I have been lurking around this site for awhile, and enjoy looking at what other people are doing with projects. I have done a bit of high hp turbo import engines(drag cars, sand cars, etc.) I have been doing more and more big inch turbo stuff, and have had an ex drag boat(jet) fall into my lap. It has a 500+ blown bbc, with lots of supporting hardware. I am thinking of ditching the supercharger and carbs, in favor of an EFI, intercooled, big turbo setup. I keep going back and forth and just want some feedback...

Yeah, ditch the blower, go with turobos. Send all your worthless stuff over here to the "Land of Misfit Blowers"..........

Ray

I'll make an office table out of the blower...

Mine tend to see some time on the Kitchen counter.......long standing Joke around here.....One loved member sold his boat, then his wife got a new kitchen......no more boat.....So a few of us, whenever we get new shiney parts, make sure we take the pics of the parts in our old, beat up kitchens........but WE have BOATS!   

Seriously though, Turbos on a jet boat is something I've only seen a few times. Makes absolutely perfect sense, and rock harder, probably more efficient than the blower. They will, and do rock! Most of us come from a time when our experiences were Turbos always broke, were a marketing gimmick that really did nothing a half point more compression wouldn't do, etc. Today is a little different, but I will stay with the old skool look of a huffer. When someone sees a huffer, it's WOW! When someone see's Turbos, well, they can see those on their Subaru..........

Ray

The next boat I do will probably be a twin turbo with a custom EFI intercooled intake plenum and TB that I will most likely build. But I gotta tell you. My boat always had the crowd around it even when the wife was not around in her new bikini.

the blower is cool, don't get me wrong. I like the flexibility of modern electronics and turbos. I can adjust the tune way easier, a little more fuel here, a little less timing here, more/less boost, ramp the boost till the pump is hooking, etc. I can run whatever fuel I want with some simple changes, race gas, pump gas, E10-E100, methanol, etc. We have done some really cool stuff with my brothers sandcar, E85 and a bone stock JDM 2.0, 450WHP.  I fired the boat up this morning, I forget how violent it is, my neighbors just love it(not)... 

EFI Costs

Accel super Ram $775
Edelbrock fuel rails $120
Trick flow 120# injectors $433
Fuelab pump $585
Megasquirt computer $425
Fuelab regulator $140
Harness home built $164
Sensors $160
2X innovate widebands $270
Fuelab Fuel filter $160
BBK throttlebody $360

$3592
Everything new

This is what my EFI has cost so far.
This does not include any fuel lines or fittings. I have also purchased the AN fittings to be welded to the tank.

I made the jump with my twin turbo street car.  After choking down the cost, every other aspect is worth it! But choking down the cost is a little tough.

Blow through carbs can be tuned VERY effectively, a wideband is a must!

The EFI gain is: altitude variance, instant boost changes 10psi 15psi 20psi correct AFR instantly after setting your boost level, timing control, datalogging, constant AFR monitoring with instant corrections, monitoring charging system.
Then outside the EFI functions, you can monitor pump pressures, a paddle wheel speedometer, G meter, input from your GPS (some models)........and what ever else you can think of, heart monitor? Blood pressure?

Everything has a cost. If you do not intend to fully utilize the functions, then the cost is greater than the benefit.

In my opinion;
Naturally aspirated or roots type blown, the minimal gains over a well tuned carb are not worth the effort or cost.
Turbo'd the gains are priceless.

I have an accel VI computer if someone wants to get in on the cheap. The features are a bit limited with this version.

I had just posted this response to a "Should I EFI" post on another site.

Your blown setup is done and running. Run with it. By the time that you are done it's going to cost you $6000 to pick up 200hp?

Is the setup Dyno'd? 1400 seems a bit optimistic. What heads are on it? It is tough to tell in the pic, but they look like iron heads.