i've been thinking about this since i put the boat away for winter.
boat - new-to-me '96 24 outlaw with NO trim tabs, powered by your standard 300hp carbed 454 bravo one, 21p 3 blade.
calm day with 2 people and a half a tank of of gas (100 gallon tank) the boat runs about 56-57 no matter where you trim it.
on a family day with calm water i had 5 adults and 2 kids and just under 1/4 tank of gas, while running across the lake wide open the 2 kids and 2 of adults got in the cuddy to play with the radio.
the boat picked up 5 mph and like 400 rpm, i changed the trim case i thought it was lifting the prop out of the water, but it wasn't. we played with the trim and moving people around and it just ran faster with more bow weight.

so here's the question, i can't afford trim tabs this year do to buy the boat this fall, but i might be able to swing a prop, but is this something a good prop could fix without tabs?
OR i was thinking of adding 100 - 150 lbs of lead shot to the nose of the boat.

what do you guys think?

A couple of my friends had Outlaws with the 300 hp engines. They also went about 57 mph. Although we never tried putting weight up front, I do remember they carry the nose pretty high. Maybe you should try a stern lifting prop like a Hydromotive. The weight is cheaper though.

Patriyaht has a good idea with the stern lifting prop.

I'd contact Throttle Up and discuss it with them.

just run with more people.

Center of Gravity

I know a guy with a 33 Outlaw that said his boat picks up a couple of MPH when people are riding in the back seat. So he added 75 lbs of weight in the bilge near the transom and got the same effect.

no no no, i don't like taking alot of people out, i like to keep it at 4 including me unless it's something like the 4th, a shoot out, or OSS race.

GO to the prop section ask BBLADES AND TH,UP Will give you some #s. I have owned a 240 sport aka 24ol since 1990 had 454 330 hp,502 390hp, 502 585hp, 502 595hp ,509 650hp now a 509 670hp . well with your deep drive a REV 4 21p will be the prop for that boat. I know brett at BBLADES will change props for you to try, thats what I am doing in the spring,I hope . you should try the 21p rev 4 for starters it can be labbed to. so I think I answered your queston on which prop now ask bblades and throttle up for the best price. my name is art and anything you need to know about that boat just ask.by the way I have the k plane blades only 280s if you want to buy parts. I do not like the cheap bennets I broke 2 in one season went to merc 280s, now have 380s blades on the boat. oh what was your rpm I THINK TOP WITH THAT MOTOR WAS 4600 TO 4800, YOU SAID YOU PICKED UP 400RPM SO DID YOU GO OVER 5000 .

My Scarab is the same way. With 100 gallons of gas it picks up 2-3 mph than with 25 gallons.
I assumed, seeing that the tank was in the middle of the boat it would bring my bow down. So I was able to trim it higher to carry the bow. And the higher I trimmed it to carry the bow the more stern lift I got also. It was like the extra fuel gave me more leverage to lift the stern out of the water and carry the bow. It rides just as level with less boat in the water.

I tried Hydromotive props to see if I could recreate this just bow using stern lifting props. Did not work at all and the a$$end of the boat was squirrlier than heck. This summer I am going to try to get my hands on some B1 26 pitch and see how they run. Also going to spin my Quicksilvers props inward to get the best of both worlds, bow lifting from my 3 blades, and stern lift from turning them inward.

Is it possible that your X-dimension is set to high?

Jon

Just add more people and charge them $$, then your gas is paid for.