Fresh water, salt water, tap water, or bath water, you will be very hard pressed to find one in better shape or better taken care of than mine.

Need a swim platform, at the price I'm selling mine someone could easily install an Extreme Marine tubular platform and save 150 lbs. of dead weight right over the props.

I got my 311 running low 70's by three basic things.

One: I dropped well over 400 lbs of dead weight right over the props so the stern of the boat sits about two, maybe close to three inches higher out of the water, ergo less drag. Have two 200 lb guys stand together on the back of your silent thunder box and watch how far it goes down. Well that's how far mine came up. These 311's are REAL azz heavy which creates drag, which slows the boats down.

Second: Hydromotive Quad IV props, a stern lifting prop which got the azz end up even higher.

Third: EMI Thunder exhaust system. A true tuned exhaust system that weights 83 lbs. less than the stock Merc pos units. Then added the Stainless Marine Flappers. No friggin' way that did not add a performance factor to the motors. Maybe not a tremendous amount, but they certainly helped.



I just thought how could I get a little more speed without having to go to the expense of major horsepower. When I bought my boat with the existing 23" Mirage props it would run 62 mph. I have now increased that with no compromise on realibility by 11 mph.

I just went at it from a slightly different perspective. But you can't argue with the results.

Formula Outlaw,
Three questions: One, what pitch Hydros are you running?
Two, have you tried Bravo 4-blades?
Three, any luck on the sale of your boat?

Don't be so sure! My 292 is still for sale Oh, you must have meant 311's. I'm sorry...

formula1 wrote:
"Formula Outlaw,
Three questions: One, what pitch Hydros are you running?
Two, have you tried Bravo 4-blades?
Three, any luck on the sale of your boat?"


i was actually thinking bravo 4 blades 24 or 26 pitch myself

73 on gps with stock power?

24's that have been tweaked a hair.

Bravo 4 blades are not as stern lifting a prop as the Quad IV's therefore will not reduce drag as much. It's like trimming your drives out at speed. Trim out, lose drag, increase speed. It doesn't matter HOW you lost the drag, as long as you lose it. The higher the stern of these 311's are out of the water, the faster they're gonna go. In stock form those props are WAY down there.

Not really. Lot of people kicking tires but nothing serious. I'm scared I'm going to lose out on the 353 I want but I don't dare commit until I sell my boat. One guy offered me 24K and I just laughed at him and asked him not to waste each other's time.....

If you call EMI Thunder aluminum manifolds and risers, tweaked Quad IV props, Stainless Marine tips and no silent thunder box stock, then yes.

Remember, my propshafts are probably close to three inches higher in the water now LESS DRAG equals MORE SPEED.

I'd like to take credit for this whole approach, but in truth, it was the guys at Hydromotive that suggested it. They thought by doing this I was going to counter the 311's biggest enemy, stern drag. So I followed their suggestions and got what I feel are darned good results.

Don't let Offthefront read this, but some people have been turned off by no silent thunder box. My suggestion would/is if you need a platform put on an Extreme Marine unit. In my opinion it would really good and save a LOT of weight. Weight is our enemy....

Formula Outlaw,
It would be neat, since we are not that far apart (and assuming our boats don't sell anytime soon ) to meet up somewhere and swap out props to see how the different brands really affect performance!

I almost went with Hydro's, but it seemed like the Bravo's offered more of an all-around enhancement opposed to just more speed.

The first time I went out with the Quad IV's my boat literally just jumped up on plane in comparison to the old Miarage props. Even my ex-wife looked over at me and said "wow"..

I gained about 6 mph at cruising rpms, and 3 on the top end. If I went far back enough in the archives I've got a thread about the entire swapover. But I think those are the numbers. The guys at Hydromotive spent like forty five minutes on the phone with me telling me exactly what I would get from their props and they were right on the money.

I think that some boats that are not as heavy in the stern as our boats might benefit equally, maybe better with the Bravo One's, but on our boats, at least from what I was told by prop people that the Quad IV's were the way to go. I know I couldn't be happier with mine.

Did you have Mirage originally before you changed to your Bravo's and what differences did you see????? Russ

From what I know,spinning the 3 blade props in will give the 311 about the same effect as a 4 blade,or very close to.