POOL : Gadgets that worked on your Baja
 

Hi !

It would be interesting for everybody to share experiences considering that we are Baja owners.

What worked for your BAJA!!!????

I know : Prochargers works great ! Let's share simple tricks, low cost gadgets...

Exemple : I am wondering if the stearn-jack works for real on a Baja ? On Land & sea web site, there is a 252 wich gained 5 MPH and a 272 gained 6 MPH ... Reality? Big MPH gains for less then 3 000 $$$ !!!!!!!

Nose cones on Bajas? Turbo props VS Mirage Props...?

Flame arrestors??? Spacers ??? Bottom coatings???

Tell us all of your experiences, what worked for and what did'nt...

That could be very interesting and $$$$$ savings!!!!!

It's a go!

Please : Specify Boat model, year, engine, gains etc....

Is that gadgets from a Swimming "POOL" or a "Pool Table"?

Sounds "COOL">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bottom line, I have talked to a lot of folks about performance over the last five years and most of these items you have listed don't do much.

There is one guy on the Baja forum, "MillerLite" that has a 272 with the Stearn Jack and Also a Pro Charger. He has got good results, but I think the pro charger is 80% of it.

So far I have not heard of anyone getting a good increase on the Baja hull just from the stean jack.

Nose cones, flame arrestors, etc, look nice, if you like them they are cool, but will not do anything much for performance.

The bottom coatings seem to be more snake oil than anything from what I have heard.

Bottom line, the only real way to boost performance is a blower!

If you set them up right and make the investment in a drive that will handle the horsepower you will see some real results.

I thought I wanted to do this with the 2000 model 272 I had with a 502 Mag. By the time I added the prices up for the blower and required engine mods, exhaust, outdrive and hydraulic steering it came to over $20,000. The problem was I still had a 27 foot boat that was only capable of running a certain speed in rough water conditions.

Personally I felt the money was better spent on more boat. The 36 I have now only runs about about 7-8 mile per hour faster than the 272, but I don't have to slow down for anything! So I am actually running on average must faster than before.

Just my opinion. Hope this helps in some way. Good luck

I'd like to know if anyone has ever had their hull blueprinted, and if it made a difference in speed. The place i'm considering sending mine to is claiming they will give me a 2mph increase on a Baja 232. Sound reasonable anyone????:confused:

I have heard that it does work. I have not done it myself. What is the cost to have it done? Glass and gel work is so expensive that it does not seem it would be worth it for 2 mph?

Let me know what you were quoted, I would like to learn more about it.

Thanks
Mark

They quoted me $1500 for a full blueprint. Sounds like cheap mph if that's the case. They are a very reputable Baja dealer, in fact I think the largest in the US. I just really would like to hear it from somebody that's had it done, not somebody trying to get my $$:p

The stern jack people said I would gain 11 mph from one!!! It is a 1990 190DSR with a 4.3l V6. When I get some money together, I hope to really add some speed, Vortec Heads, intake, 4v carb, thru-hull, 9.5:1 pistons.....etc

Buddy of mine had an old 280 done.
it helped the chine walking and he got maybe 1 mile an hour.
He did it to get rid of the chine walking.
He also had twin mags.
I would be skeptical.

in the new Extreme boats magazine they sent a 32 sunsation to Derebery performance marine for a hull blueprint, they picked up 4 miles per hour!! from 78 to 82, it works you just hsve to find someone that knows what he is doing
Mark

I have a raised x-dimension on my 1987 24 Sport. Brought it up 2.5" Not sure if it gained me any speed because I added about 100 hp at the same time. It ran 70.4 mph ONCE before the motor ate a piston (detonation). Got 30 hours out of that motor. I will say that I do NOT chine walk, no matter what trim setting the drive is at. I also cannot run a 3 blade prop anymore though. I do not miss that though. The handling advantages of a 4 blade on a single engine boat vs. a 3 blade are amazing in my humble opinion. I do not have to trim my drive much as compared to before I raised the x. A couple of bumps on the switch and I get WOT. It did NOT hurt my time to plane either.

Had a Sport 250 w/ a 330 and 21 mirage at 4700. Put a B&M blower on it square port heads cam went to a 25 mirage at 5100. The guy I sold the boat to put Gil's on it and rpm went to 5700 with the same prop on a cast motor. And it lived!!. He ended up turning a 27 at 5200. Blower is the only way.
Had a 280 did them N/A. Picked up about 10mph. Put nosecones on it but that was the first year for the Bravo. The nosecones didn't gain speed but did help with bite at upper rpm's and holeshot.
Mike

Good topic.

Hey Doc, I have to disagree with ya on the flame arrestor. I built a carbed 509ci for my 24 Outlaw. One day I decided to see if the K&N air filter really helped. I ran 4 passes, with, without, with and without the K&N filter. The filter gave me anothter 75-100 rpm and about .5-1mph. I was pretty surprised. That was the K&N vs. open Carb.

23rev4 REALLY works well with my package. Very little chine and the attitude of the boat is very good, all things considering.

Boat runs about 74gps on a cool day with no fuel, 72ish almost anyday. I'd like to try a shorty and see what happens. Anyone have any thoughts on this. Foul.....hard to say what helped in your case, what do you think about a shorty on mine?

I am going to try some motor parts int he next few weeks. I'll let ya know what happens.

