Exhaust question?? Is this part a muffler????

[gregski]

Yes, that's the muffler. I can't think of any significant reason why it couldn't be removed. Certainly not heat; I don't know when mufflers came into standard use on ski boats but it is only recently. If anything, having a muffler might add a little heat to the engine compartment given more heat exchange area. But because the exhaust is wet things are already nice and cool. There might be some impact if the fuel control is tuned to include the muffler and would thus be slightly out of tune but that seems minor.

My old boat has the same 350 engine as the new one but the new has the exhaust. To be honest, they sound very similar. The new one is quieter at speed but the tone/rumble is the same. I really don't notice any difference at idle. It is obnoxious and difficult to carry on conversations in the old boat at towing speed. I've never had anyone say that they like the sound. Everyone likes the sound of both boats at idle. I wouldn't even think of removing the muffler. I think the overall experience would suffer without any real gain.