353 with boxes
 

How much of an improvement is a 353 with boxes over one with out? With my boat in pieces I was kind of thinking that this could be the time to do the upgrade. Not sure if it is worth it for the boating that I do but want to see. Boat has 500HP's in it.

We had an 05 353 525s with ITS. There was an 08 353 525 boat without boxes in our local club. Side by side I was consistently 4-5 mph faster. The real speed difference began to show from 60mph on up. Could there have been other variables? Im sure but when I was shopping 353s I liked the way the boat ran with the boxes vs without. It seemed to carry the hull better with ITS. Also, Im not 100%, but wasnt the X raised around 03 on all 353 production.

Not sure on the raise in the X dimension. I am looking at an IMCO or similar, so that would be farther back then an ITS as well as higher raise? Mine is a 99 and the drives are stock for now. That will likely change after a year or two if I decide to keep the boat.

A friend had an 2002 with factory installed Stelling boxes and 500efi's. It would run right at 82-83 mph with the factory props.
General consensus from what I have seen is boxes add 2-3mph and give a little more bow lift.

Neither imco or merc its raise the drives. They actually effectively lower them if they are neutral boxes

I did some research a few years back on 382's. Boats that came from the factory had a 1" raised x dimension.

The ITS setback is just shy of 8 " a true box is usually around 12".......if not done right they will slow the boat down, need to see where the prop shaft is now.

You sure? I thought that Imco did raise? I know Stelling does have both raise and neutral.

Just saw that if you do the 3" boxes you have to raise the motors. So that is not going to happen. Probably better off just putting the transom assemblies back on and going with different drives.

Jon,

" Nauti Monkey" runs Imco neutral boxes....they actually lowered the drives hence why AXAPowell installed -2" sportmaster lowers. As you know the entire drivetrain of my boat was done by Dave when he owned the boat. The time that he put into configuring the proper setup is well documented in all his threads here on OSO. Personally I suggest if you are going to make changes that you duplicate exactly what I am running. "Apex Warrior" here on OSO (Matt) has a similar setup as mine I believe...you may want to reach out to him as well. Matt is running more HP than I and I know first hand for doing several runs with Matt that his boat sits and runs like mine. Hope this info helps.....GOOD LUCK BUDDY !!!

Chris

Stellings boxes have 3 different mounting holes. Mounting them all the way up can cause too much U Joint angle in some cases.

Rob, Just picked up and '05 353 with Stellings boxes and 525's. boat now has 30P bravo 1 4 blades and runs good but curious what props you spun on yours and where it cruised at.

Ours right now seems to cruise at 50-55 at around 3500. only had it out one time and honestly played around with it more than anything vs really paying attention to where it like to cruise. gonna focus more on that this sat.

Old tread but before I got my 2007 Fast tech 35 2x496:boat: I almost gat a 2000 with 2x500HP with boxes dealer said it ran close to 80mph? 10 miles per hour faster then mine but I love my set up!

28 Maximus, labbed with diameter cut down 1/8'

As VooDoo said...28 (5) blades labbed maximus same speed....Labbed 32P Bravo's same speed at cruise.....top end is where it changes and the feel of the boat at top speed with ours.....

I have a 382 with Stelling Boxes and find that they really complement the Fastech hull. Speed wise they seem to work better than the ITS boxes being that they are 4in longer and I'm turning my props in. I feel one of the nicest thing about Ex Boxes is that I'm able to use 380 K-Plans instead of the 280s without having to trim any more off than just a little off the corners to turn. With the 380s I can keep the noise down with less drag because there on less of an angle. I'm running both 29 and 31 pitch lab 4 blade Merc props with a top speed of high 70s to lower 80s with a best of 83.4 on a GPS with 500s. I do have a weight advantage being that I have a Kevlar hull instead of fiberglass.