Offshoreonly.com - 32 fever's

Quote:

Originally Posted by 266ltd (Post 2472871)

what are some of the best speeds seen with the 502/415 in a 32 fever from you fountain owners? i have a 32 with this set up and am seeing 77-78 gps, with 2 peo's and less than 50 gal. but my fountain test sheet shows the possibility of 79 gps. just curious?

I have owned my 1998 32' Fever 502/415 for three years. Your speed of 77-78 is typical of what this set up delivers. Two years ago I bought a pair of used Bravo I four blade 30 pitch props. I was told they had been reworked to perform like a 28 pitch. (The truth is when I had sent them off to be worked one was a net 29.25 and the other was a net 30.25 pitch.) I also had just installed a new Livorisi GPS and I could not wait to try the GPS and new props out. My son and I took the boat out one cool and breezy day. The air temp was 62 F and the winds were blowing about 10-15 mph. This was in fresh but tidal waters. Not sure of the water temperature but it was not warm. The gas gauge was reading about 3/4 tank which means we about 1/2 tank of fuel. The reason I am giving you all of this information is because you will have a hard time believing the speeds we got on that day. The props were rotating out. (We tried rotating them in and it actually slowed down.) On the first pass running with the wind and tide we reached 84 mph. I could not believe it. I still have it saved on my GPS. We turned around and made a pass in the opposite direction and could only reach 78 mph. That gave me an average of 81 mph and I was elated as I had never been able to run over 79 mph with my old props under any circumstances. The problem, or at least I thought it was a problem at the time, was one motor was taching over 5200 rpm's and on the rev limiter and the other was only taching 4900 rpm's. I felt that I needed to get both props taching 5200 rpm's so I sent them off to be matched up. Big mistake! After three attempts to get the rpm's close to the same I lost my amazing speed results. Although these props still perform very well, I have never seen speeds like I did on that first day. If you find a set of props that perform really well, even if they don't tach the same, don't mess with them. Having props lab finished does not always give more mph. Stock Bravo I props are actually pitched about 1 pitch less than the markings. My 30 pitch props now actually net out at a true 29 pitch. Last July in 90+ F temps, with a full tank of gas and three grown men on board we ran a solid 79 mph. This winter I cut the flared hubs off my Bravo I props and I hope to gain one or two mph. I just hope it doesn't slow it down. If you want more information feel free to send me a private PM. Good luck!