I just bought a 2001 382 with xz drives and 500 efi's. It had 34 hours on it when I got it. It currently has 28 p Bravo 4 blade, I am only getting 4800 rpm and 71 gps mph. I cannot tell if there was any work done on the props. What size should I try in a hydromotive or mercury?

I've tried both labbed 28's and 30's (Mercs) and get almost exactly the same top speed (74-75), but with lower rpms (5000 vs 5300) with the 30's.

The 30's also give me a much better cruising speed at 3500 rpm's (3-5 mph more).

I believe the new 382's come with 30's with 500 EFI's.

I'm surprised that both your speed and rpm's are as low as you report with 28's. Is the bottom clean? Are the props dinged? Is there a lot of added equipment?

Also, be sure to use 87 octane fuel: higher octane actually REDUCES power with these motors.

Perhaps you should have a Merc mechanic with a scan tool "read" your motors and see if they've always performed that way.

I think you can get better performance . . . although in reality a few miles per hour doesn't make a whole lot of practical difference!

I had a 2001 382 with 500's. With the stock 28's it would run 71 to 73 depending on the total weight. I had the props labbed and picked up 2- 3 mph, all GPS speeds. You have to trim to 6-7 on the gage to achieve the optimum trim attitude. JB

PS. The lab props picked up about 300 Rpm over non-labbed. I ended up at 5100-5200.

Call Hydromotive and tell them your application. They'll be straight and whatever they tell you, it'll happen.

I have a 2000 382 with hp500's running Teague platinum xz drives. Props are merc 30 labs, rpm = 5100 and 75mph top speed. Just FYI