trying to get to 100!!!
 

I have a 2003 38 Lightning with staggered 575's (upgraded to 690 hp) and XR drives w/ imco lowers. Over the winter we puchased a set of 6 blade 31 pitch Herrings with hopes of getting to 100 and also added the imco lower cases. On Saturday I got to run the boat and it only went 96. We had done 97 last year with a set of 5 blade hydromotives and no imco lowers, just standard xr lower cases. Does anyone have any suggestions on some things that could be done or props that would be best! I plan on calling herring and getting thier takes on things too. Maybe some 5 blades would be better. Any suggestions????

what pitch where your 5 blades?

Hello Josh;

I will place a call into Jeff Harris tomorrow and see if he has any suggestions for you.

It was good seeing you and your dad this past saturday at the lake. Let me know the next time you will be up there and I will meet the two of you and we can go play with the MTI.

BTW, I placed my order today on another 42 Lightning.

This one will have the new step bottom, yellow gel, race fairing, triple bolsters in the rear, garmin etc. The big difference between this one and the purple boat will be the new bottom and a light poker run cabin.

I plan on putting 1250 HP Cobras in this one and hope to see the high 130's.

fountaindriver

Eddie,
I would really appreciate that! It was good to see you too. I will definately give you a call next time we are gonna be down. Hopefully it will be soon. Let me know if you find out anything. About the 42, that is going to be awsome! You'll have to give me a ride so that i'll have something else to rag on dad about.


Johnnyboatman,
those hydromotives were 32 pitch!

Fountaindriver,
Did you sell your other boat? Man that is my favorite fountain.
BobbyB

Do you have a diffuser ring on the herrings?

The old boat was fantastic. Can't wait to see the new one. Are you going custom graphics?
Dan

Had a similar outcome on my 42 Fountain with labbed 4 blades. Switched from standard XR lowers to -2 Sportmasters. The boat handled better but lost mph at cruise and top end. Did you try 4 blades and what was the outcome? I'm interested in 5 blades but have not seen many compelling comments over the labbed 4 blades. Interested to see Herring's reply to you.

mavrick10,
what is done to your 575's?

Step,
I ran a set of bravo's and got 95 out of it. those were 34 pitch and were not labbed. also we didn't have the imco cases on yet either. In the past i have broken 2 differents sets of labbed 32's so i'm kind of trying to stay away from those.

Jonas,
We put superchiller innercoolers on, upped the boost to 7-8 lbs., and upped the rev. limiter to 5600. Dyno sheets read 689 hp. at 5600 rpm.

Mavrick10,

I am curious what speed you were getting with just 575s, I have read where others are getting 89mph with the 525s in a staggered 38. At 690hp I would think that you would be easily breaking 100mph full of gas and people. Seems like a call to Fountain would be worth the time, surely they know exactly what set up is required to get a 38 to 100mph;)

Just a thought but have you taken everything out of the boat, cushins, bed, anchor, girl friend, carpet, cover, It may be just silly but I picked up 1-1.5 mph in my boat by doing this

Good luck

WILL

Fountain 27,
We never topped 90 with just 575's. On the fountain spec. sheet it says a stagg. 38 with 575's should do 93+. I understand this is with a small amt. of gas and only 1 person but still, if people are seeing 89 with 525s and i only saw 89 with 575's, it makes me think something else may be wrong. Anyways, thanks for the suggestion. I've got a guy right now that is calling fountain so maybe that will help.

How does it run at idle? is it realy fat/loading up to where u have to clear it out every few min?

It does not load up at all. It idles great!

More blades...less X.
 

With those 6 blades i would have went with -2 lowers...I went with boxes and -2 lowers on our 42 and it still needs less X goin from 3 to 4 blades. (1993)
My buddy has a 01 Tiger and went to the 5 blade Herrings over his labbed B1'sand lost speed, now over the winter he threw on some -2 lowers as per my suggestion...we'll see what it will do soon.
Do you blow out getting up on plane with the 4 blades...if you don't your X is too low for the 6 blades for sure.

BTW...those 32 Bravo1's are the worst 4 blade made by them, just something isn't right with those.

who did computors?

Derebery out of texhoma did everything for me and he said he sent them to a company in arizona.

Whats your X number on your performance sheet.

back4more,
I had a hell of a time getting on plane with those 4 blade bravos. sometimes i would get furious. so when we went with the imco cases we opted to go with standard instead of -2 or -1 b/c we thought the x was already too high.

are you running diffuser rings on the props

yes....the props have diffuser rings

Try adding a 1" spacer and removing the diffuser ring. You should pick up a couple of mph. Jonas bought my fountain which had all of this done to it. Fountain copied my set up on the boat in powerboat. I was spinning 35 pitch 5 blade herrings without the diffuser ring at 5600

ok......thanks for the info.!

