Just purchased a 2006 292 Fastech bought sight unseen however did have a PPI done and it is very nice with only a few minor issues. It sat in my driveway for a month before I got a chance to try it out for the first time yesterday. This gave me time to look over everything and try to familiarize myself with and clean and detail everything as I tend to be a little OCD with my stuff.

I have been lurking on this site for several months as I wanted to try a powerboat as I just sold my 282 Cobalt Bow Rider as it was too wide and heavy to tow long distances here in Utah for the big lakes, 800 miles to Lake Powell and 1200 miles to Lake Havasu round trip. I finally pulled the trigger on this Formula as I like the build quality of Cobalts and have heard Formula is similar. I do sell Porsches for a living so fit and finish, as well as sound engineering are sacred to me. I only have about 50 hours total boating experience so I am still very green and learning each and every time we go out and most of the yelling and screaming at my wife and son and vice-versa have toned down quite a bit. Now on with the stupid story and questions.

I purchased this 292 up in Washington where it was used mostly on fresh water and a few times on salt water. Regardless it was run at sea level and propped for sea level as well. It has 28P Bravo 1 props with a 1.65 drive ratio and am running stock 6.2 Mercs with Corsa Captains Call Exhaust. I had called Formula as I was looking to purchase a hose adapter to connect to the factory installed fresh water flushing systems as could get zero help from any Merc dealers I had called. I purchased the adapter and asked their very helpful technical people what prop size should I be running for my altitude which is about 5000 feet plus or minus depending on which Lakes we go to around here. The got back to me and said the 292s with 6.2s we send out with 24P props to our high altitude dealers. So I thought I will try to budget for these as I need to use WDK (wife don't know) money.

Anyways, got to the Lake yesterday for our 1st time out with the 292 (no name yet, has never been, but will very soon) and could not get it out of the hole or even on plane and would not go over 15 mph on the GPS speedometer. I tried props down, tabs down, tabs up, trims up, every combination. So we just farted around the Lake for an hour with the bow to the sky, lake spray in my face from looking over the side to see what's in front of me. My wife and son looked at me like the biggest FOOL on the planet for buying this, and were screaming at me for selling the Cobalt. I tried explaining to her that we need smaller propellers for this altitude as these boats are typically set up for sea level and the Ocean. She asked how much more that's going to cost and I said a few hundred or so . We then beached the 292 , ate lunch, let our English Bulldog out, went for a swim and everybody was having fun again. Ever seen a 65lb. English Bulldog swim?, they don't!

So we decide after an hour of fun on the beach to take the 292 ( my wife wants to call it SLOW RIDE) out for another 30 minutes farting around the Lake and then head home. I was baffled how it would not plane out or go over 15mph and then a very dim light bulb (must have been a 12V 3W bulb) came on in my head. What if I have my wife and my 190lb. 6'1 son ride up front in the Cabin to put some weight on the bow. They moved up front with the dog, and I decided to hit it again. Trims down, Tabs down, Full Throttle! Bow is way up 15 mph, 20 mph bows is coming down, 25 mph still coming down, 30 mph bow is down, look at the GPS speedo and we are approaching 40 mph and climbing!!, Tabs up 55 mph and trimmed out I got her up to 58mph, Hallelujah!! 58 mph is topped out at 4400 rpm with very mild chop. So we figured out crew up font to start out until we get on plane and then everybody sit where they want to. After this we stayed out for 4 more hours until the sun was getting low and my wife said lets go out again soon and where can you find those high-altitude propellers. What a difference, had a fabulous time, we are all talking about the next trip, time-off, Lake Havasu, Lake Powell, and the Planet is back in balance again.

1. If I drop from 28Ps to 24Ps will this help me get out of the hole and on plane?

2. Do I still need to have the Crew up front until we get on plane?

3. Will the 24Ps allow me to pull up to 5000 rpm (redline?) and what top speed shall I expect at 5000 ft. elevation?

4. If I go down to Powell or Havasu which is 2000 to 3000 feet in elevation, do I need to get 26P props?

5. The Corsa Captains Call Exhaust which changes the from thru the Prop to thru the Hull doesn't seem to be as Nasty as it was on my Cobalt thru the Hull. I noted the Corsa tips have baffles in them, anybody remove these baffles or change to straight thu Tips?

