ARB38

I had a an 03 38 semi-stager with 525's and stellings boxes with 2 inch shorties on it. The prop shaft was 3/4 in above the bottom of the boat. With 34 pitch bravo's on it would not get on plane. I put a 1/2 spacer in and it was like a magic wand, the boat got right up and ran great. I have also had 31 and 32 pitch 6 blade Herrings on it along with P5X props from Hydromotive. They all worked well.

575cat

Is this your same drive guy ???

mcprodesign

My thoughts exactly . Like I said . "According to my drive guy", He also say's that 0- 1/2 inch below bottom prop cl will not work w sportmaster lowers. We both know that is wrong. It is hard on them but why do they have a lower water pickup ? Right? How many 38's came w the sportmaster set up .. ha ha. and it woked great for you w 400 more hp and bigger wheels.I gave him 2 lowers for parts today.

mcprodesign

In his defense. I pulled the caps on the upper and the gears looke fine. Just lots of metal ( like pepper)and what apeared to be a fine aluminum powder everywhere..

575cat

Excellent get her back together .

Esquire

I would try a 1" spacer and go from there. The X is set up so high on the newer Fountains that although they are fast, they are not user friendly. It doesn't matter how fast the boat runs if you can't get it on plane, and the couple of mph you may lose with spacers is well worth the comfort of knowing you can load the boat with people, gear, and fuel and still get on plane without an act of congress.

I have a pair of XR 1" spacers on my spare parts shelf (need to double check if they are 1"). I think I paid just under a $1000 for the pair after shipping,etc. I'll let them go for $600 plus the ride.

mudslide

Had an 07 38' with 600's ITS shorties and 6 blade Herings for about 3 to 4 years. That was the perfect setup to throw blades and destroy uppers in 1 season. With a 22 1/2" x dim your prop shaft is about 2" above the bottom of your boat. Nobody that I found makes a bravo blade that can surface the water and stay together. I broke a lot of blades and Throttle Up was good on warranties but I did brake Herings, Hydo's also about 10 total. I think running the big blades are tough on your uppers. My suggestion to fix the problem would to put on Imco's Scx uppers and lowers with the #6 prop shaft so you can run a #6 blade and have a drive that stays together or put regular lowers maybe a spacer if needed with 4 blade bravos and enjoy your boating season with no worries. Good luck on your discission. With the Scx's you can always put Whipples on it and be fine.

ratedx

Wow-alot of great responses!! Mudslide i think you got it right! prop shafts are 2"above the bottom of the boat. yeah prior owner broke no lie 8 pairs of props,however these hering 7 bladders are holding up fine! He had also broke prop shafts-he then put in titanium shafts and are now ok. took boat out today and kinda dialed in and getting up on plane-two guys 3/4 tanks. Take it up to 19 mph at 4000rpm and gradually bring tabs up. alot of work for sure-had it up to 95 mph and still climbing but hit rev. limiter so backed off. think i may just try 1" spacers and see differences?? From my heart thanks to everone for replying!!

mudslide

Ratedx, the way I used to get it on plane was to tuck the drives all the way in an drop the tabs all the way bring the rpms up to 3000. When you get up into the upper teens mph then start bring up your tabs and your speed will start picking up quickly. Some people like to hammer it out of the hole but that creates a lot of cavitation and vibration to your props, drives and hard on the prop shafts. I only broke 1 prop shaft felt the vibration and stopped before it broke completely. ( luckily didn't loose the prop) Good luck with the 7 blade but I don't see it lasting. It is a scary thing when they let go almost killed some friends with the broken blade. They felt water drops when it flew over there boat we were running about 80 when it happen.

mcprodesign

Mudslide. That is exactly how I get on plane.
I hope that my older ( 2004) XR drive uppers are better than the newer xrs.( I have been told that by many.)
As far as blade throwing. My Maximus props have been OK. I use WOT for only a couple minutes once in a while. I am trying 6 bl herings next. But I am about 0- 1/2 in below the bottom.

Rated x , Like Mudslide said, If you are 2 inches up you should have scx drives w Surface piercing props . No problem planing off and plenty of top end. Running xr's that high makes a vibration in the upper drive and Like he said, messes w propshafts. I hope this helps