check the X first and if its higher than stock get the dealer to let you try 5 blades 1st, if the X is stock then go for labbing the props through one the shops on hear. you want your rpms to be 5000 to 5200 your loading down the motors running at 4500 not good. art

Want to be able to get up on plane without punching it at 3000 and have midrange accelleration and the ability to get those props up past the rev-limiter. Add our Raylar BCK103 kits and you'll get this boat to the very respectable high 80's-90's where it probably belongs. We just had two customers with similar 30 foot boats with the same out of the hole up to plane problems. After the kits they are smiling with a big grin for big results. Just thought I would chime in here in defense of the 496HO's over the HP525's

Ray @ Raylar

stock ho puts out 440ho , put Raylars 103 and get another 100hp, then put cmi's on it and be at 575-580hp for less money than a 525.

Working with a prop shop I wanted to try 5 blades, I had great success with the High-Five back in 1991 on a Baja 250ES but Mercury said they don’t want 5 blades on this Baja and did not say why. I see that new 30 with the 600’s are trying 5 blades; does anyone know how they worked? As for Raylar & CMI’s I would think the extra HP would also require new Drives, like XR’s. Not that that’s a deal breaker I have a 2-year warranty I want to keep in force. But I agree this boat needs around 600HP to reach it’s full potential.

This boat has X drives and the port Drive blew in Tahoe last week. So in just 45 hrs since new the Port engine has gotten a new ECU, replaced a cracked brass oil fitting that was squirting oil everywhere and now a blown Drive. Starboard seems very reliable but the power is weak. I think my Port is a Wednesday build or something; I have never had a single mechanical problem with Mercury stuff until now.

In Tahoe I ran 22p 4 blade Bravo 1’s, top speed 64MPH GPS with Port at 5000rpm (finally) and Starboard around 4850rpm WOT. I was also able to get on plane without hammering it to 3000 so these props made a huge difference getting out of the hole. The boat came with 28p 4 blade and it just can’t spin them so I’m going to try 26p and I agree with AIR TIME 5 blades! I still need to check that X dim, in any case I still want to try 5 blades but not sure what pitch or brand to try, any suggestions?

I would try the P5X in a 24P call throttle up, they are in st. petersburg FL. ask for julie. But if you dont get the five blades which I personally dont think you need, just have your 28P labbed and thats the perfect prop for you. I think you will spin them at 4900 to 4950 and get a solid 75 on the gps.
John

I've been reading your post and just went through a similar problem with my 2004 30 OL with mags. The dealer I brought it to tested it with 26P and found it hitting rev limiter. I have 28P now and am running 4750 RPM's and still have to go to 3000 RPM to get on plane. The dealership explained to me that this was the way the boat runs for this model and there was no change. They told me to hit 3000 and then slowly move up the throttles and leave the drives at 2-3 and the tabs all the way up for optimum speed. I now get 77-78 MPH on speedo with mags. The props aren't labbed yet but was told about 1 MPH increase labbed.

Red

I saw the hand held GPS on a 30 OL with 496 HO's at the Lake travis Poker Run this year and it said 81 MPH.

It was smoking. They had a borrowed set of props from Hawkeye Marine that were pretty trick.

As for 525's, check out the following pictures. This was the first one built with 525's.

There was recently one delivered to Tennessee with 600's and I here it is a hand full.

wow, thanks doc. now i want one with 5252s

Notice two people, 3/4 tank of fuel and FLAT water.

That thing carries the bow like nothing I have seen before.

The flat water would have slowed my 36 by 4 MPH!

I have a 30OL SST with HO's, stock 28's, 4 batteries, and a 3.5kw generator (weighs 170 lbs), a/c, shorepower, refrig, microwave, etc. In late April, with 4 people and 1/2 tank of gas, I was able to reach just over 76 (almost 77) on the gps speedo at around 4900-4950 rpms. This was on very flat, glassy water. As the hot Texas temps have been going up, my speed has slowly been diminishing. Last weekend I was running a consistent 72 (ranging from a full tank to almost empty as the weekend went by) but never saw more than 73 and I believe I was only hitting around 4600 rpms. I think the heat and humidity plays a big factor on speed numbers this time of year!

Can't wait to play with the props a little bit. I'll never see the 81mph that Dock mentioned above because Darrell's boat has a higher X dimension and a lot less weight on board, but high 70's would be nice!