No bottom paint, tabs look to be stock I've played with them up and down but mostly all the way up. Trim the drive just a smidge up ! I took the prop in and they checked the pitch and balance and everything was good ! I checked timing that was right on at 8° I thought about throwing a few degrees at it to see if that would help a little but never got to it . To me the boat runs great, it's whisper quiet starts right up no smoke other than doing a compression test I pretty much went over everything . The lower in the boat has been replaced , I have no idea what ratio it is would that make a difference ?

Try more trim, lots more than just a smidge.

Then the RPM's come up also right !?

I like trim Blondes Prefered

Check the boat to see if its full of wet wood and foam.

To get you started on trim..... In calm water, once on plane and a decent speed (does not have to be wfo..) bump the switch llet the boat settle see what it does, bump again and repeat, no big changes, just bump the switch.. Eventually you will feel the boat "lighten up, it will ride different, the speed will come up, the rpms will come up. If the prop blows out (loses traction) you went to far.. if the bow is all over, you probably went to far. everyboat will like a little different trim, every driver will like a little different trim. If you can not make the boat 'light' then something somewhere is wrong. hyd. lines from the pump reversed, wrong prop etc.... triming for sea conditions is a bit more advanced and would be lesson 2.0

Hell I'm still learning and getting my resin bucket dialed but I have the advantage of a world champion throttle man sitting next to me in the boat giving me pointers,,,, And yes there is a definite difference between the way the boat rides before and after. faster AND smoother....

Gotcha phrahle we'll save that for another day, I did screenshot your reply so I know what to do this spring thank you. I had a survey done on the boat it is a little wet but it's about average that what the guy doing the survey said and it is 27 years old LOL !

Where you located??

Is the prop an old school Mirage (faster) with a rubber hub or a later Mirage Plus (holeshot) with the Flo Torq hub and the vent holes? If the latter, are the vent holes opened or plugged? The holes won't make a difference on top end, but they will getting up on plane. If you're blowing out trying to get on plane and the vent holes are open, start by plugging them one at a time.

I have an 86 242ls with a bravo one drive. It took 420hp to get 62mph with a 23p prop. Guys running 330hp usually get 55mph while 454 mags with 365hp usually get 58-60.