Harper220

They're 1:36 ratio. I'm pretty sure gear ratio wouldn't have anything to do with blowing out. It's a twin set up and I'm running Hydro P5X's. I'll have to wait for the dealer to get back next week and get this dialed in. I don't want to spend a fortune with boxes and a tunnel tab. I would imagine I'll have to space back down. This is what happens when you start messing with things. I should of just left it alone, since it's all ready cost me a day on the water.

jdnca1

Harper:

Sorry to hear about your problems, I can't believe you are blowing out that bad only being 1" above the bottom. Unfortunately that tells me you are gooing to need extension boxes to make things work. You'll also definately need pick-up's in the bottom of the boat with the short drives...Khadley had to put them in his 33 Daytona when he put the short drives on for the same reason.

Harper220

Thanks for your concern. I was surprised too about the planing issue. What's the difficulty level in adding bottom pick ups? I would imagine it would involve cutting into the bottom of the boat and mounting the pick ups then running a hose to the water pumps. What do you think adding 1" spacers would do?

jdnca1

The problem is to get pick-ups in the correct position and sealed, clamped, etc, etc you really have to pull the motors to have any chance of reaching things. If you go through all of that you might as well go ahead and put boxes on.....My pick-ups (measured from inside of boat) are ~4" from the bottom of the sponson and about 2" from the where the hull "steps up" at the rear. You don't want the pick-ups directly in front of the props, cut them off so they are ~flush in the front with the bottom and hang down 1/4-3/8" in the rear. The best way is to plumb pick-up to a sea strainer and use pressure relief dumps (on the strainer) to get rid of excess water pressure...because it will be a problem. I used Teague strainers and Watts dump valves. I had a plate made with an AN fitting and hooked braided line to dump the water from the drive pick-up back out the rear of the boat...some people dump on their drives or just plug entirely. The above has worked great and you never have to worry about getting water. We copied what Khadley did to his 33 and no issues there either. Spacer could help, but if you do that maybe it would be better to just put your old lowers back on...??

Harper220

I would never attempt adding bottom pick ups myself. I was just curious what's involved and it sounds pretty extensive. My first consideration was to just put the old lowers back on, but the dealer said at this point spacers would be the most economical fix. I'll just have to discuss with him in depth where to go from here. I didn't expect this would turn into a pricey ordeal. Question: If I spaced back down let's say 1", would the design of the IMCO lowers themselves have a performance gain over the stock lowers?

jdnca1

I would guess the Imco's would be better than the HP bottoms. Another thing you can try is making a piece of flat to bolt onto your cavitation plate...make it like 1/2" wider on both sides and like 2" longer. I've been told that has worked for some people in the past. Also, are you running the IMCO cavitation plates?

Its really pretty easy to put the pick-ups in....after you get over the thought of drilling holes in your boat..... oh yeah, and get the motors out of the way....

Harper220

The IMCO cavitation plates were installed with the new lowers. I'm taking the boat in Wed. to do some measuring to size things up. I talked to dealer and more than likely 1" spacers will have to be added with hopes that this will bring the water flow back. I really hope that the spacer will fix both problems. I don't like the sounds of pulling the motors... I'd put the old lowers back on before it got that far.

gsmith9898

I hope you get it fixed fast. Summer is almost here.

Harper220

Took boat in and had the x dimension measured. It was 2" above bottom, which is too much without boxes. Dealer talked to IMCO and decided to put 1 1/2" spacers back in. Boxes will have to wait till another time. At least I can go back up when that time comes...

Harper220

Had the 1 1/2" spacers installed and ran boat. The hole shot was still a little touchy, but the engines stayed cool as I got my water flow back. The big news is that I picked up 4 mph on top. 91 was best to date with the Hydro p5x's and I ran 95 last night. It was smooth glass water, so I probably could of got a few more mph with a little chop and a little more trim. Needless to say I had a big smile on my face...