Seeya, have fun and be safe.:)

BTW....Tanks sister works well on my boat....you know, cleaning the head.......things like that....:D :D

This is what I wanted someone to post. I have 29 Outlaw with a single 502mag and catch some flack from people saying that my 29 is underpowered (NO BODY ON THE INTERNET, JUST PEOPLE AT WORK GIVE ME A HARD TIME). Compared to my old 252 Islander with the 454, I no longer have to slow down for anything either, the extra boat is a huge difference than the power for me. I suspect I will be getting about the same speeds as the 252 but the ride in the 29 is no comparison. I find myself aiming for the waves instead of dodging them or slowing down for them. My average speed has increased ten fold, especially in rough water. Besides if I could count the times that I have had my throttle burried on my previous boats, it would total up to about 3 minutes. I am pretty conservative when it comes to running a boat WOT, I just don't think it is that great for a motor to run it WOT all of the time. I think that was an excellent point Mark!

:) :)

Big E:

Could you share some performance numbers with us? speeds, exactly what motor, etc.
I would like to move up to a 29 at some point, but I'm not sure that I really need two motors since I rarely do much open water boating.

I have a 502mag, 415 Horse power, I have never burried the throttle, but I am guessing it will run probably about 55-57 mph. Everything on the engine is stock, I have done nothing to upgrade the motor, the prop is also stock.

Allan,

That is what I like to hear!

Really that is not bad at all for as little as the flame arrestor costs.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that to me one to two MPH is not a big difference. Seems you have to do some really major modifications to really see big numbers and one modification leads to another, etc, etc.

Thanks
Dock

Here is blurry pic of my stern jack that gave me approximately 4 mph on a 272 Boss. Absolutely no porpoise or chine walking and she handled the same at 40 as she did at 80mph.

and a pic of the Stage III Procharger with 6 lbs of boost. The Procharger alone gave me about 14 mph.

Hey MillerLite,

Thanks for the pictures.

Just wondering what prop you are pushing and about how many hours you have on the 502 now with the pro charger?

Thanks
Mark

Actually Dock, I just sold the boat but it had a 30" Bravo I and about 100 hours before the Procharger and 120 since installation. It has performed flawlessly without one single hiccup but I was easy on her. I never held it WOT for more than say 30-40 seconds.

-Mark

As it was said over and over in this thread, A BLOWER WILL GIVE YOU A LOT MORE MPH!! ;)

Hey Doc, you are correct. To me it is cheap hp, K&N filter is about $85 dollars. Be sure to get the Coast Guard approved version.

After all the $$ spent chasing HP, you can't beat the extra revs for that little of money.

Hyper.......pipe down.;) :D

:D :D

I don't know if anyone has received the new Extreme Boat magazine yet. Just got mine a couple of days ago and there are some really good real world projects in there.

One guy took his 32 Sunsation to over 100 MPH at a pretty great expense, and another guy took his triple engine 40 Outlaw to over 100 MPH for only $50,000 total in engine work. That was a 25 MPH improvement! Awesome.

There is also an EXTREME 50 foot Nor-Tech cat running over 160 MPH burning 600 gallons per hour. Now I call that extreme.

The point here is the guy with the Sunsation gained 4 MPH by having the hull blueprinted. That is impressive, and has changed my thoughts about having it done.

If you haven't seen this magazine, get one, it is the best one out there for boating in my opinion.

Doc.....just remember the famous..."10mph rule"....

:D :D

Biggest Bang for the Buck...
 

First off, we have spent hundreds of hours of working on the boat to pull all of the mph we can out of it. It would be impossible to list many of the changes and tuning finds that we have made over the years, but in terms of "purchasable speed"...

We went with Imco 2" Extreme lowers and picked up a lot of mph and increased stability as well. It is no secret that Baja's have a low X dimension and the Imco drives are probably the most economical way to increase the X (it is also non-permanent).

The bullets on the lowers also made a big difference in temperature and water flow.

We are in the process of trying some things with exhaust based on what we learned redoing the pipes for the center motor.

Finally - props. You just can not argue with true Merc lab finished props, especially when you have the ability to tune them to your exact boat. When the boat was delivered it had 26's - we now keep two sets (a summer set and a winter set) - one are 30's plus a bit, the other are 32's less a bit. Both keep us right at the RPM's we want based upon the seasonal temperature (air and water).

Just my two bits.

By the way - 40 Outlaw, triple HP500EFi's

1995 Baja 24 Outlaw 454 Magnum Carbed

Stock 60 mph GPS with 4 Blade

Whipplecharger added at 6 PSI boost and labbed prop took speed to 75 mph.

This year a roller cam is going in along with 8 lbs boost.
Hoping to hit 80 mph with cam and higher rev limit.

I'll post my results sometime in June when it is all dialed in.

Here is a test I wana go over as soon I get my boat on the water :

Fact : For each 10 degres F. drop, expect a 1% engine power increase.

All of our Mercs pumps the air in a vented enclosure. Vented??? Mmmmm

First, I will place a temperature sensor on the flame arrestor.

I am pretty shure that I will see something like 30-40 degres difference with the outside temperature…

30-40 = 3-4% less power is’nt?

If so, I will go for a duct system that would get the air in the side panels.

30-40 = 3-4 % ! So considering I got a 7.4 MPI, yes only a 7.4 MPI witch is rated 310 HP.

310 x 1.04 = 322.4

12.4 HP for let’s say… ?? less then 50$ in PVC tubes and fittings?

It may sound like a poor increase but it may be sufficient to increase prop pitch, cupping….

Now imagine what it could do for a 425 – 500 hp rated engine?

What do you guys think about that? Gimme your 2 cents… The only question is : Would it be legal regarding Coast guard rules?

Yes, it is legal.... All I ever remember about engine restrictions is that the motor must have a backfire flame arrestor. Be sure to test before and after in the same temp/humidity/altitude, etc. You might want to look at insulating that piping...It will get pretty warm after a while of cruising...

Tommy