Formula 370 SS prop question
 

at the suggestion of "Magicfloat" I'm posting this here as well (could not move it)

Can anyone comment on what pitch props are correct for this boat? It's powered with 496 HO engines. The boat is taking 20 to 25 seconds to come up on plane and has a top speed of about 54 mph.

The dealer had 26p's on it and it worked fine when I test drove it. but when i bought it, the dealer put on 28's because it reved too high.

any comments would be appreciated.

thanks

The deal is since day one the 370 used 26 props. Every one we have sold uses 26's. Formula has recently started a prop evaulation for all new boats,if the rpm's exceeds Merc's rating, then theorectically the dealer goes up on pitch. But in the real world a little bit above the rpm range is not that big of a deal. I am guessing your dealer is wanting the rpm to be at a level that Merc suggests,but that is not real world.A little above the recommended rpm with a light load is no big deal as 370's are usually run with heavy loads Not his fault at all,just tell him you want your 26's back. A 370 needs 26's,end of story.Every 370 we have ever sold with 496HO's has 26's.

Thanks for the help.

The Marina owner is taking the boat for a drive today and calling me afterward. I'm hoping they realize it's not planing correctly.

I owned a 34PC until this boat and the PC planed faster than this one does now. I'm sure it'll be taken care of, I just wanted to bounce this off someone for a sanity check.

Magicfloat,

How fast should this boat plane out? Boat Test says 5.7 seconds. Is that correct?

That's pretty close,Powerboat Mag says 6 sec.

I have a 370SS and that seems about right.

Also, 55 is my top speed.

i haven't heard back yet, but do you think formula would void my warrantee if i push to get the 26's back on?

No

I was just called and long story short, we're going to switch out the props and test it again under real load. it was tested without much gas, no water and one person on board. we'll re-test under normal operating conditions.

i really do love my marina.

I took out my 370 again and I have 496HOs. This was only my second time in the boat.


I am running 28s, turning 4900 RPMs at WOT. I was also FULL on fuel.

Time to plane was 12-13 seconds every time I tried it. I never tried dumping the tabs down, just normal starts. It made no difference if I hammered the throttles or not, the boat accelerated the same each time.

Your top speed is right on with mine.This was also freshwater at a lake near Phoenix. If that makes any difference?

Using the tabs on my 400SS does make big difference. Typically I drop the tabs every time. I cannot tell you the plane time as I have not counted.

I have 27" B3's They are perfect for the top end but a little slow for the launch. My set up is with 525's

to finish the story
 

i just got back from a week on the boat. the dealer was nice enough to put the props on their personal 370 onto my boat. these 26 props do make a lot of difference.

when i was getting 20+ seconds to plane, i had 8 adults on the boat plus a full tank of gas and probably 1/2 water filled. this may be extreme, but it's how i usually load the boat. with the 26's, the boat's planing (with that load) in under 10 seconds. i took it out alone, and was 6-7 seconds to plane.

for me, the 26's are the way to set up the boat.

thanks for all the replies.

and a hello to all my friends on "d" dock.