An outdrive set up is called an I/O for Inboard/Outboard. An inboard has
the entire engine and any transmission or gears inside the boat. All that
is outside the hull is a propshaft and a prop. An outboard is the complete
engine is sitting on a bracket on the transom.

I would not get less that a v6. In a 24' a v8 would be better. 24' is on
the big end of the length spectrum for a ski boat. 21' is about average.
Most true inboard ski boats in the 20 ft range will have a v8. A
recreational I/O boat will come with a 4 banger, a v6, or a v8. Don't get
the 4 banger if you expect to do a lot of water sports unless the boat is on
the small end, say 17ft. The recreational I/O will cost about half what the
name brand ski boats cost.

Gallons per hour is how gas usage is measured in a boat. Don't expect that
you will see stickers on boats advertising that though. Milage varys
greatly depending on what you are doing and how fast you go. Expect that a
full day of recreational boating in a typical ski boat is going to burn
somewhere between 15 to 35 gallons of gas as a guestimate. I can burn most
of my 26 gallon tank in an average day.

"RogueIT" wrote in message
oups.com...
I assume an outdrive is an outboard engine...
If this is correct what is an inboard engine?...an indrive?

if I wanted to have a 24 foot ski boat what is the least amount of
engine I would want to pull a 200 pound man (or woman but I don't know
any 200 pound skiing women) out of the water and drag him around for a
while?

Is there some kind of MPG calculation that is standard for boat
engines? I know that If I drive 140 miles an hour I will get very bad
gas mileage in a car but I was wondering about how gas mileage is
calculated on a boat...

thanks again,
Rogue