Wow, seeing those hulls lined up really brings back the memories! My father raced hydros, never had any luck with the airplanes...so I was exposed to a lot of boat racing before I got the urge to fly instead.

You can pick up a good used Zenoah 26 inexpensively if you look around...and with all of the marine mods available for this engine, it would be hard not to go that route. If you haven't already, get in touch with these guys.... http://www.bhhanson.com/

Oh, and yes, definitely put a copy of this post on the boat forum! Good luck!