I agree torque is a big factor in boat engines. That is where your
choice of cam shafts comes in. Just like the car world manufactures put
"stock" components in a car for cost reasons. But with some
tweaking and adding an after market computer, cam shaft, ignition or
what ever else is out there. You can really boost your power and
torque. I have learned a lot by putting a user programmable computer in
a boat. You can change all kinds of settings. Dwell and timing for
spark and fuel. With an MPI system that is really cool. There are many
variables and there fore, very easy to mess up. You can even have
presets, like a skiing and a just plain cruising. The preset for skiing
changes to give you more torque to pull someone up. For cruising it can
be to give the best economy at a comfortable speed.
Grant it, not everyone likes, want or has time to tweak. With the
people I know and the line of work I am in I get the chance to see and
play with new technology. A lot of stuff is meant for the car world but
can very easily be adapted to the boat world because boats do not have
emissions standards, yet. Trying to find a place to put a threaded hole
for an o2 sensor in a marine exhaust manifold was fun. Not.

Paul