A question for you guys that fish a lot of tournaments and have a lot of exposure to the rules on different tournament trails. How would the rules apply to a 250 HP outboard that has been modified with a Nizpro tune or supercharger? Do the tournament officials only care about the HP rating from the manufacturer or do you stand to have an issue with a polygraph (if you placed) if questions were asked HP or modifications?
I don't want to cheat at all..... I am just considering my options while staying within the rules. I have a heavy boat that needs some help.

Don't do it...simple as that. If you can flash it, you can return it to stock. If it has a power-adder that pushes the 250HP rating, it's not qualified.

It’s cheating in most all tournament rules I’ve read.

What's the max HP listed on your boat?

That's the key

Thanks. I think y'all have answered my question. Any power enhancements that might potentially exceed the max HP rating, even if undocumented, could be considered cheating. I don't want to cross that line.

I asked multiple directors about this when I had my 175 fast strike, it put out 225 at the prop after monty racing worked it over.

you can do what you want as long as it was at or below your max. hp. rating from the factory.

no difference between flashing one, nizpro, internal mods. all are legal according to them.


look at your boat rating, my 95 champion 202 says "any V6" for hp rating and I now have a 300 yamaha on back.

But it still has to be under 250 if the event has a rule it has to be under 250…,regardless of hp rating, correct?

I would still check with the director of any tournament you plan on entering to be sure, all the tournaments around here just say factory rated hp.

all they say is max. rated hp on your cg plate, my 175 was on a champion 184 which was rated for 175 hp, technically I was 50 hp over but the engine was originally a 175 which matched the rating.

when you get in the big league then you have a max. hp no matter what your boat says, trails and jackpots, big bass etc. all just go with cg plate rating.

So in that case these new Mercury 4S are V-8s so "legally" you couldn't put one on the back of that old Champ.

Don't overthink it.

If your boat is "heavy" it sounds like you might just be spending a lot just to get an extra couple mph out of it. Do you like fishing or boating more? Look at it from that poi t of view then proceed how you feel best.

Only 250 rating max that I know of is BASS and MLF.

It is definitely a rules violation. But many do it. The question is could you pass a polygraph test if the question was have you broken any rules? Like over horsepowering your boat.