I've got a set of -2 sportmasters, so yes I am raising my prop shafts. It seems that you have some experience with this set up. I really didn't add the ITS for any speed gain but more for the clean set up and hopefully better leverage/handling with the 7" set back. Most people just seem to leave 292's and 311's stock. I can't find anyone that has done much to these boats other than add more hp. In the past I was spinning 25 merc labbed bravos, and for testing I also picked up a set of fully labbed 27 (true) pitch Bravos. I'm expecting to have the slip go up a little but again, i've got nothing to base any of this off of. What is your thoughts on this?

I spent many years racing and being the setup person for Velocity Powerboats in Factory Class and Production Class. So Yes, I do have a good bit of knowledge, but it is all by the grace of God that this is comes natural to me! Did you run the -2 drives on your current setup? If so, with the ITS's your slip numbers will actually come down most likely. If you ran standard Bravos before and are changing to -2s with the ITS, your slip will be close to the same. Maybe a little higher or a little lower, all depends on how your boat likes the more efficient sportmaster cases. Most likely you will have a small speed gain, but handling should be more stable and much safer than standard steering. With the hydraulic steering creating a steadier drive going thru the water, the stand off will give you more leverage to carry the boat and possibly improve speed. What power are you running?

I've never run the Sport Masters on my boat. Up till now, other than the engines, everything is stock. Unfortunately everything is being changed all at one time. I would have loved to changed one thing at a time to measure the differences but I have to travel 5 hours to work on my boat. So that said, when I'm there I crack out as much as I can. As for power I'm running HP 450's. Prior my shafts were 7" below the running surface, now they will be 5" below.

you are going in the right direction, But 5" is still real deep. Did you consider Imco 12" x 3" up boxes. I think that you work real well on that Hull. Your doing a cool set-up now and I will be watching to see what happens. Good Luck

I did think of Imco's for a bit but I didn't want to raise the engines 3". If I do that I'm going to have to get rid of the swim platform because I don't think there is any way I can raise the exhaust that much and make it work, and I really don't want to invest in custom tails for Gil manifolds. I really like the way the ITS is a a self contained set up, we'll see how all this works. If the gains are minimal, then I may move everything up a few inches in the future. I've got a lot of projects this spring, and I have to travel a ways to work on my boat, so time is really limited. I'm really hoping to pick up 4-5 mph with this new set up. At the very least the handling will improve. In the past it was a handful at WOT.

http://www.cpperformance.com/c-396-tailpipe-wedges.aspx

these might help

As I'm set up now I'm good. I am already running wedges, which are great for small adjustments. A 3" raise though will require filling and re-cutting the transom or custom pipes. Which is why I'm going with standard boxes.

Time for an update on this project-

I've got the engines pulled, stock gimbles off and the new ITS boxes installed. Anyone thinking about this, I can't say enough how simple this swap was. The only thing I have to do in regards to the transom assemblies is rig the steering. Other than that, everything is in and hooked up.

Here are a few pictures of the progress.

I have been contemplating this for some time as it just seems the best, cleanest way to install external hydraulic steering. I am in the same situation as I would like to use my existing B1 drive. I am also very deep and was considering a -2 lower so you are doing exactly what I had in mind. Even though our boats are very different, the setup seems similar so I am interested in what your doing and how it turns out. Please keep us posted.

Dan

Dan-

I certainly will, too many of these posts end, and you never find out what the results were. I will be posting the results this project.