A friend of mine had a 93' w/502MPI's,
he complained how squirrely it was, and how it
would do weird things.

I thought it was probably just him til he had me drive it.

We were running 70-75ish, I started to slow down,
brought the drives in a bit, and it fell off the pad, heeled
over to the port side running surface

I held it straight til it settled back down.....it wasn't
a real fun experience.....kind of like driving on ice.

Later, we switched the props to outside rotation,
that helped quite a bit, but still was kind of unpredicatable.

This boat didn't have external steering, I don't
know if it would have cured all the looseness it
had, but it probably would have helped.

He later bought a 32 Outlaw w/the same power.

Although it might have been a tick slower, at least
you could drive it at ease at any speed in any water
condition.

If you're set on adding power to a 320ES,
I would make shure you have full hyd. ext. steering
and 380 k-planes, and outside rotating props.

All of that may make it a driveable machine at the
speeds it will run.

I will have to defer to those that are more familiar with the particular boat, but it would seem that a 32 should be able to handle that much power if set up right. I have been running a Baja Hammer with a 468 that the builder claimed put out 500 HP for the last 5 years. While it is a handful, hydraulic steering made it controlable. Best speed on GPS speedo was 79 - 80 down river. It definately makes the adrenalin pump, but adrenalin is a perfect drug. I pulled it out this fall have a 540 with 600 HP being built. If you can't use it all you don't have to push the throttle all the way down, but it is nice to have when you need it.

I know the 89 force 32 had a vee no pad does your boat have a pad or straight vee? I see its a 91.

Chris, My cousin has a 1988 32' Baja. He bought it with Merc 454cid/330hp engines in it. He has since then upgraded the engines to 461hp @5100rpm and 510 foot pounds of torque @3800rpm. It now runs about 69-71mph with a 25" 3-bladed prop.

If you want to see his 32' Baja run....here is a link--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qyco5Ep5wHc


Look for his boat at 3:46 and it will show his boat running at speed in calm water----it looks to be very steady.

Nice vid! I like the white ninja at the end!

A 320es is just not a speed demon, but it is a good boat & I would not be afraid of 500 a side in it.
I was in love with a red & black 320es that was on LOTO named the "Flaming B!tch". Never could get it bought.
The 322 was even worse with handling, but 500 a side isn't even getting close to being dangerous.
Go for it!

Whats really the problem? It has a nice, deep V and the whole shape looks like it should be stabile. What is the problem? How can i fix it? Maybe big trimtabs?.. and which boats are basically better?

The big pad and the high center of gravity.

Full hyd steering, 380 k-planes and outside rotating
props is how I would set it up.

32/33 outlaws handle much better.

Don't be so afraid of what people tell you,,,,if u whant 500's stick them in ,,,then go from there and dial the boat in to your compfort,,,,,,,,,u will see its not that bad.

The dialing in part will tell u if u need longer tabs or boxes ,which props and all that,,,,,,,untill u dial it in u have a long way to go.

I had a 33 PP with twin 650 HP race engines and everybody told me i am nuts,,,,the damn thing was fine in every way.

Its what u make of it not what other people did with there boats.
Every boat has up's and down's and the biggest issui is that most of them are dialed in wrong !!!!

Chris, did you see the video link I posted on Post #14??? I am not sure if there have been any design changes between my cousin's 1988 32' Baja and yours, but if you watch the video does it look like my cousin's 32' has any problems with dual 461hp engines in that hull? It sure looks pretty good and steady to me.

The dead calm water really shows how the hull rides at that speed. He had just planed off and trimmed the drives up and was still gaining speed as he was going by with 4 people in the boat.

I think a 32' Baja would be a safe enough platform at speed with dual 500hp engines if that is the power you wanted.