The Nordic Heats are a long boat for a single engine and they have trouble carrying the bow. Traditionally the Bravo 4 blade was the weapon of choice, but when the 5 blades became popular it was discovered they work great on a Heat. Teague did some testing and got 7mph with a max 5 vs a bravo on a fast Heat. I did the same switch and have found similar results to his. This is especially true with the open bow configuration as they are even heavier in the bow, that's what I have. The P5x, max 5, or cutting edge 5 blade (that's what I'm currently running) work good. I've played with tube length to help carry the nose too. I never need to use my tabs as the boat is so heavy in the nose so I can run a little shorter tube length and get away with it. Mine is a stepped hull 2004 FYI. It ran 80mph with a 28p five blade cutting edge and 650ish HP. I'm breaking in an 800hp now so we'll see how that ends up. Hope that helps.

Pad
 

I’m not familiar with the heat and all the responses above make sense. Pad bottom boats are tricky. When flown properly they tend to be 5 to 8 mph faster than conventional. Getting them there is an art. Boats like Allison’s and early Velocity’s are wickedly fast in the hands of an experienced driver.

I think your prop is good. Before spending more cash on a wheel try this: run with your tabs a bit negative from the get go. Positive trim on the drive at wot. With your hand on the tab switch bump the up button ever so slightly. The boat should rock back onto the pad. Always keep your hand on the tab switch If it starts getting squirelly tab down and start over. And if that works the settings will be different due to weight, current, wind direction etc.

Also check your bottom. You may have a hook in it that could use straightening. Your hull may be a candidate for putting a rocker in the bottom.

Best of luck and be careful. Below video from back in the 80s of the master of Pad bottoms Steve Stepp running an incredible number, even at today’s standards, Welcome to the Pad Club

That's what I've been told as to the heats being nose heavy for a single engine. They are nowhere near as heavy as like a cig or formula but the length with a single engine is hard to carry the bow. Have some engine tweeks to make over the winter and finish up some things but I think come spring prop testing/tweeking is gonna be the focus. Just seeing how this thing jumped up in speed when it hoped on the pad I am so excited to get her to sit there and run. I do have to pull the boat off the trailer this winter to refinish the trailer so I will check the bottom for hook and make sure it's all good before setting her back down. Never really dug too much into it before because I wasn't running fast enough for it to matter but apparently I am at that threshold hahaha. I'll have to do some research on the "rocker" you're talking about and see if it's something I should explore.

Any other scary/awesome boat driving stories anyone wants to share??

That video is nuts!! If I could get even remotely close to running like that I would be beside myself!

Pretty sure that Velocity was running small blocks back then.

There’s also a very interesting thread here about its restoration.

I'll have to do some digging on it

In my opinion, boats like Allison and Tuff running fast and balanced are some of the prettiest things in the water...2nd only to a fast flat setting back on it's cavitation plate and hauling the mail...

I'm no setup expert, but I think the "low hanging fruit" would be:
- making sure the boat is as balanced as it can be port to starboard, so you're not fighting an inherent list due to weight. Are the batteries, fuel tank, and helm seat all on the same side of the boat ? Anchor, cooler, other stuff ?
- Ditto with fore and aft weight placement. Get heavy stuff out of the bow.
- checking all the steering connections and making sure everything is tight. A small wiggle at the stern translates into much more wiggle at the bow. How far do you turn the wheel before input at the wheel translates into drive movement ?
- prop design, which it sound like you're on top of.
- I was told to get rid of the pitot tube for the speedo. I'm not sure about that in your case..I was trying to make a fairly light outboard go fast at the time so it probably affects a light boat more, but still..small stuff adds up.
- Before I put rocker in the boat, I'd make sure the bottom was straight, edges sharp, and the hull was clean. If it's an old hull, it's probably no longer straight, if it ever was to begin with.
- Speedcoat ? The aft half of my boat has a layer of speed coat. I honestly don't know if it makes a difference, but the guys who rigged and set my boat up believed in it. At one time, it was a rarity to find a drag boat without it. Dunno about now.
- Verify your tabs are up, level, and balanced. I've been told if there is spray hitting them, there is an effect on hull attitude. Just because the dots line up on the tab indicator doesn't mean they're level. Offset tabs could be inducing walk ?

Last...Be very, very, careful adjusting tabs at speed. I won't. I have oversized tabs that - as Team Saris said - are used to fool the boat into thinking it has a longer hull IE they're basically "wheelie bars" and unless I'm going very slow, I don't touch the tab switches...a heavy hand on the tab control at speed could be "damned inconvenient".

Have fun & good luck...there aren't too many things as satisfying as coaxing those last few mph out of you boat.

Thanks for the advice!! I have saddle fuel tanks on the sides, one battery on each side, and I built a locker opposite the helm seat purposely to make sure it is as balanced as I can get. I think you all are on to something with the bottom..I am really curious to see what I'm going to find once I get her off the trailer and do some checking. The bottom is clean yet I don't think it's ever been waxed or polished so that was on the agenda for the winter anyway so might as well check the bottom and repair/adjust as required to make sure she's straight. Thanks again!!

Don't wax or polish the running surface.