Toolman -

I have a 99 271 with a 502 MPI. Top speed is in the low 60's. I have never been skiing behind it but given the hole shot, I wouldn't want to. I agree with futz991. The 271 Fastech doesn't plane well at speeds below 35. Most recreational slalom skiers like speeds 26-30 mph. The late model Fastechs don't have ski tow hooks.....for good reason.

Dustin Whipple predicted low to mid 70's with a Whipplecharger on my boat. I would expect comparable top end from a Procharger.

Find a buddy with a runabout when you want to ski and have the best of both worlds.

My friend has a Whippled 502 mag '98 or '99 271 Fastech. On gaffrig speedo the boat ran 66-67 pre Whipple.....80+ after Whipple on speedo. We haven't gps the boat after the Whipple...but stock the speedo was 3mph happy....66-67 was really 63-64gps. The boat is heavy and slow to plan without the Whipple...now...it'll rip your arms off.

What drive did you switch to after you Whippled it that allowed you to hammer it getting onto plane?

Had to swap the stock 1.65 ratio to a 1.5 in order to spin a small enough prop...with the stock 1.65 drive we hit the rev limiter with a labbed 30 bravo.
We only hammered it once to see how the boat would do getting on plane....not done since...but you don't need to the boat has so much power/ torque down low. Now, with the hydromotive prop you can't hammer it as it blows out getting on plane. The bravo 1 prop would hold getting on plane.

BTW, the whipple system was installed 4 seasons ago. There has been no failures of the engine or drive caused by the whipple system...the engine was just checked at the end of this season and is still as strong as when the whipple was installed. I was a little skepical as to the long term effects the whipple would have...especially how my buddy drives the boat...wide open mostly...but I'm soundly convinced there is no better supercharger system...period.

Just wondering, as I am uping the HP on my 502, and wondering how the Bravo will take it. I have a 28p B1 now and we are figuring a 32p. Why did you go with the hydromotive over the Bravo 1 prop? and are you still running the prop left handed, or did you change it to right hand?

We first tried a right hand bravo 30 and it simply blew out while on plane...it would not go over about 50 it was wierd. I don't know if it was the prop but the boat didn't seem to like a right hand prop. Basically we couldn't find anything bigger at the time to try than a 30 bravo. So I called hydromotive for some guidance. They stated that a large blade prop on a single engine boat can cause too much stern lift...basically the prop blade is so flat that sometimes if will just slap the water and not bite. This seemed to be what we were experiencing. With the 1.65 drive it looked like we were going to need a 32 Bravo and Hydro claimed we would have problems getting it to hook up. So with that we changed to drive to a 1.5 which allowed smaller pitched props and hydro recommended their 28 which was equal to the Bravo 30. The prop is still a left handed prop and the boat turns right at 5000rpms. Were still not sure if its the best prop as we haven't found a large enough Bravo prop to try yet. As you may know the hydro we are using is a stern lift prop where the Bravo is more a bow lifing prop. A labbed left handed 30 bravo hit the rev limiter.
With the hydo the boat does ride more level, bow down attitude and it blows out as you come on plane...nothing super bad but you do have to watch it coming on plane. The good thing about the ride attitude with the hydro is it runs better in rough water, the bow is more planted down. In spring we will try one of the bow lifting hydro's to see if that works better, or a 31-32 bravo if we can locate one.
Basically hydro was selected because if it wasn't right you could exchange it where once you bought a Bravo and it was wrong you were stuck with it.

Oh yeah, I don't thing you'll have any problems with the drive, if it can stand up to the whipple you shouldn't have problems.. looks like you be making similar power...around 600hp or so.

Thanks for the info. Interesting about the right hand prop, as Formula says not to run it either. Strange what the step does, because the pre fastech 271's all had right hand props.

Yea, its a "bit" over 600 on the last dyno run.

Were you running a 26 or a 28p before the Whipple?

Before whipple, 26 left hand bravo.