I have a 24.5 chapparall sport fisherman with a 9.9 mercury kicker boat weighs 4k dry, bought in 2017 new. It is awesome and i have never had an issue, tops out at about 6 mph. Ive done the reccomended maintenance each year.
I have an eazy steer connecting it to main engine.
only run non ethanol
highly reccommend it.