Jpzaluski

New to me 2000 Fountain Lightning. Non staggered 500 efis, stock length Bravos spinning 26 pitch Hydromotive Quad IVs. Too my knowledge this is the prop that came on the boat from Fountain. Anyways... 3 grown men in boat and full fuel load, quite a bit of trim and throttle left, I'm on the rev limiters running 75.3. Where should I go prop wise?

Marginmn

iTrader: (1)

Is it a 35, 38, or 42 lightning?

Jpzaluski

That would help LOL... it's a 38'

Jpzaluski

Can I at least get some Bravo vs. Hydro opinions? I tried a set of 29 pitch Quad IVs today. These had no diffuser ring (that's the right term for the flared portion of the "hub", correct?) as the 26s did. Either way, these props did help a bunch, mid range was very improved, WOT the boat went 81MPH, 5150 RPM. Did overall much better, but felt like it had quite a bit of chine walk 75 and up. Do I get any benefit from going to Bravos? I was thinking of going to a labbed 30P Bravo?

Any opinions?

RaggedEdge

I would try the 30" Labbed Bravos for sure, sounds like they might work well. Hydros will act a little larger, in terms of pitch, than the Bravos. If the 29 hydros were @ 5150 you should pick up a couple hundred with the Bravos, and maybe some speed. You should be up around 5400 with the 500's. On my last 35, a '99 single step w/500's, stock 26 Hydros and Labbed 28 Bravos would both run very close to the same rpm. So you should be headed in the right direction with the Labbed 30's. Bravos will often cruise better, more speed vs rpm, than the Hydros will in the mid range and often will come on plane a little better.

Far as the chine walk, very little will induce this in a Fountain. You could be way over trimmed, or have the tabs up too high. Where were you set on each when the boat started doing this?

Pat Ousborne

If your 38 is a Sport Cruiser, the official spec sheet says it tops out at 75 mph with your power and your hydros.Thats with Reggie at the helm so you won't beat it. If not the sc model you are way underperforming and need more pitch. Keep in mind the gauges are not always accurate esp on a 10 year old set up. I have a gauge 200 -300rpms off at wot. I like my hydros. People tell me to switch to bravo1s but Reggie put hydros on the boats for good reason and I trust his dilligence to prop selection. Call hydromotive engineering to get the real story first hand if you are interested.

Jpzaluski

ragged... again, I am new to this boat, so I may be over trimming... but the boat keeps picking up a tenth at a time. My Scarab I had last year took trim till it almost ran out of gauge and kept running better, so I may be. I'm keeping the tabs all the way up (0) and the drives around mid way (5). Am I trimmed too high?

Pat... the boat is a Lightning. I actually talked to them the other day while ordering parts and they said that 10 years ago they were using Hydros, and loved them, but have since found that Bravo's are the prop of choice on their moderately powered boats.

Its tough to test every prop under the moon before buying, but I'm thinking labbed 30s may put me in a useable range. I'm honestly looking to hopefully stay the same on top, and gain some mid.

Back4More

Call Fountain and give them your HIN and they will fax you the test sheet for your boat.

RaggedEdge

Sounds like your trim is close, like Back4More said call and get the Reggie report to use as a guide, they are real close.

Sounds like the tabs could come down a bit and might help with the chine walk. Here's a suggestion ..... with the boat on the trailer take a straight edge, or a sharp eye, and get the tabs parallel with the bottom, keel line, of the boat, mark that on the indicators. Should be somewhere around 2-3 on most Fountains but depends on cable adjustments etc and can vary boat to boat. Run at that point or just a tick above, all the way up will gain you nothing in speed on a twin step hull. Once they are even with or just above the boat bottom any drag is gone. In my opinion having them there actually helps in lifting the tail of the boat, and creating less wetted surface.

Fountains are some pretty well scienced out hulls. They like to run in a neutral setting at speed, level tabs and modest trim will most often show the best speeds and the best handling. I've played a lot with this one and keep comming back to just letting the hull run where it wants to. I'm a seat of the pants kinda guy, if it feels real good it will likely run it's best that way.