Thanks to all those who chime in! This is a great site and I'm upping my membership and hope to be a contributor soon!

Best to All,

Ted

I will respond in more detail later, but its one of the few boats that you have to really get in the throttles to get on plane.

Agree, even with my 271, it takes 3/4 throttle to get her going. Once bow starts dropping to level and picks a little speed back out of the sticks to half, then trim till you feel the boat "release with more speed", and stop trimming. Does not take much trim, about a 2 - 2.5 bump on your indicators, maybe 3. If you have to use your tabs to get up, this will change your order in which you apply the trim bump. Again, this is a very general description on a 271 not a 292.

Congrats on your purchase!

I seriously doubt props are the whole issue here. Even at altitude of 5000 feet, the boat should plane off without too much effort. If your Cobalt was not a stepped hull, you will need to get used to the fact that these boats do not have a great hole shot. As Expensive Date said it takes throttle to get going, mine needs 3,000-3,200 RPMs depending on how many people are on board and fuel load. Make sure your drives are trimmed all the way down before starting out. Tabs down will help some, but honestly I never use mine. Let the boat get fully on plane before starting to trim the drives. Again, stepped hull boats run best at neutral trim or just a tad above.

If the boat sat for a month how fresh is the fuel? Are the flame arrestors clean? Have the plugs been changed recently? I'd add fresh fuel, clean the flame arrestors, change plugs and see if that helps. You can contact BBlades an advertiser on here and demo test 24P props, he is top notch at his trade and will guide you in the right direction for prop selection.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Dave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_JFl6tCl8 My old boat, and my son does speak english he was saying hi to someone. Tabs down drives in, take engines to 2k let boat start to move then slide the throttles up too 4k.If props blow out(spin) back off throttles till props catch, but 292 really don't blow the props out mutch This is how they plane, once on plane bring your tabs up and trim to in most conditions nuetral. The more people you have on the boat the longer it takes, its just practice you will get it. They are hard to plane.Now mine was a little faster out of the hole because I had changed exhaust,which gave no speed inprovment but took 250lbs off the back of the boat. That made a world of difference but you will do better once you are used to her.

I agree with them all. I started my sickness back into boating with a 22 mirage. It had 400 horse in a 22 ft boat. It jumped out of the hole like a jet ski.

Then it was a 26zx with a 502. It would blow out the prop 70% of the time. Constant throttle playing to get it to crest over on plane.

Now the same set up you have... Tabs don't do much in my opinion. Drives in and get her to about 3000. I can feel the props break loose and then the slip helps the motors get up in the rpms to push it up on plane. Like it has been said it is about feeling what works for your boat. If I have a boat full of people it helps to veer to one side or the other to help it get up on plane faster.

All said I think at your altitude you will need to drop to a 26p prop.

The 292 is a ***** to get on plane and leave the drives tucked till u get up to 40. If you raise drives in the 30s as soon as you get on plane you will start to bunny hop.i have 26 bravos and planning is much easier for me than others i have spoken to. I can bounce my limiters with the 26 bravos.

Thanks for all the great advice! I'll keep working til I get it. practice. practice, practice.

I'm still not sure what prop drop I need for my elevation. Formula says 24Ps for 5000 ft. on up. Will try to contact bblades for another opinion, seems 28Ps are for sea level.

Any other 292 suggestions for improvement besides K planes or full hydraulic steering?

I'm not going that route until I know this is a keeper!

Here is start with my 271 with single 496 mag ho (three adults and two children inside):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohcd...ature=youtu.be

Drive down, trims down, little movement and thenn full power, :-) I get it plane even with 10 adults but then few have to go to cabin.

Here is another video form our testdrive last October, it was pretty cold: 0 degrees celsius..should be about 32 degrees fahrenheit? There is also ny daughter who wants to go gaster so that is what we do, :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXvxyCFRsII