jdock17

I just traded in my 2000 353FT w/ 500HP's for a 2007 353FT w/ 525 EFI's, ITS drives, and 5 bladed props. The top speed of my new boat is great, but I am having serious problems getting out of the hole. There seems to be a major difference between the two. Has anyone else had this problem, and if so what did you do to fix it? I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

THLWL

I have the 525's in a larger boat and have been around a lot of them. They do not like to be over propped. They will bog down big time if over propped by the engine mgmt. system. A good test for the 525 is to determine what kind of mid range throttle acceleration you're getting. Mid range in the 525 should accelerate strong when you mash the trhottles. If they just rev up in a docile mode, then the boat is probably over propped. There are a lot of 38 Formulas near me running the 5 blades. It does take them some time to get up on a plane. Your ITS system also compounds the problem slightly. What is your WOT RPM's?

Griff

Do your drives have the 1/2 inch spacer?????

I know that Formula used to raise the X dim an inch for the Stellings boxes option and would use the same raised X dim for the ITS system and then install a 1/2 inch spacer. Not sure if thats still the way do it though.

JaayTeee

My boat has a high X, and has problems with
blowout coming out of the hole, even with 5 blades.

The cure was to not let the engines exceed 3200 rpm
when coming on plane.

If you do this, it will come on plane every time,
whether it's 1 person and low on fuel, or 6 people
and full of fuel.

I don't know if thats the answer you were
looking for, but you might give that a try.

Wild Card 09

Jaayteee, it sounds like you have the opposite situation to jdock17. The blower provides you with the torque to break the prop free.

I have had the same problem as he does with the 525 and five blades. The first time I ran the
Maximus, I thought my motor had gone silently into guardian mode! I pushed the lever right the way forward and it just barely climbed above idle. Took ages to plane
If you donīt let a 525 build up some revs it doesnīt go anywhere at all. The first five blade I tried was an unlabbed 15 5/8" but even with a labbed 15 1/4" it was no match for the Bravo 4 blade.

Over here, Alfredo has a 2007 353 with 600īs and ITS Sportmasters and his motors would spin a large Maximus to the revlimiter out of the hole.

525īs are different!
jdock17, either you need an air tube running down to the prop to free them up, or you should try four blades.

Five blades donīt like a low x, but when the problem is already before the boat gets out of the hole, I donīt think removing a 1/2" spacer will do the trick, either.

TeamSaris

We had the same problem on a 38 ZR Donzi with 525s proped for top end. The owner thought something was wrong with it.Theres always a trade off- AccelerationV.Top Speed