I had a chance to put a couple hours on the new (to me) boat this weekend.
With close to full fuel, 2 adults, 2000' above sea level, 73 degrees, it ran a consistant 65 mph @4600 RPM. Remember it's a Non-HO 496 running a Bravo One 26P prop.
Anything to gain by going to a Turbo, Mirage, etc. prop?
Also, I found the boat to be VERY sensitive to trim. My last boat (going back a while) was a 24' Checkmate Enforcer, with the original 454 Mag and Alpha Drive. That boat was a "set it and forget it" setup. Full throttle 1/4 up on the trim, and forget about it.....Never once even had to use the trim tabs.
The 22 Classic seems to be a whole different story. I found the best way to operate was to leave the trim all the way down until about 40 MPH, the trim to just under half (on the gauge) and trim tabs down to stabilize things. Too much up trim and it chine walks, not enough down tabs and it seemed to get a bit squirrely.
Any operational recommendations from you experienced 22 Classic operators?

Mark

Mark, the 22 Classic is a driver's boat. It takes time to learn. Mine scared me the first time out when it nearly rolled onto it's side twice. You should usually only need to run a bit of port tab to correct listing. Drive should only be tucked down for planing. Then raise the drive to neutral or slightly up. For top speed raise the drive as you feel the boat get loose and speed increase. Now you should be able to fully raise both tabs. To turn, drop the drive to about neutral and drop port tab if needed to correct list. Turn sharp and accelerate through the turn. If ever the boat feels like it is rolling onto it's side, immediately straighten the wheel. These are just some tips as it really takes time to master. Once mastered it is very fun and rewarding to drive a Donzi Classic! Mine has never had a chine walk issue. All will porpoise at lower speeds. If you have a stock drive then a Mirage prop will work better for handling and top speed. I run a 30p Bravo 1 and -2" Imco shorty. Good luck, be careful and have fun.

I'm curious if there's anyone out there that exchanges props?....By that I mean allows you to try (for a fee of course) different props until you find one that does what your looking for.
If not, how do you know where to begin as far as what brand/pitch to buy? It doesn't make much sense to order a $400-500 prop just to find out it performs worse than what you have, and then be stuck having to sell it on Ebay.
Back in the 80's I know such places existed, but in doing an online search, I havn't found anyone that does that with performance oriented props.


Mark

From my experiences, I can tell you that a Bravo 1 prop on a stock Bravo drive that is deep in the water is not the best combo on a 22 Classic or other old school deep V with a deep drive. The Bravo 1 prop will provide too much stern lift.
A Merc Mirage, Mirage plus, or a Turbo 1 is a better prop with this setup but the boat may still be a handful. Of the 3 blade props I tried, I liked the Turbo 1.
I run a Merc Rev 4 4 blade and the boat runs great at all speeds. No tabs unless I have an unbalanced load or I'm running in the rough.
I've used BBlades for test props; I think Brett charges $25 plus shipping.

I agree with Pat on BBlades. They do the test program. Give Brett a call and he will ask you a few questions about the boat, wot speed and rpm. He will then give you some advice on which props to try.

Thanks for the info!

Mark

Props I've tested on my 22 in the order of my liking -
Merc Rev 4 25P- Best handling and best mid range speed, only 1mph slower than a 3 blade. Running this for 2+ years now.
Turbo 1 25P- Best 3 blade by a smidge over the Mirage that came on my boat from the factory. Big plus is the cost vs. Merc. This is my backup prop.
Merc Mirage (non-plus) 25P - Had this prop balanced/tuned at BBlades. Same top end speed as Turbo not as much midrange punch. Pitch may be a little high.
Merc B1 26P - slow and pore handling at WOT, Ok midrange. Worst prop I've tried. I do know these can be altered for more bow lift as I ran a "labbed" 28P on my 24' Superboat.
Hydro P5X 25P - great midrange speed and handling, slower at WOT, too much pitch and too much $$

Great info, thanks!
When you say "great mid range speed", do you mean a higher boat speed at a given engine speed, for example 2500 rpm ?

Mark

Yup. I don't have my results in front of me but I do recall that my Rev4 is 3-4mph faster than my Mirage at 3000-3500rpm. At WOT (4800) the Mirage is about 1mph faster.

This might be useful :)
http://rundquist.com/pb_application.htm