Motor Needed/Advice

Fill us in- saltwater use? how much you doing yourself? what shape is the boat in? keeping it awhile? etc...

I bought a long block from S&J engines in Spokane last year.   I only have 12 hours on it so far, but am happy with what they gave me.   they "custom built" the block to my request for 89 octane or less, GT-40P heads and a roller cam setup, and a standard oil pump, vs the high flow/pressure one.   I couldn't find that elsewhere.   Summit Racing also has a nice short block from ATP I think, No customization available, but a good price.   there are a couple of guys running this motor as well.

Well my thoughts were that if the boat is in decent shape and planning to keep it awhile just drop in a new fresh water cooled Chevy bobtail and new trans. If it's been in salt all the Ford peripherals might not be worth fooling with especially if your paying someone to do the work. Not to mention Ford parts such as those will be hard to find.

Your best bet if it is in repairable shape is to just rebuild what is there in my opinion. The windsor is a good fuel efficiant motor for that boat and you will be able to cruise confortably at around 25mph. With a wot well in the higher 30s with an acme prop. I was running a 13x9 acme if i remember correctly and it was a great combo. I could cruise it about 25mph while still running on the primary circuit and get great distance and economy. The biggest improvement on those boats is the trim tabs though. When there is a good sea on you will find you want to run it bow high or you will get a lot of spray over the bow. If yoy can get a frwsh water cooling system you are far better off. And if you are having the motor built make sure you let the engine machine shop know if you are raw water cooled or frwsh water cooled because the piston to wall clearances will be different when finish honing the cyls.
Post up some pictures, there arent a lot of fish nautiques on here we love seeing all the differnt fit outs people do with them. And welcome.

Good morning, I am Restoring a 86 Fish right now for a customer.
Reality best bang for your buck is to go ahead and repower with a new fresh water cooled 5.7 carb package. long term solution to the old Ford platform that for your type of application can and will become hard to support as parts become unavailable or worse utilizing cheezy knock off cheap parts. Playing around out on the big salty pond is not the place to be one of those keep it original ideologists.
Might have to dig kinda deep in the wallet up front but the long term it will pay for it's self.
Also be reminded that the last Fish nautique came out of the mold in the late 80's, 40 year ago. These boats were rather crudely built by even 20 year ago standards. Check your hull around the strakes for cracking and under the engine frame and make sure the hull is worth the effort as it is hard to spend a lot of money only to find out the hull needs far more then it is worth to repair.

I see OP is in CA but here's a gm 350 for sale near me cheap with closed cooling. 5.7l gm closed cooling

You guys are awesome! Thank you very much for the replies and thoughtful feedback. I will look down the road of the GM solution and see how it looks! Thanks again!