son of a gun question
 

it's an 2002 son of a gun with a 496 mag. it came with a bravo 3 and ran well. top speed was 73 gps. we had a drive failure so we swapped it out with a bravo 1 with a 3'' imco shorty. the first prop we tried was a 24 bravo with a diffuser ring and it ran 70 mph on the rev. the next prop we tried was a 25 hydromotive with no diffuser ring. took forever to get it on plane, still only went 70 mph on the rev limiter again. we are going to try a bravo xr today without the sorty. my question is what is the fasted set up. what drive, shorty no shorty, extension box or not. what set ups and speeds are you guys using and seeing? any help would be great. ps. don't tell me to call phil. thanks

I'm running a standard length Bravo, no extention box, and a 27 pitch mirage 3 blade. Runs great, get's out of the hole, and runs the smoothest the more throttle and trim you give it.

Either Phil, or his brother, has an XR shorty with an extention box, and I "believe" a 26 3 blade. Great results I hear.

Bravo three's are supposed to be the "all around" best for take off, midrange, and top speed.

Blackhawks are the fastest top end, but kill your take off speed and midrange.

also the newer style have a pad bottom and it makes it easier to plane, the older round bottom is more stable at higher speeds, the blackhawk also reduces chine walk at high speeds when much of the boat is out of the water.

just out of curiousity, how is the round bottom more stable than the pad?

A pad is basically a small flat bottom. The boat sits on a very narrow spot when aired out. That makes the hull very sensitive to trim and tab input as well as makes it more prop-sensitive. The upside is greater speed. Being on a short boat doesn't lend any stability. I raced a 30 Velocity and you didn't just hit the sticks and enjoy. You had to constantly drive it. but it rewarded you with impressive speeds for the power.

what chris said it makes the bottom want to slide on top of the water, instead of cutting through it pad = \_/ vs \/...there fore at higher speed and much aeration it slips...definately faster to plane though

1st pic is round bottom, second is pad.(this is also phils boat with the its and shorty)

BLEE- what year cig, what power and speeds are you seeing?

cig92, check out these threads.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=194178

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=193228

I always thought a pad would be more stable since it rides on top of the water whereas a round bottom will fall side to side till it hits the lifting strakes...our 22 velocity you really have to drive it to get the last few mph out of it...

It's a 1995 that got a facelift in 2002. It supposedly makes around 700hp, but probably more like 650 or so. I have only had it a few weeks, and have ran 80-82mph in it without having touched a thing. I'd like to do some prop work, and play with some spacers or even a shorty this Winter. I am only concrened with top speed so I'm sure I can pull 85 or so out of her with just a few tweaks here and there.

There are pictures and a video in the thread mentioned above. Here's the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EubJ0gMy8IU

Good luck! They sure are fun! :drink: