Best option for more speed
 

I have an 27' Fountain Fever , stock 502mag efi with a bravo 1drive with 240 hrs . Fastest speed under ideal conditions is 69mph but it can run 65 mph consistantly . Overall i'm happy with the boat as is , that is until my buddy passes me in his aluminum river boat with a jet drive . It just don't look right having an ugly ol' campertop jetboat whooping a performance boat like a Fountain .
Am I best to go with a new engine & drive combo or can the 502 and bravo 1 be upgraded and still be reliable ?
I get so many differing opinions from friends that I'm not sure what to do . Ultimately I would like to find the best setup for the 27' Fever , to get it up in the mid to high 70's or better .

try the fountain forum..they can hook you up...with at least 10 different opinions:lolhit: but really...someone there can get you going in the right direction.

Will add about 150hp and 10 mph. This is not mine.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifi...o33073-en.html

You will NEED external hydraulic steering if you do not have it.

i agree with griff,as a rule of thumb,it takes 15 hp to go 1 mph faster.the best,most reliable,and cheepest way to get the additional 150hp,is supercharging.the sidemount whipple will get you the xtra hp you are after.

I think this is crummy advice but everytime I ask the question what's the best way to get more speed I'm told "get a faster boat".

Super Charger gets my vote...

Figure out your budget and work backwards from there.

Supercharger bolts on without a complete engine redo is a joke. Doing so will result in a complete engine redo in about 20 hours at best. stock engines are setup for performance on pump gas ad have too high a compression and will detonate with anything but a pund of boost or so, and the heads arent setup with the heat blower makes from the factory. - you can follow the advice of guys that have done it , or give it a shot yourself and see what happens.

It takes a series of comprehensive upgrades to get a boat to start picking up speed reliably.

first thing is exhaust- this is the basis all of the upgrades have to stand on - your stock exhaust just blows. You'll pick up a bit everywhere with an exhaust kit and ECU program engine this upgrade will allow you to reap the benefit of further mods.

Try a top end kit - real heads, new intake, cam and ECU, you can usually pull at least a 100 to as much as 150 ponies out of a stock mercruiser with a god top end kit and exhaust.

Raylar makes a good kit- and those guys are a hoot as well.

After than you'll likely need steering upgrades.


UD

502 Mag is 415 hp right? Thats pretty good speed you are getting out of it. If you want to go faster, try a procharger. PM arcticfriends, as he had a pretty solid running 502 back in the day.

I had a Procharged 7.4 MPI! Weak engine internals. Ran the snot out of it for 4 years 200hrs. A smaller size boat. Some say I got lucky. Something will eventually break. I lost a head gasket but the engine did hold together. Still was worth to me. It was a lot cheaper than the 600hp naturally aspirated motor I'm running now. My .02 cents.

Talk to Tyler Crockett. He has developed a new blower system that will fit under you hatch and uses your efi.