Swamplizard13

Been lurking a while - finally posting - Hello All!

yup - I have ASD8 on my beast of a boat...it is a Harley 42 and weighs in the 16-18k lbs range - twin 502 carbs with about 425hp. Motors are 4-plus feet forward of the transom and fuel and water forward of that.

I am still screwing around with prop testing since my repower a year ago. Props are hard to find and very spendy....rediculous. Current props are old 3 blade rolla props with 17-inch diameter and 18 inch pitch and heavy cup - little or no rake. I get 40 mph at 4000 rpm but cant get to my WOT range of 5000 rpm - best I get is 4200.

I could use a pair of cleavered 4-5-6 blade 16x20 - 19tooth but I dont think they exist - budget is really tight - 2 in college.

Ideally - a local shop with a bunch I can test to find the best setup would be awesom....anyone know of one in Fort Lauderdale area?

Cheers

Swamplizard13

or less pitch - not sure yet.

BTW - for those of you have have not used surface drives - it is an all-or-nothing proposition - I think Cuda said it best - 8mph or 80mph - nothing in between. so if your goal is to run in rough seas at speeds that don't beat you to death ... there is no middle ground and these drives may not be what you want.

Rik

You should have no problem with the boat though your speed range if you have the correct propeller and reducton ratio.

Swamplizard13

Hey Rik how are ya? - no negatives meant in the above comment - I just find that my boat will not do 18mph if I want it to due to bad seas ... it's fast or slow. Probably a function of wrong props and too heavy a boat ... since I've tried with drives and tabs down - there is no slow cruise.

cuda

Actually, it will run about 10 mph, and then isn't happy until at least 36. It will stay on a plane at a lower speed, if you want to fool with it. If you try to run faster than ten without getting on a plane, it will just cavitate, which is fine if you are getting up. It's like a slingshot effect. It will rev to about 4500 cavitating, then you'll feel it grab, and come up. Maybe a Bravo will plane faster, I don't know, but at 100 yards, I'll guarantee I'll be ahead of the Bravo boat with similar weight and power.

All and all, I really love the surface drives. You hear people say they don't handle well at low speed, which is way overblown. They handle fine going forward, now backing up is a bit problematic, besides, who buys a boat because of it's superior low speed handling?

I've had my boat over three years now, I changed one boot when I bought it, and other than that, I have done absolutely nothing to them other than change the oil.

I'm going to miss this boat if I sell.

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Rik

For what you want, you need a differnet propeller size and reduction ratio.

Then you will be a happier boater.

Frequency

I think prop selection is critical. I have too much transom lift with five blade props on my Pulsedrive - hoping four blade props cure it. On the plus side, I can get on plane instantly. Low speed handling/reversing is excellent. Like Cuda, I can't just run up to 25 mph. I have to run up to 35 mph and then back down to 25. Try explaining THAT to your wife while tubing your 10 year old niece.