I have been going up to Hardy now for several years in the past and have not had any problems with the water police concerning exhaust noise. I was up at Hardy at the end of July this year and it was very busy....no problems. I do not have mufflers....just open dry Stellings tubular headers. :cool-smiley-011:

That's what I was hoping you'd say KAAMA :) - I knew you were the guinea pig in this case :) I still haven't forgotten the day I put my old Baja in at Brower park and let it kill backing up from the dock due to hearing loss after you fired up your Thunder :D ...

I'm not totally dry either... CMI's - dry to the tip, close enough I guess.

Prop wise, if I run a Bravo - a bone stock 30p, or a labbed 32... better yet if some cup is removed.

I agree with spilman - a set of hydromotive 4 blades may be a good start... I'd rather try them out before buying though - as my experience with hydromotives has been shaky. And unless I'm mistaken, the majority of the 32 AT guys like Bravo I's.

My current thinking is that if KAAMA is having a lot of success with P5X's - I may want to go down that path... however, I do not have a shorty right now, or nose cones, or extension boxes... and I also have no idea what Mark's X-dimension is - that's a lot of variables :) Supposedly my 540's put out a little more power than his... but my engines aren't yellow either :D

I'm looking forward to heading to Hardy in a couple weeks - it would be great to have a bunch of 32 AT's up there!

Try the Mercury Labbed 32s. Not much luck in testing the Hydromotives on the 32 V. However if it's free it can't hurt to explore all the avenues. Just don't spend any money.

Your X-dimension is very conservative so if you want to go 5-bladers you need to get shortees.

When using a 4-bladed prop I always liked the Merc Bravo One and mine were labbed. Never tried a Hydro 4-bladed prop---I few years back I heard some guys were throwing blades after being labbed.

I guess Hydromotive redesigned the P5X blades to a more rounded shape vs their past designs and was told by some of the prop people that they liked the design of the Hydro P5X vs the Merc Maximus 5-blade. The blades on Hydro's P5X's are very identical to the blades on a Bravo One prop.

My propshaft centerlines sit about 1.5 inches below the hull and the 5-blades props are the only ones that can pop me up on plane now---throws a nice rooster tail as well...kinda fun. :)

I do have to "feather it" when coming over on plane with the Hydromotives, but @ higher rpm's the Bravo 1's do not perform like the Hydromotives. Mid-range is slightly better, but top end there's no comparison w/ B1's. The Hydromotives give me more stern lift, rpm's & 7 or 8 more mph! BUT, this is a rare set up; 28 w/twins......
Also, I believe if I had more power, say 400-425hp per side, I'd be able to turn B1 props and get the "holeshot" advantage as well as the top end I need....who knows.
Maybe next year I'll experiment!

BTW...my propshafts sit 5-1/2" below the hull; 1-1/2" spacers were added before I owned the boat and I was strongly advised not to remove....maybe next year.

Keep in mind that my boat does NOT have a notched transom!

Good point, mine does...well sorta. It has a keel plane that pretty much makes the notch irrelevent....I'm guessing. The plane extends the keel approx. 18" back & is about 14"wide@ the widest point, tapering back to maybe 10". This is why the spacers are needed; again just an assumption.
Well good luck with the props, & Throttle Up will let you try them for free.

Man that keel plain is just the strangest thing I've ever seen. Have you ever talked to Pat about that? I hope he sees those pics. There must be a huge amount of pressure on that.:confused:

Yes, I'm sure there is a good bit of weight on it, but it has been there for 250 hours of operation. Before the keel plane, the boat would porpoise uncontrollably and had a top speed of 64. Now the keel is just a few inches short of a true 30' & rides like a DREAM @ 70; just needs the spacers due to the x-dimension.
Pat has seen the pics and did question me about it....but he never gave me any feedback about the "original set-up" of this boat; best he could recall it was fine. The props did turn in when new, that has been switched to outward. Being that this boat is stern heavy, the outward rot. & Hydromotive props seem best.
Any feedback is wanted.