Chaparal 236

[HBM]

I am also looking at a Chaparal 23ft. 5.0 270hp V8. Should I be concerned with being underpowered?

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Chaparal 236

Possibly. A 236 is a bowrider or Sunesta deck boat? (Sorry, I don't pay attention to those boats, so I don't know exactly what model that is). And how will you operate the boat? With a light load or 12 of your closest friends? Is that the lowest horsepower that Chaparral offers? If it is, then it's underpowered, but not by as much as some other manufacturers would underpower it. Chap is not afraid to put in enough power for a boat, you just have to be ready to pay more for it!

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Chaparal 236

I went to Chaparral's website and saw that a 236 is an SSX sportdeck boat, and that the 270hp 5.0 VP SX is the base powerplant. If you load will be anything less than light, that is going to be marginal power.

 

[HBM]

Re: Chaparal 236

Possibly. A 236 is a bowrider or Sunesta deck boat? (Sorry, I don't pay attention to those boats, so I don't know exactly what model that is). And how will you operate the boat? With a light load or 12 of your closest friends? Is that the lowest horsepower that Chaparral offers? If it is, then it's underpowered, but not by as much as some other manufacturers would underpower it. Chap is not afraid to put in enough power for a boat, you just have to be ready to pay more for it!

Thanks for the reply. being essentially uninformed on these matters I was assuming that the V8 would make up for some loss in torque or top speed and that changing out the prop would also make up for any sluggishness.....

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Chaparal 236

If it was a carbureted 5.7 it would be better than that injected 5.0. The 5.7 is just a better all around performer than that 5.0. It just seem to have a bunch more torque. And torque is very helpful in a boat.

 

[Jdubb16]

Re: Chaparal 236

The 236 can be the SSi bowrider or the SSx Sport deck. I have the Volvo 5.0 270hp in my new SSi210 and it is great for that size boat, your boat is 2 feet longer and about 1000# heavier. I would think with either 236 model (SSI or SSx) you should be looking at the Volvo 5.7 with the Douprop as the minimum, may want to consider the 320hp volvo. Only way to know is to sea test it with the number of people in it you would normal go out with.

J-dubb

 

[scott534]

Re: Chaparal 236

We have a 236ssi with the 6.2 Mercruiser and Bravo III prop. We ski quite a bit and this boat truly does scoot-it gets up to plane very fast which is nice when we're pulling someone. But remember, with the deep V hull, you don't need that large a motor as in some older boats (just my opinion). Also, although our boat will do 50mph, we rarely go that fast-which is the case with most boaters.

If you are going to be skiing or wakeboarding, I would at least get the 5.7 if you can.