my fat slow boat has a similar issue, very hard to get the nose up and a bigger 4 blade only made it worse, I checked for a hook along the keel but didnt check the outer areas, ill do that tonight. What would be the cause of the extra stern lift other than the hook?

Once you get the bottom cleaned and new paint, try adding some ballast to the bilge to regain that lost weight after the repower and see how the boat reacts. Eliminate as much unneeded weight from the front of the boat as possible. I still say talk to Brett. I'm thinking properly pitched 3 X 3's with some cup will be the best props for the boat. But first things first and that is get that bottom cleaned up. If all that flaking is disturbing the water to the prop it can really screw up the performance of the boat and might help explain your high slip numbers.

I'll look into it thanks, and I'm in fresh also.

Your trailer bunks are causing a hook in the hull and basically acting like a lowered trim tab.
The trim tabs do not raise high enough and will be dragging at speed.
The rough bottom is creating a bunch of drag also.

All of these together are probably costing you between 5 and 10mph.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^i also noticed the bunks stop way short of the transom.this is a big no no and over time will cause quite a hook as griff said.this boat has a lot of things wrong that are killing the performance.

Don't see how the bunks are causing the hook, the hook is there from the manufacture. I have never liked the trailer (came with the boat). Its a cheap Load rite and the bunks were adjustable, and can hold a 32 footer or so. The old adjuster would move every time I took a trip.

Fabed the keel with 2 4x6's and taper cut them to about 20 degrees. Then made some adjusters out of some 1 inch bolt/Nut and moved them as far to the outer sides as I could manage. Would rather have kept the outer bunks on the inside so I could move the boat further forward, but it has 2 water intakes on the bottom (AC and Gen).

The issue using all the 4x4 on the sides and 4x6 on the keel doesn't allow much flex like if they were 2x6's. The limitation of flex could be what caused the crack on the port side.

Will look into the tab position and see what can be done

you are mistaken in your belief that a hook cannot be caused by the way a boat sits on the trailer,do some research on the subject,you might be shocked!

I can understand how a hull can be deformed by not sitting correctly on a trailer, but what your seeing in the pic below is pretty much how it comes from the factory. Both side are identical and only for the width of the tabs

Agree. Forgot to mention the bunks are too short.

Still don't think it was the paint which kept me from getting anymore top end, and yes the trailer does not fit right and I need to fix it.

Thinking out loud; With the original power the factory hook was needed to keep the bow down. This boat came originally with a single 330HP 454 B3, 2.0 ratio. The 415HP 502 moved the boat much easier, but still needed slight bit of tab down to get it up easy. Started getting the prop slip and had the bow up using more trim. The factory hook is robbing power as before, but I'm reaching the max speed with the boat.

Now I have more power but cannot get anymore top end because the hook is now the problem. If this is the true problem how should it be fixed. From the pics below you can see the angle, the hook starts about a foot before the stern.





Edit: forgot one thing, I don't think the tabs are all the way up. When cruising I have the port down a tad to keep the boat level, will verify later