hp 500's 525's
 

in the somewhat near future i would like to upgrade to a 32 or 35 lightning cause that is kinda my dream boat . can someone explain to me how good or bad a hp 500 is , i know that 525 's are bullet proof but are they ! i seem to find a few 35 's with 500's is that bad are they slow , i really want a 32 or 35 that does 90mph thats the goal and i would like to have it reliable . does a bravo 1 x or xr have a transmission that is external cause i am also thinking that would be desireable for a boat that size . just starting to figure my s*^$ out and would like to know what to look for .

if a bravo 1 x has imco internals what does that mean ?

I like the 500's more than the 525's.
IMCO makes better shafts than Merc...

Which 525's?

The current 525's or do you mean the 525sc?

Current

okay just so you guys know i really like the 32 99' lightning on page 2 of fountain classifieds on this site . are all hp 500s supercharged or no , and what is the realistic hp of a stock hp500 . also you guys look at that boat and tell me whats bad or good about it ? to me the drives seem like they would a serious weak link but i don't know jack !

That is not stock HP500's.

They have a old style wipple on them, I would think they are at least 600HP.

Backformore, why do you like the 500's better? Just wondering, mine has the HP500efi motors.

Don't like the headers on the 525's...bad design prone to cracking.
Take a distributor over the crank trigger ignition anyday.
The heads on the 500 are BBC as the ones on the 525 made by Edlebrock... only will work with the 525 and the closed cooling.
I do like that the 525 is closed cooled though but thats about all.
I'm more old school ...less is more. The new Merc stuff is not that reliable anymore.

32 or 35
 

I have a 93 35 with HP500's to my knowledge they are 500 at the crank and 470 at the prop. I have had the boat for five years running stock bravo drives and have only had one problem with the drives. Boat will run close to 60 at 3500 rpms and have seen 81 in cool air in the fall. If you can find a 35 i would not even give the 32 a second thought. Do a 50 mile run one way almost every weekend. Run the Delaware river to the Chesapeake Bay. That speed is on GPS speedo. Usually cruise at 3000 rpm's, 48 to 50 mph according to which way the tide is running in the Delaware. Lose 2 mph against the tide. Good luck.

I just bought a 2000 35 lightning twin step with 500 efis and I love it. I was also looking at 32s but the 35 just seems to have way more room than the 32s. mine will run 87 on gps.