I spoke today with a guy who has quite some experience of endurance races with small single engine boats.
He told me that talking of speed improvements, he never found any boat upgrade with a better cost/performance than an extension box (possibly coupled with shorties, but not necessarily), which gave him 6/8 mph improvements in most cases.
Even if he has no experience on Fountain boats, he told me that he's sure I would squeeze at least 4 or 5 mph more from my Fever 27.
But I'm very skeptical, if nothing else for a simple reason: I've never heard of ANY 27 with extension boxes.
If they would be so good, someone would surely have gone that route already, I guess.
Any views or experiences?

I am told by sanbourn at fountain that a extension box is counter/ productive and that the hull is already designed with a "built in extension box".Things might be diffrent on earlier hulls. Mine is a 2005 29 fever and I have a box on mine /w/ a -2 short lower, I gained about 2-3mph not much. Though the boat is much more stable at speeds in rough water.

Hi Paul,

No offense at all but I think you may be heading in too many directions. Specifically with regards to the "newer" 27's say from 02/03 going forward, I don't believe you'll see much of a way to improve the x dimensions.

According to the guys I've spoken with at Fountain and friends of those guys, it's tough to find any builder out there who has messed with drive heights more than Fountain.

You're about to embark on a lengthy, costly R & D project which I'm afraid won't net you much. You're hull year is as good as it gets for a 27 as far as a stock boat with a cabin is concerned.

Continuing with what we talked about when you were in town, I'd say focus on more power. You already have a nice drive for that sized boat.

If you're having a tough time committing to Raylar, that's fine. Focus on pricing and options from other builders and take your time with the decision. I'm just trying to push you in the direction of power upgrades rather than running gear upgrades. Respectfully, we gotta remember here that we're talking about a 27' boat and not a twin engine 30 something foot boat.

That said, how much money and "down time" are you willing to spend for this little ride? When coupled with the idea that your wife might want to take a boat ride this summer on that beautiful lake you live on, I'd try not to turn it into an ongoing project etc....

I've been there and after a while it starts to become NOT-fun anymore.

I'll probably get yelled at for this but here's my summation of your story.

1. You live in Italy where as you stated, there are not many really good wrenches in your area who know and understand what it takes to do what you want done.

2. Your engine compartment is rather small in terms of length so the Ilmor's and others that add length are out of the question.

3. You need something that you only have to ship and install ONCE and it needs to arrive in a "fully assembled" state so that your wrench doesn't have to deal with putting pieces together.

4. In my mind this narrows it down to a few. Search around and buy an engine from someone that is considered a "drop-in" with a warranty unless you don't care about warranty etc... And leave it alone after you install it.

There are a lot of good aftermarket builders but having to deal with special brackets and having to modify stuff to make it fit is not something you want due to your location. There's no one to give you much help.

Thanks Jason for your thoughts, but maybe I wasn't clear enough in my OP. I'm not really heading in the direction of an extension box.
It was more of a curiosity, based on what that guy told me of his experience - which as I said doesn't include any Fountain, otoh.
In fact, I also said that I'm skeptical and never heard of any 27 with extension box. Even aside from the latest stepped hulls with high X dimensions (btw, is also yours 19"?), I can't remember to have seen around the web any older flat bottom 27 rigged with extension boxes.
I'm still convinced that the better upgrade for my boat would be a package like yours, possibly coupled with a Brett-labbed Maximus. But I'm dealing with some other projects at the moment....
...this is also for Ray information btw, in case he's reading this!

i think jim v has a extension box on his 27 with the power he has i think it runs close to 100 .

Interesting.
I've seen his boat on Utube, but the business end was not visible.
As I recall, he has 800 or so hp on that monster?
Which means he probably doesn't use a Bravo drive, or does he?

That is also a straight hull. Thing is wicked fast according to his video. That hull and x dimension will be slightly different than map's 2006 model.

I do have a bravo drive. I turn a 30 pitch 4b1 about 6000 to 6100 rpm. The box was worth speed and better handling. With a step bottom I think a shortie lower would benifet as well. I tried the 2" shortie with the box on mine but I don't think it liked the nose cone. I believe it works the best at neutral or slightly positive trim where step bottoms work.

My motor made 780 hp maybe more coming for this year I don't know yet. What you may notice is a loss in cruise speed If you raise the drive higher than where it is now. A five blade will help but it will tax the drive

Good luck, Jim

Wow, is it an XR at least, or not even that? Anyway, you must be very careful with the throttle I guess, with that kind of power.
...then again, surely you must be careful with everything, at the kind of speeds you're pushing your rocket!!!
Are you going to post a 3 digits video this year?

No it's not an xr. I use the thick floor helicut gears with a steel tower. Dick Tryce takes care of my drive. I'm going to try for the hundred mark this year thanks Jim