GATORONE,
A few questions:
Didn't you have -2 Sportmasters on the Fountain?
Did you add a 1" spacer to this setup?
Did you try Hydromotive 5 blades?

Step

step,

Yes
yes
yes, but herrings were faster

Hello Josh;

I placed a call into Fountain and you should be receiving a call from the man himself. Also, Rob had a lenghty discussion with Jeff Harris concerning your boat. Rob will be giving you a call.

Candyman, I have not decided if I am going with a wild graphics or keep it simple like the last yellow 42 I owned. Also, the purple boat is for sale, I will sell the purple boat with or without power. If you choose power you can purchase it with the 1250 HP Cobras or any engine package yoy desire, I will price it out accordingly.

Fountaindriver

Eddie,
I talked to Rob and i think we are going to go run it here pretty soon and he said he's got a whole list of things from Jeff that he's going to check out! I appreciate what you guys are doing for us. I'll be looking for that call. Thanks again

Josh- hows it going? I saw your boat last week, looks great with all the new detail in the engine compartment. If you are testing this weekend ill see you there.

Uncle Eddie- i cant wait to see the new boat. It will be good to have another "Yellow Boat" around.

See you guys this weekend.
-Matt

Matt,
Things are going good....we are just trying to get this boat back into whack. something is just not right but with the help of eddie, rob, and the guys from fountain, i bet we get things going in the right direction. I think it is going to be 2 weekends or so before we are down there so....Look forward to seeing you down there!

Gatorone,
What size was your boat and what kind of power did it have?.......speed???

Could you post that ''list'' that you got from Jeff.

Fountaindriver..... If you are sellin the 42 less power, give me a pm with the details and the $$$. Or call me at home......708-579-5434.....Frank.
Probablly better to talk on the phone, rather than type. Have LOTS of questions.;)

maverick10, since the boat is here now and i have been looking at it for a couple weeks
i will reply re your questions for gatorones old 35 fountain. at least what i know..
its a 35
it has ran 106+ i was told and gps
tel tale says that.. this is what i know about the boat so far
575's whipple intercooled /az speed and marine re program / bigger injectors / sprtmaster -2 with 1 in spacer / eickert flame arrestors etc,

i have not really been able to run the boat yet, but looking forward to getting in it and getting used to it and see if i can get the big numbers too
jonas

Jonas-
Sounds awsome. Let me know what you get out of her. I was told when i bought the 38 that it would run w/in a couple mph of a 35 if it was staggered so i think i should for sure be over 100 w/ my setup being that your 35 runs 106. Do you know what kind of hp those motors that are in your 35 make?? just curious if it was much more that what mine are doing.

Josh

i believe the hp is right around 690 ea,,
bill (gatorone)would know for sure,,
the dealer i got it from didnt include the props i thought i was getting a set of labbed 36 bravo's i am prob going to buy em from him anyway,
i just sent a check for the herring s that bill ran on the boat to get the big number thought might be fun on a poker run here and there,
i would think that your boat would be over cent mark,, i know from taking to gatorone that he seeemed to have tried all the combos
i took some notes one day talking to him and i believe that the 5 blade hydros on it will run high 90's
bravo 4 blades just over 100
and herrings 106.
also i dont know if this makes a diff but bill also had the bottom blueprinted.
this boat should finally hit the water today i hope!! i hope this is the last thing, i want to go out its a nice day..the drive should be back here in an hour of so.
also it seems to run super rich so i had msd's installed hope that cleans it up a little.

Jonas

finally got it in the water today,, and got to go for a 1/5 hr ride,, NICE!! nice to be able to get some time in the seat to get used to it.
the local shop seatons good man chuck removed the drive that was bad and gator marine rebuilt and did his magic this guy can turna lump of coal into a diamond,,,
thats the kind of service thats worth gold!!!!!!! thanks.
i do need to do something about the rich condition though its bad, puks black smoke and loads up just getting in and out back and forth to the house,,
not a big deal i suppose other than i would like to not have to clear it out all the time as it really loads up bad,
mav13 who did u'r computors??
was it az speed and marine?

jonas

Jonas,
Yes it was az speed and marine. I don't have any trouble w/ mine loading up. mine idles great.! just curious, how much boost are u running??

Josh

How does the leading edge look on your IMCO's? I had to grind on mine. The casting was far from perfect. Just a thought

i don't know if i'd trust the dyno reports on your engines. derebery did a dyno run on my engine after he rebuilt it. the dyno run was OK, not great. most stock hp 500's have better dyno runs than my rebuilt / slightly modded hp 500 by derebery. the boat did not perform as well after the rebuild. my boat was slower with the rebuilt engine. just something to consider.

dredgeking- what mods did you have on the 500? And what is the average dyno for the stock version, is it not the rated 470 crank HP?

josh
did you run at texoma this past weekend, it was real rough sunday. your boat is at buncombe correct, we have the 92 35 white, blue,yellow.