I only have the 7.4mpi, the hydro has a hard time getting the boat on plane and slips alot in waves or corners. Just got a labbed bravo from velocity to try this summer, they claim it will make a huge difference.

Steve,

Thanks for the answers to my questions. I might take you on your offer to try the 34 bravos, my friend with a similar boat and power to mine, is going to talk to Gary at Hydromotive. It will be the first of April before we get out again. I'm in Ohio and we did some testing one day in January and one day in February. First time ever up here for those two months.

Thanks again
Randy

Randy,

Happy to help. I lent them (Bravos) to Steve Northington in Alabama for testing on his beautiful P-29 Scarab. He didn't have much luck with them as his X dimension is pretty high. They cavitated big time getting on plane and would never quite hook up.

That's once again where testing seperates reality from theory. Testing various props, X dimensions, etc. has proven me wrong more than right, dang I hate that

That's why I don't mind lending the props. Better you find out for sure, then spend a large amount of money and then have some useless stuff gathering dust.

Good luck,

Steve

Hi Steve! Did you break 100 yet? Sounds like the 5 blades are at least part of the answer. BTW, Ronie and I had a great time visiting you at Christmas. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat with us.

Velocity 260, a friend of mine has the same boat with a 502 MPI. Last summer I lent him my 26 Bravo (stock) BIG DIFFERENCE. He had a 26 Hydromotive that I tried and it actually worked better on my boat than the Bravo. We swapped and are both happy. Bottom line, the only way to know for sure what will work best on your boat is to try everything you can.

Larry

Steve,
Do the 5 blade Hydros provide alot of transom lift?
I had a 22 Q4 Hydro on my boat when it was stock (64mph) and it worked great but now that the boat is running 80 the 26 Q4 Hydro was quite scary on the boat, it had WAY too much transom lift. I have a labbed 26 Bravo 1 but my slip is 22% (if I remembered right) which makes me think the the X is too conservative. I don't really want to add an standoff box and shorter lower (yet) so I'm looking for the miracle prop. LOL
I was just wondering if the 5 blade would help.

Larry and 26 Scarab,

Larry, I sure enjoyed meeting you and your wife over Christmas. Has she recieved the National Teaching certificate? Ever since she told me about that, I've noticed articles about what it takes to earn it and how proud the teachers are that finally receive one. Congrats to Ronie!!!

BTW, no I haven't hit 100 with the rev limiters in active mode. Only once at about 5700 RPM did we record 100.4. But if we kept running 5700 RPM, I'm afraid the oil pans wouldn't hold all the parts that would leave the engines, like, rods for example

26 Scarab, I haven't noticed anymore transom lift than I did with Bravos. Keep in mind that my boat is pretty stern heavy, with 3 engines and a 5 KW generator all in the last 10 feet of a 43 foot boat. On the race boat, I didn't notice anymore transom lift between the Bravos, Hydromotives or Herrings. However again, that is a very high X dimension rig with staggered engines.

The 5 blade Hydromotive is vastly different from it's 4 bladed cousin. At least on my rig, the 4 blade would cavitate from now till the end of the world. The 5 blade has none.

As to your slip, that's the nature of some Bravo's (but not all) as you go faster. It isn't your low X dimension, as that would normally decrease slip. Raising the x dimension, or essentially unloading the prop, will create higher slip on a Bravo type blade design. A surface piercing prop such as those on #6 drives, inboard hydroplanes etc. are a whole different animal.

Good luck with your rig!

Steve

This thread is very interesting. Would anyone know if a 5 blade prop provide better performance in a 27' baja???

The props I have tried are:

Hydromotive 24p bent to a 25p....speed is the fastest, however in a turn it "blows out"

Revloution 4 23p.....speed is slower by 5mph but the boat handles like it's on a rail.

Thanks Bill

Apache Pete.....I am not running HP 500's but I do have experience with both the hydro's and the bravo 1's on my cig...that is powered with Hawk 550's....I was very unhappy with the Hydro quad 4's because of their tendency to cavitate real bad when coming on plane....although they were a couple of miles an hour faster, in rough or following sea's they would cavitate immensly......I had Bravo 1's on my formula and was very happy with them so I tried them on the cig and what a difference they made....the boat came up on plane much faster and I had no more problems with cavitation in rough conditions.....I did however lose a couple of mph......there is a little more bow lift with the bravo 1's.....but all in all I am very happy with them....I cant help you out with any info on the five blade hydro's although from the first reports.....they sound good.....good luck....Rich

Bill & Spitfire,

Bill, the only way to know for certain what will work on your 27 Baja is to try one. Each hull reacts differently to a specific prop, and where a 5 blade might run awesome on my boat it may not work at all on a different hull, different HP etc. You might want to post your question on the Baja owners section as there are quite a few pretty sharp folks that have tried alot of different set up's on their 27's.

Spitifre, I experienced exactly what you did with 4 blade hydromotives. The same thing happened to Benny and me in the F-2 boat. I was skeptical at first when I tried the 5 blades from Hydromotive. But wow, did they work great! If you'd like, my new ones will be arriving this coming week, they are 15.50 X 31 with full cups, and XR hubs. You're welcome to try them on your Cig and see how they work for you.

Take care,

Steve

I ran a hydromotive on my 272 Shooter and did not like the way it lifted the ass end. It felt like with was plowing a bit although the speed was OK. Could not trim it to lift the nose. I run a 26 pitch Bravo 1 taht was labbed and it is a great prop for cruising and plodding along just about on plane. Lots more grip than a 3-blade. I was wondering about the 4-blade Turbo props. Not many people seem to run them. I had a 3 blade Turbo and it ran pretty good. I since added a superchrager and the the 23 was totally under pitched.