-2 XR Sportmaster on a Stingray
 

I'm look at a -2 XR Sportmaster to bolt up to a Bravo 1 on my Stingray 230LX. I understand the shortcomings of the IMCO lower on some bigger boats with the pointed nose plowing through the water when trimmed up, but have any of the faster Stingrays or similar hulled boats out there tried an XR Sportmaster with any success? That drive has a little more of a knife edge cutting through the water even while trimmed up.

I am just a little disgusted with my prop shaft being a little over 7" below the bottom of the boat and would like to get it closer to the surface. I just don’t see 80 on the horizon with the prop that deep. Does the notched transom have much of an effect on shorty drives?

My 91 20ft Searay picked up about 6 MPH (75) going from a standard Alpha to an Alpha SS and a re-prop, not to mention a ton better in the handling dept. The prop was a little over 8 inches under the boat on that one.

Eric Colby put a -2 Sportmaster on his 22 Scarab (496Mag HO, ITS) and if I rember correctly, it picked up 4-5 mph over the standard length XR.

That's good news. I think my boat is a little lighter than his, but I wonder how deep his prop was to begin with?

We did a 230SX with a ilmore 650hp an XR drive with a -2 imco. It was solid under 85MPH but after that was a handfull. Our cutomer pulled the ilmore put it in a new 28 daytona and runs 92mph or so. If you are looking for 80MPH that is obtainable with about 500 propshaft hp. The newer I think 2003 and newer 230LX's can not accominatate a big block, unless you more the rear seat forward.
Do you have a small block with the alpha or bravo setup? I sold a few of the newer 230LX's with a 350mag and Bravo for the guys who wanted to add a supercharger.

I have a 2001 230LX with a 450 Hp (prop, corrected) 383 chevy with a lot of aluminum. At my altitude and normal temp it is more like 410-420 at the prop.

I am not going to get 80 with this motor, but the BB I build in a couple years should be at ot above that. Mine can accept a BB. Plenty of room ahead of the current pullies.

Well I took a look at the drive angle I have it at WOT and it is pretty much neutral. I am assuming that is a good thing since that means the nose tip will not be plowing through the water.

I am going to bite the bullet and pick up the -2 sportmaster and see what I get. Hopefully it will have the same effect the Alpha SS had on my Searay.

I have been thinking about a shortie or a raised ext box for a long time. I thought the Imco was the only option. Will the -2 XR sprotsmasters bolt up to a standard Bravo upper? Is the sportsmaster more or less than the Imco?

The -2 lower is here and will be mounted next weekend for some testing. I will keep everyone posted on how the results shape up.

I started the post on "What is your outdrive depth". Good luck with the XR sportsmaster -2 lower. Did you buy it new or used. Was it about the same price as the Imco?

I bought it used and got what I think is a good deal on it. I paid less than $2500 for it and just had some testing on it. I would like to know how much they are new.

Well, with the prop now at 5.25" below the boat due the to -2 shorty, I have so gone from 68.7 to 70.5gps on a quick pass with the 21p Rev 4. It was getting dark and was starting to rain. RPMs increased from 55-5600 to a little over 6000, so the slip went from about 7% to 12%. At this point I think I need to start moving weight around in the boat since it still want to chine want at 70. I think that is my big hold back at this point.

Try a 24 pitch Bravo. You are probably to high for a Mirage 3 blade. Sounds like it helped, even with the slip numbers going up you still gained 2MPH.

I would like to get my hands on a 22p Bravo1, but I don't think that will happen this year. If I can pull 5900 RPM with a 22p I would think I could run a 58-5900 with a labbed 24p.

The Mirage plus will get you the best top speed. And will be fine with your drive height. It will walk a little if overtrimmed. But noting you cant handle, it does not get much more than a little aired out. you will find the Stingray will want some overtrim for best speed. At you speed dont worry about the slight walk, just trim in a little if it scares you. I have Stingrays customers running almost 90. Over 85 it gets wild, under that its fine. but use the Marage if you want speed, the bravo 1 is solid but to get any speed you need to really overtrim the bravo 1 on the Stingrays and still its much slower that the Mirage plus. You will find it likes bow lift hence the Mirage plus...

Don
Glen Harbor Marina

Well I'm going to try my 21p Mirage + here in a little bit and then my 23p Tempest+. They both ran the same speed (borrowed 21 Tempest) at the stock height and if they do the same with the -2 I would probably run the Tempest since it keeps the rear planted better and I don't need to over trim. The mirage did need overtrim, but the mirage planed better, most likely due the the slightly larger diameter and the full blade lifting the stern.

