Looks great! Congrats! To get rid of the hop,Try to keep the drives slightly below level up to about 80 , then when you trim it up to level , it will jump up and take off without any hop. This works real nice on my boat. Good luck! Wonder why they are spinning out vs in?

I was going to ping you just to see how your boat acts in comparison to mine. I appreciate the tip. Ultimately I've only had it out for an hr & ran 2 sets of props across it by myself. No long runs playing w/ the trim & or tab to date. Maybe this weekend.

My understanding is spinning out provides more stability & stern lift. I use the analogy of treading water w/ your arms extended vs trying to tread water w/ your arms tucked in. Leverage might be a better word. Remember my boat gained approx 250#'s of transom weight w/ no way to move engines forward to compensate for the CG. Your boat & the other ILMOR Indy drive boats were built around those packages from the get go. I think the added weight is the villian w/ regard to my porpoising.

Hering has sent me 3 more sets of props, some larger diameter, some smaller but all 16deg rake which promotes stern lift. Ben Robertson Jr from BAR is going to take a trip up to LKN & run the boat w/ me next week. He has lots of Cat race experience & will be able to determine what the boat wants / needs a lot faster than I will. Way too many variables w/ these drives / props, the props are $$$ & simply not that easy to come by for testing purposes so I believe getting someone w/ A LOT more experience than I involved as a shortcut to some quicker answers & hopefully an all around better performing setup.

Stainless is right, keeps drives tucked in until around the 70mph mark, this will definitely help your hop. I think spinning out will give you better performance, most skaters i know of spin in. I do think you are fighting a battle of CG in the boat with the motors all the way back, not much you can do other then add forward weight. Careful with tunnel tab, it's get people in trouble quickly, trying to control too much hop at higher speeds with tab is tricky.

Ben came out and did some testing on my boat when it was first rigged with the Ilmors. What a great fun guy he is - sweetheart of a wife too. Tell him for me that the gang at Grider Hill Dock on Lake Cumberland says Hi!

No intention of installing a tunnel tab, as stated too dangerous.

Peter said Skaters go 50/50 w/ regard to prop rotation. Mine gained 2mph & reduced the hop some but not enough. My previous bravo set up spun in.

With the drives tucked in or only halfway out (between all the way in & level) it drags the hull terribly & struggles to really RPM so I'm not sure thats a viable solution either.

Initial testing w/ Ben will include different rake props, spacers & adding ballast to see how it affects the overall ride & performance.

I'm paraphrasing what I've read here (T2X I think), but it makes total sense to me:

Spinning in is "wrong" and you really shouldn't set up that way. Basically you are pushing the boat over in a turn, etc. It makes the boat unstable and on the edge of rolling, as you are now pushing up and out. I'm sure there's more info on here if you search, but I recall people chiming in with first hand experience of getting wet from spinning in, etc......

Apparently some boats will go faster that way, but handling is compromised.

I used to think the same thing, and I spun all my outboard 28's and my outboard 32 out, but my current 32 with inboards and 6's likes spinning in better than out, and it handles great.
I think the bottom line is each boat/setup is different, and you have to try it and see what the boat likes.
Although we picked up 1-2 mph spinning in on the ob boats, I didn't like the way the boat felt. On the inboard, spinning in feels real stable.

I wouldn't run the drives in too far down, only about 1-1.5 units below level.
Ie: level on my boat is at 5 on the indicator, I start out at about 4 till I hit 80, then bump it up to 5 and it leaps up and takes off

When I read that he has experience, it might add some weight to the discussion but last i checked watching others do does not constitute talent nor expertise. best listen to those who are doing and get their feedback rather than those who don't and talk about a lot about it as nothing is that cut and dry espically boats

What was the deciding factor for your decision to go with the new Ilmor drives over the Arnesons when you decided to change the drives on your 30? It seems as though you are spending lots of money and time on a setup that is not going to net you as good of results as going with a tried and proven setup (Arnesons) on your hull. I honestly would like to know.