I'm not interested in having the drives set so high it becomes a newly developed skill to get it on plane. My AT, had the drives really high for the hull, they were 4" below. With 4 blades it was insanely tough to get on plane in rough water. I do not want to set the boat up to respond like that, even if it means giving up a few MPH. However with the AT, a few guys added a 1/2" spacer and not only got on plane better, but also gained speed. With that boat, I switched to 5 blades and it solved the problem.

I measured the notch this past weekend, it's 12" deep. Hopefully Michigan lifts the no motorboat rule on May 1st, then I can put this in the water and do some testing.

check with Quinlan on here his is a 38 but has full scx

On my 2008 38 i got rid of the bravos and did full SCX drives
with the SCX drives it got on plane so much better it was amazing
i then went to labbed props and ended up having the same speed as when i had the bravo drives,

I put the 1-1/2 or 2" spacer in my full SCX. Never had an issue getting on plane. Even when we took the spacer out - surprisingly it wasn't much more difficult getting up than w XRs.
I thought it scrubbed more speed originally but I wasn't trimming out the drives far enough as this past fall I pulled my best speed to date.
Still trying to figure the best prop. The last one was 29 Herring 5 blade Pushing 6K rpm w 725+hp. Would really like to try some 31- 5 blades. Mine are Bravo style props

Also curious who has some real world time w the SCX-4s on a 38T/S

Best part - NO Drive Failures

Do you ever run 4 blades with your setup? Can you comment on the differences? I am on the other side of the spectrum, and considering going to 5 blades for usability.

I know its a different boat but I have the SCX uppers with SC lowers and running 700+hp. I have had great luck with them over the past 8 years. Rebuilt them once due to cone clutch sticking and something else minor on the other (forgot) - neither was catastrophic. Make sure you get the right height, one reason I didn't do the SCX4 was the raised height and would have needed the spacers, second was the cost of #6 props and the fact I would maybe only gain a couple mph. With the 5 blade Herrings I run now, I jump on plane and still see 110. I played with other props and got it up to 115+ but had lousy midrange and took forever to get on plane.

It sounds like the SCX is the way to go on a 38 TS. The one guy that wrote about going from XR to SCX on his 39, reported the same results. 1-2 mph loss in speed, and that was with a full SCX drive. Hopefully someone has some results with the SCX-4.

There are only (2) 38 T/S that I know of running SCX4’s and no 39’s that I know of. Personally, I wouldn’t be the ginnea pig and try it. Go with the SCX Upper and you can always change out the lowers.

Fire Escape- the 39 that Lipship set up is running SCX-4's. That is the only one that I can find, and the past owner doesn't appear to be on OSO anymore. I've messaged him, and never heard back. I am leaning toward the SCX upper with my Sportmaster lower. That would be a pretty easy and budget friendly option. It is also what Fred at Imco recommended.

So going this route where does that put the prop shaft +1 ?.....meaning 1 above the bottom