One more thing Don, my side to side rocking, do you think that has to do wih to much weight on the driver side i.e battery in back or do you think it has more to do with the 200lbs removed from the transom with all the aluminum? I think trim tabs will help the rocking since I don't have chine to help control that, but would I be better off mounting them flat to the water or parallel to the bottom of the V?

All the above, the trans is lighter the boat is faster and less of the boat is in the water. It is not bad is it? On all the stingrays I ran none were bad under 85MPH. Just slight walk if any at all. The tabs hurt top end. Nice in rough water but for speed a waste of $$ on the Stingrays. Try a Mirage plus, it gets the bow up and the trans down. The bravo will lift more in the transon, not what you want.
Good luck

Don

Well I tried the 21p Mirage+ and the 23p Tempest+. Could not get the boat to plane with the tempest, kept on blowing out as the bow would start to come down. Kind of weird, but I wonder if the lack of a ventilation plate on the XR is hurting me. I thought I heard something about that on another application, but maybe I mis-understood what they were referring to.

You say the Mirage would do a better job getting the bow up and the transom not so much, I would have to say that is the opposite of what it is doing. The boat is very loose and you have to over trim it to get the bow all the way up. I would say that lifts the transom and a little at the bow (the way I've been told by BBlades and Hydromotive). I did get the best speed out of the Mirage of 71.2 MPH at a little over 6000rpm, so I'm thinking a 23p might be a better prop to be trying.

Another thing worth mentioning is the horrible cornering I am getting with all of the props I have tried. Again I think this may have something to do with the anti ventilation plate (step in or correct me if I am wrong here) My drive 5.25 below the boat so I have a hard time believing it is purely to shallow. Any other ideas? Hydro QIV-X?

i was compairing the Mirage to the Bravo 1 in my e-mail. Saying the Mirage will lift the bow and plant the transom much more than the Bravo 1. I guarantee the Mirage will be the fastest and best overall prop for that boat...
What kind of courning issues are you having? Maybe some blowout in sharp turns?
I have done a ton of Stingrays I have been a Stingray dealer for 15 years, we are on a lake. I run them everyday. In my opinion you need to ask Brett @ BBLades dial you in a Mirage 23-25. I dont know the RPM range you are looking for. but that is my advise.
I ran a ITS, a XR, a BMax, you name it. We had Ilmore's, BBC, smallbloks you name it. The same prop worked best on all of them. The Mirage Plus... the Bravo 1 handled a little better but was much slower. I would have to run your boat to be 100% but they all walked a litttle over 70 and blew out in really hard turns. They are a great pocket racer, and very fast.
Good luck
Don
Glen Harbor Marina

Don, thanks for all your input. The blowout was in minor turns with the Rev 4. The Mirage handled it much better, but would also loose grip in light turns at lower speed. Is there any merit to installing the splash guard as it will extend what has now become the cavitation / ventilation plate? P/N:842825T01

Good point. I have been looking at shorties myself and there in no cavitation plate. It seems like the splash guard is very small to be used as a cavitation plate. On my Baja putting a double cup on the tips of the Mirage helped hold the bow up and eliminate porpoising all together.

I just looked on Imco's website. When you purchace their case you get a plate that bolts on to your splash plate to make it more like a cavitation plate.

Yeah, I was looking there today and could not find it individually. I am probably just going to make one myself, unless I can find one for much less than the MSRP from the dealer.

If you have a local meatal shop the could make you one pretty easy. If they are really good you could tig weld it on.

dug this one up
 

just reading through your testing, thinking of a 23 stingray lx myself.
DonRoc, did you guys ever run a land adn sea sternjack, just curious, i know some people like em and some dont.

Acrooks, did you ever get any closer to dialed in or did it snow? just wondering how its going

what IS the best producing setup on these boats? say to get into the 75-80 mph range. as far as power, sb, bb, shortie dirve, std etc. im thinking a 502 stock, or a 550hp 502 motor.
whats to be expect?

Only got the one run with it last year before I put it away for winter. I have the splash plate for it this year so it should do better planing and in turns. Other than that, I really am no expert on this boat right now. I new exactly what I needed to do on my old Searay, but I am still learning with this hull.

my boat does the same thing you are saying .. i like the reg mirage prop :drink it:runs 200 rpm more than the plus . the bow stay down more leaving the back of the boat more in the water ,so it dont go side to side . and i made my skeg a little longer it help my boat from chine walk . that my testing and i am runnig over 80mph