Racerngr1

On a 29 Fountain 2000 with a 500 EFI what prop would you recommend or are you running? I am running a 24 Pitch 4 blade Hydromotive and it doesn't get out of the hole very good and tops out at about 4600 rpms. I was told to try a 24 Pitch 4blade Bravo 1. I will do this and post results tomorrow.

bob_t

Our 2000 29 with 500 EFI ran a 24P Q-IV Hydromotive up to 5200+ rpm with no problems in summer heat. That is the prop that the boat left the factory with. On cool days we could run a 25P Q-IV Hydromotive. It was a little more sluggish getting out the hole with the 25P, but ran well, once on plane. Our boat ran 72 mph on GPS on average summer day on our local lakes. Unless you are at a really high altitude, something doesn't sound right. Are you sure you have the trim and tabs set "right" at or near WOT? A 24P Bravo 1 would be like a 22P Hydromotive. Do you have 1.50 drive ratio or 1.36 drive ratio? 22P Hydro would be close with 1.36 ratio, but way too small for a 1.50 ratio.

Roger

Hello Bob!!!!

Racerngr1

I may have a 1.36 ration (even though the side of the drive says 1.50). This is a new to me boat so I am trying to figure everything out. I just re-built the top end of the engine with all new components and the bottom looked good so I don't think it's a problem with that. I will just have to see how the other prop acts tomorrow.

Mikey Likes It

You should be hitting more than 4600RPMs. I have the exact same boat. I actually switched to a Bravo labbed prop due to blow out with the Q4. I get around a 1mph top end faster with the Q4 over the Labbed bravo but the boat handles like a different boat with the Bravo. Make sure you really do have a 24p and that it hasn’t been messed with. Let me know if you have any questions about the 29.

Racerngr1

Today I ran the boat with the Hydro 24P 4 Blade and did 70.1 on GPS at about 4800 RPM. I was doing 32 at about 3000 and 54 at 4000.

With the other prop I was 1mph faster at 3000 rpm and 1 mph slower at 5000/5100 rpm. So I pick up RPM's and lost a little speed and the boat handled about the same.

haukefountain

Hi Bob. Last year (late summer) I took our 29 down to Cumberland with a lab finished 26 hydro along with my wife and son ran 76 on speedo 5300 rpm not sure what that would compute to on gps. Temp was mid 70's fuel tank was showing full , although I probably ran for close to an hour earlier in the day, so I would say it probably had 120 gallons of fuel in it. I did put a new bravo outdrive on it at the beginning of the year and not sure why but with the combination of it and the 26 hydro I gained 2 mph over the 24 hydro. Getting on plane the same, midrange was slightly better (36 mph at 3000 rpm). Went to the river at the end of last year temp again mid 70's ran 77 going down stream and 78 up stream with a little wind hitting us in the back and 1/2 tank fuel showing on the gauge which I am guessing was between 40 to 50 gallon. The river is hard to judge. I also have a stock 26 bravo1 (overall best with gas prices), I lose maybe 2 mph @ wot but it is better yet getting on plane and midrange 3000 rpm 39 mph. Hey Bob, we absolutely love our boat and want to thank you again for the straight talk and your honesty! You were right, once you have a Fountain, you will stay with Fountain! Is 4800 rpm at w.o.t. with the 24 hydro? That doesn't seem right unless like Bob said the drive ratio may be 1:36. I turn a stock 24 hydro 5300 to 5350 on 80 degree day. Running 70 gps @ 4800 sounds like a good # but You should be turning 5300 @ wot if it is a bravo 1:50 ratio with the 24 hydro, tabs and drive correctly positioned.

UNSANE

I'm doing the math and I don't think you have 1.5 gears. If you did, you would be at 3% slip. With 1.36 gears, you're around 14%. A little high, but typical for a Hydro on some Fountains. Double check your gear set. You might want to switch back to 1.5 so you can run a higher pitch prop. The late model 27's used a 1.65 gear with 28" Bravos on them. The hulls seem to like those props. With a 1.5 gear, 10% slip and running 5200rpm, that works out to about 75 mph, which is where that boat should be with that power. Running a 28" with a 1.65 gear and 10% slip gets you 73.8. I used 10% slip as a best case scenario. Although my 29 is a different hull, I get around 10% with my Bravo props. You also might want to think about raising the X dimension as was done by the factory around 02 I think. In that case, a Hydro won't work very well for planing. But it sure is cool to watch the blowout......Watching 2 waterfalls go up is pretty cool!

Racerngr1

What's the best way to check what gear set I have in there without tearing everything apart?

dirtlawyer

I had a 98 29 Fever with a 525SC and went through about 2 years of testing, re-testing and tinkering. Here is what we eventually ended up with:

My drive was really deep and an Imco -2 Shortie worked best. We would run a 30P labbed Bravo with a light load (2 people) and hit a best of 78 and change GPS. We would switch to a labbed and tweaked 28 for heavier loads (3 - 4 people, coolers, etc) and would still readh 75 - 76 mph GPS. To help the boat get on a plane quicker we switched out the standard k-planes for the longer ones (simple process - took about 15 - 20 minutes to exchange the plates).

The shortie cause the boat to ride flatter and the longer K-planes made it feel 2 feet longer. Both were money well spent. When I got the boat it came with a 26P bravo and a 27 P Hydro prop - neither one would break 72 - 73 mph and the boat took F O R E V E R to come onto plane.

You shoudl be able to find a good set of used k plane plates for under 1K.