Good point. I put more hours on the Pontoon than I did my Fountain or my current Donzi. I would guess around 50 hours a year on the Fountain back then.

With the same set up, my 38 Fever with the first generation small steps ran 85 with Merc 525's and a set of Bravo 32's I believe. When I put the 625' Ilmors in it I got 88-89 out of it running PX5's, and it ran 95 when I put the Ilmor 710's in it also with PX5's.

Good point on the weight and power consumption. It has been discussed however that more weight hanging off the rear of my particular hull may likely be a good thing. The conversation went so far as when we get the boat back in the water we may actually want to add some weight to the rear of the boat regardless of which way I go?!? A lot of the Arneson vs #6 internal discussion with my guys working with me has been about how level my boat runs with the staggered engines and the need for increased leverage to run on the rear pad. My people on the velocity side (Kenny and Steve)are guessing that the #6 may be a better choice for that reason. However of course there are more factors than just that to consider.

I don't have any facts to back this statement up but I would imagine a dry sump 6 to be very efficient, with less drive train loss than my Konrads. I wonder theoretically how much loss there is on respective drives on a % basis. Has anyone ever seen anything comparing the different offerings with published numbers or percentages? ie bravo, #6, arneson, etc etc??

I think either way, you should see hydrodynamic efficiency improvements with the #6 over the Konrads... mainly because of where the bullet is while on plane (surfacing). From a drivetrain parasitic drag standpoint, if you run dry sump 6's, that would have to help vs. wet sump, but you will always fight the inherent drag of running multiple sets of bevel gears (known efficiency loss from changing the shaft direction 2x) that you certainly would see less from in a ASD setup (since the shafts are parallel). There is an article about how Mercury determined their surface drives use less hp to push than a XR drive. It would just be surprising if a 6 would use more power than an ASD given the simplicity. The other thought I could see is if you could get benefit in the angle of the propshaft given that an ASD has to tip down from a ball socket vs. any bevel gear/vertical shaft type drive being able to run the bullet as parallel to the water as you'd want... giving more chance of positive trim. Many boats with surfacing props (6's or ASD) don't seem to benefit from positive trim though.

The weight distribution thought is interesting - I went with BAM 1350 transmissions (heavier) vs. the Velvet 72LHP because I was worrying about the same thing... not that this makes nearly the difference the #6 would off the transom.

Arneson Surface drives are on order. They are both a great product, both have some positives and negatives. Came down to wanting to support people that have supported me over the years and Rik from Arneson has always been there for me. The other large draw is that the Arnesons are new, the 6's would have been re-built. Finally, if I were to have a problem no one in my area is equipped to work on a 6, however should a problem pop up with the arneson the design is so simple my guys here can help me, avoiding having to take the 6's off and ship them off. I'm excited to work with Rik again on this project. I will keep everyone posted.

Also, if you have or know someone with some 17.5 or 18in diameter 30 pitch props for sale please let me know. I'll be on the hunt for some used ones as I may need more than one set

Good choice. Looking forward to see this.

Let us know how it turns out! I am thinking Arnesons in future also.

What horsepower are you running? I have 856 a side and have 18x35x18 Mercury props. I hit rev limiters at 6k. May be for sale after season.

Stock 625hp Ilmor motors. Per Ilmor, redline is 6300 but useable power ends about 6100rpm. I did quote weight of the boat earlier and have no idea where I got it from but was wrong. Weight of the boat is about 9500-10k.