he did 85 on his way down to the cambridge races his gps tattle tales doesnt lie

i have seen them spike... do a search, the 525 will be way more fun... thats the main reason i sold my 35 not enough power. it depends on you budget, but you will get hosed on a new 35 with 496s on resale..... imo. (as with any brand)

05 ex,496's. 79mph gps,all day long. I think with the
twin step,it should run 2-3 mph faster!

Resale is important with 525 but epeek isn't far off either. You've gone this far, do it right and spend the money.

525's, 525's, 525's you should get at least 500 hours out of them if you maintain them. They are built better than the 496 and run stronger and never have a oil temerature problem. Try running 496 WOT for more than 20 - 30 minutes your oil will be 220+ degrees F and pressure drop to 35 PSI. 525 never gets hotter than 190 - 200 on a run like that after the thermostat opens and your oil pressure stays around 45 - 55 psi. just my .02.

Thanks everyone for the input.

Now back to the original question of sportmaster gearcases and Hering props.

It sounds like I will gain nothing or even possibly lose performance with sportmaster gearcases. How about Hering props? Would performance be better served by just getting the stock props labbed? Or are Hering props worth the $$?

Herrings are worth every nickel...right up until the time you hit the bottom! Big bucks to buy, big bucks to repair...as always, the choice is yours!

Forget the Sportmasters. whoever said the Sportmaster is 1-2 mph slower is correct. Stick with the regular Bravo XR and keep the extra 1-2 mph. Besides, you can get a pair of IMCO 1" or 2" shorties later and gain speed if you'd like. As for the Herrings, Great props, but a pair of Labbed Bravo or Hydromotives may be better money spent.

i have now tired every prop... 4 blade labbed b1, 5 blade hydrop5-x, maximus 5 blade. & hering 5 blade this is easy spend the $$$ for the herings.

The 496's with XR drives are the better purchase. With the dollars saved you can easily add the extra 100HP+ with Raylar and CMI parts, add the polished billet pulley kits and our coil and harness remount kits and give the 496's the same "Blue Motor look a a lot less dollars. As for the heating issue an upgraded oil cooler kit costs about $500 installed and you can keep the hammer down with no oil overheat. Don't get me wrong, if you've got the disposeable dollars, the HP525's are an awesome package and run beautifully. The insurance issue can be a problem with some boats with HP525 power but it's a boat by boat and insurance company issue. When it comes time to resell, the 496 upgraded motors will bring back a dollar that will still have a better savings over the HP525 in most cases. Just my two cents, only time will tell! I will try and get some pictures posted here of our new Raylar 496's in full dress trim. I just have a problem getting the pictures up loaded on OSO because the file sizes are always to big for what they allow. I will get one of my computer experts to resize the picture files so fellow OSO'ers can see the new look in Raylar 496 equipped motors! Might turn a few heads and change the current outlook on 496's.

Ray @ Raylar