Alum rods will make slightly more HP than steel rods, the main gains would be to have a lightweight piston too. Actually the lighter piston will make more difference than the rod alone. In the old days of 20+ years ago, durability was a factor in alum rod use. Any modern rods from a reputable manufacturer will not have any longetivity issues. Whomever does the balancing will usually charge a premium to balance a motor with alum rods because the crank counterweights must be cut down quite a bit to achieve proper balance. This takes time, and time is money. Clearance in the crankcase is an issue, more with stroker setups, but possible too with stock stroke. Clearance issues are more likely with a BBChevy than a BBFord. If you don't allready have one, a roller cam will provide much more gains at jet boat RPMs than the alum rods, as will a good set of heads. The rods are pretty far down the list of cost effective HP gains in the jetboat RPMs.  I have run alum Bill Miller and Childs and Albert rods for over 3 years in street/strip low 10 sec./high 9 sec. cars, and some fast boats too.  TIMINATOR

Alum rods will make slightly more HP than steel rods, the main gains would be to have a lightweight piston too. Actually the lighter piston will make more difference than the rod alone. In the old days of 20+ years ago, durability was a factor in alum rod use. Any modern rods from a reputable manufacturer will not have any longetivity issues. Whomever does the balancing will usually charge a premium to balance a motor with alum rods because the crank counterweights must be cut down quite a bit to achieve proper balance. This takes time, and time is money. Clearance in the crankcase is an issue, more with stroker setups, but possible too with stock stroke. Clearance issues are more likely with a BBChevy than a BBFord. If you don't allready have one, a roller cam will provide much more gains at jet boat RPMs than the alum rods, as will a good set of heads. The rods are pretty far down the list of cost effective HP gains in the jetboat RPMs.  I have run alum Bill Miller and Childs and Albert rods for over 3 years in street/strip low 10 sec./high 9 sec. cars, and some fast boats too.  TIMINATOR

Thanks for the insight Timm I had been concerned re these as a couple people tried to convince me that these Howards had a short life expectancy and I too belive that to be an Old school thing/myth  Thanks Tom

I first set up my Daytona Tunnel for APBA Sprints with alum. rods thinking I needed every ounce of HP I could in Ski Jet class.  They worked fine for 9/10 of one season and one decided to take stroll into the bottom of the boat while I was in the back straight @ Bluewater.  $3k latter had a used short block w/ Carillo rods and never had a problem again.  I still think that the only time you truly need alum. rods is drags when the pump rarely unloads and reloads at full song.  If it's a river boat or sprint boat use steel preferably Carillo's or other high quality H-beam rods. If it's for a river boat and you still must have the HP just juice it some Nos and be done with it.  If you're going roundy round racing invest in a great carb / manifold / cam combo but build the bottom end to withstand WWIII.