did it and if the numbers are correct, the decision is easy. I just don't know if I completely trust the numbers. They had tests for an RZ4 (same running surface as the 24v and 24ve? at least similar with TAPS etc.) with the 5.7 and 6.0. The 5.7 gave 15.2gal/hr cruising at 28.7mph. The 6.0 gave 7.4gal/hr at 25mph. For cruising to the best spots, which can burn a lot of the gas for us on some of the big lakes (Powell and Flaming Gorge), we will use 1/2 the fuel with the 6.0.

Does that seem believable? Hard for me to believe there is that much difference.

[What she said]

I would go with the 6.0, all the way!

[tommy1005]

I'm a bigger is better guy......thus planning on the 550hp LSA for my boat. If it was me I'd always wonder what it would be like with the extra horsepower, so I say get the biggest boat and the biggest motor you can afford - best way to avoid 2 foot-itis

[skippabcool]

Where are you located? I am at 6000' as well and have the 5.7 albeit a 22 footer. One thing you can do it change the prop out. There are many boats out there that have the 5.7 and are slammed with weight to surf or board.

Other than the engine what are the differences? Same year? Similar color? Same options? Trailers? Cost?

[loudelectronics]

The 6.0l is the only way to go on a 24' boat. I can push 10 hours to a tank of fuel but 8 hours under heavy load and use. The 5.7 we use are looking for fuel around the 5-6 hour mark with same size tank. The 6.0 just does not need to work as hard. We can load out boat up with 4400 lbs of ballast and stock prop and it has no problem getting out of the water. I just ordered a new z3 and the 6.0 was the first option i made sure it had. You will be glad you did.

[dreddy]

Thanks for the opinions on this everyone. I'm feeling like springing for the 6.0 is the way to go with these 24' boats.

I appreciate your patience with an often discussed issue.

[Bruizza]

You couldn't pay me to buy a 24 foot boat with the standard engine. Big Boat=Big Engine. Get the 6.0!

[dom w. forte]

My 2004 20i has the 6.0l it has been a very good motor , 1300hrs and still going strong, you wont be sorry.

[IDBoating]

I'll chime in here... My 24Ve has probably as much ballast as anyone's boat and its 5.7L EX343 does a fine job pulling it through the water with an Acme 1235 prop. We consistently use an average of 3.5-4.0 GPH of fuel in mixed use. This is at ~2300 MSL.

That said, one of my favorite quotes is "I've never wished I had a smaller engine". In anything, ever. So if all else were equal I'd opt for the larger engine. But all things are NOT equal, the larger engine costs more, has different fuel consumption characteristics, maintenance is different, etc. The big consideration in your case that tips the scale toward the larger engine is your altitude. 24 footers can do fine with a properly running, modern 5.7L but that altitude is going to rob you of some power.

Given all the data, I'd opt for the 6.0L. Primarily because of the altitude.

[duffymahoney]

5.7 does great. I know some people have had issues with the older 6.0s as well. There is a super low hours super clean 24v up in my neck of the woods for sale.

[talltigeguy]

I seem to recall that there were more reliability issues on the engine on the 6.0.

I personally would take a 5.7 all day long just for the odds of having less mechanical failures.

Wasn't there some sort of problems with the exhaust tubes overheating and decaying on the 6.0? I know of 2 boats that had that. Evilone was one of them, haven't heard from him forever on the site, but I know it was a real pain to fix, supposedly had to lift the engine out.

[dreddy]

Thanks for the inputs guys. We have a couple of offers out so we will see what happens. Can't wait for the warm up!