Dukedonzi

I have a 2001 closed bow with 350's, bravos, 1.5 ratio, my props turn out and i have 230 hrs on the boat. I don't know if it matters but i boat in fresh water.
When I bought the boat it had 22 pitch powertech 4 blade props on it. it would trun 4600rpms, and the best speed i got was 63mph it didn't matter where i had it trimmed that was it. I pulled the powertechs, and put on 23pitch mirages, then i was on the limiter running 65mph, so i bought a set of 25 mirage plus's... i didn't realize there was a difference in the rake or cup. The rpms dropped to 4600 but i run 66mph, so i was going to have someone lab them this spring to see where i end up...
Then at the end of the summer i got caught out in some real rough water, at least in my opinion it was rough, that was the only time so far i had an issue with it blowing out.
Now i'm not sure if i should spend the money to have my 25s labbed or try a set of Bravo's...
The boat comes out of the hole fine, i don't have any complaints about mid range... but I really didn't like the blow out, and i would like more top speed. Not sure what i'm going to do now. Oh, I speedo is GPS, and my chart plotter matchs its speed.
I also tried a set of 25pitch 3 blade cleaver props... cavitated like crazy out of the hole but i got 67 top speed at 4600ish rpms.

Dukedonzi

BTW Shag i love the yellow on your boat mine is yellow also.

FIXX

iTrader: (2)

you want to try a set of 23p revolution props,bravos are slow on that hull..the 4 blade revolution merc props will be better hole shot and a little faster then the mirage + maybe 1 mph..if you want to lab your props send them to DAHpropellers in burlington wi..john is the best out their period..and he will make your boat faster,,i picked up 6 mph when he was done with my prop..

http://www.dahpropellers.com/

atisvt99

Got a couple of boxes in the mail yesterday... Probably can't play for a couple more weeks due to crazy work schedule though.

Trueser

I would be interested in how they work. What are they?

Mike

atisvt99

Hey Mike,

Long time no chat! So I sent my Mirage props out to BBlades to get cleaned up... I was almost certain they were previously labbed when I sent them over (this is my first boat and I didn't really know the difference) but Brett called a couple of weeks later and informed me that they were stock. So after going over all the details of my boat and how it performs, he went and did his thing to them... Labbed, cupped, etc according to his specs.

I also decided to pickup another set of props while I had him on the phone and went with what most people recommend for that boat (not all out performance) and did the Bravo 1 (4-blade)... I went with a 28p so that they too could be labbed and as you can see in the pic, I opted to have both sets polished.





I'm going to put the 3-blade back on for the 1st part of the season just so I can compare them to what I remember from last year. I'll then swap over to the 4-blades for what I assume will be some easier launching, slower planing, harder cornering, and slower top speeds. If I'm ever around for a poker run or something like that, I'll just throw the 3 blades back on.

The whole reason I sent my Mirage props in for service was a few small nicks in the blades from gravel up near Washington DC on the Potomac... I'll need to be extra careful this year since both sets of props are now a little more fragile with their sharper edges, etc... I'll be sure to update the thread once I get some numbers and impressions.

I'm going to pull the boat this weekend and take it down to a boat repair shop in our area to get the headliner in my cuddy re-glued or replaced, have a 3" gouge in my hull repaired, and some other small fiberglass repairs made. Maybe 3 weeks from now I'll get out on the water?

Will keep y'all posted...

- justin

Trueser

can you ask him how much cup ? Just got mine back...

and you really need to run a set of Mirage Plus 25. Not the standard Mirage.

But I am curious about your numbers.

You turn them in still?

MIke

VetteLT193

FYI: you need to be a LOT more careful as they aren't just a little more fragile, they are a lot more fragile. i.e., you hit bottom and the blade ends will fold in like a tulip.

atisvt99

I will ask him what cup he did... I kinda thought I would get a spec or "what we did" sheet... so I'll see if I can get one e-mailed to me?

I think when you and I talked on the phone early last year, you had recommended the MP 25 then too... From what Brett told me, I should basically have a Plus now after his modifications to my regular Mirages. Again, I'll see if I can find out what he did...

Another thing I learned about my boat from the previous owner was that the hull was "blueprinted"??? The guy who had it *before* the last owner (a good buddy of mine) paid to have this blueprinting process done to the whole underside of the boat. I had never heard of this before, honestly... but they take a straight edge and go over every square inch and make sure it is flat/straight/true... fill in areas where necessary, sand down areas where necessary, and finally scuff the entire surface so that bubbles wont stick to it? I'm just repeating what I was told... but my buddy said that would explain why my boat was hitting almost 82 mph (on 3 different GPS units) with the stock props... (and I'm just repeating what I was told... if this sounds like BS to anyone, please be gentle... )

Brett said that I should pickup maybe 2-3 mph with the newly worked 3-blades... and maybe lose 5-7 mph with the worked 4-blades.

And finally, I'm almost certain that my props turn out! that's what I put on my BBlades form and I wasn't told otherwise by those guys. When I get them back on the boat and think about it, I'll see if I can glance real quick so I know for sure.

- justin

In the red

Should have posted on this one earlier but haven't been on the forums much.
2006 28ZX with 350 mag mpi's and 1.65 bravos from the factory. Also have factory K-planes.
Drives measure 6 3/4 bottom 6 1/4 top at the center of the gimbal
Props turn out per the factory stickers on the transom

Boat came with 25 mirage plus's and as Vette found they were hard to plane but top end was good, about 71.

I have tried 26 hydromotives and various 26 bravo's labbed and unlabbed. I bought a set of Merc labbed, polished 26 bravos on e-bay and ran them for 2 summers and loved them. Great planing, you cant blow them out even if you try. Getting 69 top end consistantly at 5200 rpm. Doesn't really matter 1 or 2 people in the boat. Best top end a shade over 70.

Decided to send them to B-Blades the spring of 2012 and ran them last season. Brett said they added more rake to help get the bow out of the water. I also had them do the brushed finish because they told me it was faster than polished. The trim does seem to react more as Brett said it would. Bottom line is I really haven't seen much difference in speed. Getting pretty much the same numbers as above. They looked great when i got them back and I don't fault B-blades, I just think maybe I have maxed out what my boat will do with the power it has. These are the right props for the boat. I also run a lot at night and with the K-planes tweaked I can stay on plane at 24-25 mph which is great.