Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I need to fix my lower on my Bravo 1 drive. At what point is a nose cone needed? I have a Baja 252 so it has a low x on it. I was thinking of going to a Imco 1" shortie. Just not sure what to do. The boat runs around 66mph. Or should I just keep it stock?

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I WAS TOLD THAT A NOSE CONE WILL NOT HELP UNTILL 80MPH OR SO.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I found a lower case that has one on it. Will it hurt performance?

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I have the same question. I am looking at the Hydromotive nose cone (a lot less expensive), or going with shortie drives. I suppose it varies with boat and engine configuration. Has anyone tried both, and what has been your experience? Thanks.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

Keep it stock, a nosecone can cause several undesirable characteristics at 66mph. The drive may dart on you. You may lose some bow lift and ultimately lose speed.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

A nose cone will increase chine walk and wandering on your boat without full hyd steering and it will give you zero speed increase until you break the 80 mph barrier. It was one of the first things I added to my 272 baja because it looked racy and cool to me and was cheap,but it only amplified chine walk and ill handling until I got boat to run faster and went full hyd steering,been there,done that,Smitty

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

thanks for the input Guys. I guess i'll just put a new skeg on the one I got.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

Our 60mph Formula 311 had Hydromotive cones on it when we bought it. The boat does not seem to perform any better than a comparable 311 without them. There seems to be some porposing and occasional prop blowout that has been attributed to them. Not sure they should be on there. I have been told that unless you're going 80+ don't bother.

But they sure do look cool :eek: :D :cool:

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

Did not help my rig a bit.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I to wanted one talked to hydromotive and they told me only if i'm going over 80mph, he said he would sell me one but I would be wasting my money. So I put gas in the boat instead

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I talked to Hydromotive about nosecones last month and he seemed to think I would pick up a few mph :rolleyes: ...
I'm running at 79.9 right now with a LOT of positive trim...


Doug

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I doubt you will. 90mph seems to be the point where it really helps.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

My boat was running 89-89.7 last season with decent load in it,put spare drive (WITHOUT nosecone) on while changing lower gears,would only run 84.5 so at some point in the 80's it definately helps,Smitty

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I guess it depends on the hull. I've never seen anyone have good luck with a nose cone until they were very close to 90mph. A couple boats ago I was at 79mph and tried a nose cone only to go 77mph. :(

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

Whose nose cone has the best shape for more bow lift? Hydromotive, bobs, Who else?

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

Honestly none.

They all increase surface area, which in turn reduces bow lift.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

You would be better with the crescent shaped nose cone, which is the Hydromotive, because it is more hydrodynamically favorable when you trim the drive. At least more favorable to a certain angle.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

When trimmed positive like in a non stepped vhull, I've read the pointy nose cone will increase drag.

And at 66 mph I would'nt even think about one.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

Nose cone must be properly molded and finished into the drive as well.
Previous owner had installed and never blended on. While having drive rebuilt at Sterndrive Specialists, Fast Forward finished cone onto lower.
Gone is the cavitation and severe chinewalk over 85. Boat handles 100% better.
Same old story.... do it correctly or don't do it at all !!

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

who has whose nose cone? Anyone going 90+ and added one. THats where I am at. A like to break 100. Greg

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

I don't know anyone running 100mph without one. You definitely need one. Like yesterday, it’s not safe without one.

Re: Nose cone or no Nose cone?
 

Just another example...

With my boat I think there was a little more to it than just adding a nose cone, but I went from a stock length, stock nose Merc lower to an IMCO -2" lower with an integrated nose that is designed right into the casting. I also had to add 5-bladed Hydromotive props otherwise getting on plane with 4-bladed props was extremely difficult.

The -2" shorties brought the propshaft centerline to about 1.75" below the transom/hull straight ahead of it. I have a 32' A/T deep-V with completely conventional style hull (no-steps and no notched transom). I also have Stellings extension boxes and full race-type external steering with wingplates.

Without the -2" shorties/nosecones the boat did about 87mph on calm water. This was done with some tab in the water because the boat wanted to start chine walking after about 80+mph. The tabs slowed the speed, but was a must in order to defuse the chine walking.

When I added the -2" shorties/nose cones I didn't see any increase in speed with the 32" pitch 4-bladed props....maybe ONE MPH at the most----but I LOST TEN MPH in my midrange constant cruising speed. :( I absolutely didn't like that too well at all and I knew that if I was going to keep the -2" shorties on my drives that I was going to have to be real impressed with the 5-bladed props. However, I DID happen to notice an improvement in the handling of the boat...how it sat up on top of the water a little nicer with the IMCO shorties/cones with less tab in the water and the chine walk had pretty much vanished.

I was sent some 5-bladed 28" pitch Hydros because they didn't have any 30" pitch in stock which is what I really needed. The 28's popped me right up on plane which was MUCH better than the Bravo 32" 4-blades and the 5-bladed 28's brought me up to 90mph and was able to recover a 1-2mph increase in the midrange cruising speed so, I still wasn't happy about the 8mph loss there------BUT I noticed again how much better my boat handled with the IMCO shorties/nosecones and even more so with the Hydro 5-blades.

Hydro sent me a pair of their 30" pitch 5-bladed props once they came from the foundry and picked up all but about 2-3mph I had originally lost in the midrange cruising speed. Plus, I was able to do 93.6mph on the GPS with full fuel, flat calm water, and going against the current on the Muskegon River. Less tab in the water, pretty much no chine walk anymore and love how the boat rides now and how it sits on top of the water.

I had too many other variables going on to give full credit to the nosecones, but I am sure they had something to do with my speed increase. And of course they look awesome and have that "BLING" effect. :)