I never actually checked the drive length.. I will check while its out of the water. As far as coming off plane, my drive is tucked under before I throttle down, but I do throttle back a lil slow because if I cut throttle fast it seems to make the bow rise worse coming off plane. Im determined to figure this out and get a couple seasons more experience with this boat before possibly going to a larger vessel. Thanks again for the input.

Pictures would help!

Thought I'd check back in with a progress report. This season I addressed a few issues that were keeping us from enjoying the boat. The biggest one being the prop issue that prompted me to start this thread. As you may know, the boat had a 25P Mirage Plus. Although on paper and according to many other owners of this boat it was the best match, I was having handling issues. Hard to plane and constant blowout issues. I never could hit WOT at any speed without massive slippage. This year I bought 2 Hydromotive Quad IV 4 blades... 1 way too big (26P), and 1 a little small (22P) for VERY cheap. I skipped the 26 because I knew it was too big and installed the 22. WOW! Instant holeshot irregardless of number of people, fuel, gear, etc.... time to plane is fantastic and can now actually go full throttle and the secondaries kick in and rear, lol.. I do feel like it has lost alot of top end potential but the "area under the curve" is so good I decided to just rock the little 22P this season and see if next year can add some power and grow into the 26P. My main question is although I expected the engine to be bouncing off the limiter it dosent. From full- down trim, I can only get 1 good bump of up - trim that the boat responds to. At about 50 MPH the engine dosent sound like it's at 4600 like it should. ( no tach yet, I know I need one) Any more trim results in slight vibration and no higher revs or top speed. Should I continue to try to push the trim until the revs climb more or is the slight vibration trying to tell me something? It does the slight vibration while turning as well. Any thoughts?

A hydro QIV is not the right prop for your boat. Hydro QIV's are stern lifting props. You need a 22" Bravo 1 prop or maybe a Rev4 prop.
Get a tach. Being its a carbed 1995 engine, it probably has TB IV ignition and it will not have a rev limiter.

The vibration could be a bad gimbal bearing or U joint or it could just be the prop

You know nothing not knowing your rpm. Rpm range the prop gives you means so much on how your boat handles. An over propped boat won’t be just down on planing/acceleration but usually make the boat handle like a bag of potatoes. Horrible.

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Bravo one 22 or 24.
Did anyone say get a tach.
It’s only money dude…. have fun.

Vibration may be caused from a bad gimbal bearing.

Thanks for the response guys. Regarding the vibration, let me describe it a little better. When I first noticed it I was at a fairly low speed of about 23 mph. (Just after planing I slowed down and we were sight seeing.) In my boredom. I found myself messing with the trim. I wanted to see if I could see differences in bow height and spray coming off the boat while trimming up. Where this would almost certainly result in prop slip with the 3 blade, the 4 blade never slipped but started to vibrate slightly. (Almost like you could feel it "beating" the water) This vibration was soft and not accompanied by any noise, etc... As far as on the top end, when at WOT a good bump of trim nets a noticeable difference in attitude and speed, but any more trim up dosent seem to be raising the stern or otherwise decreasing the wetted area of the hull. The revs dont raise either. This is at 50 MPH. I need to get a tach to give better details but I can tell the engine is loaded pretty good. It sounds as if it's on a dyno with a very deep rear and is obvious it should be revving faster. I think I should be seeing high 50's, right at 60 with this prop at 4600 rpm, but at 50 the hull isnt trying fly, it's just glued to the water, lol... should I just try to trim up until the revs climb like I know they should or wait until I get a tach? I mean can I hurt anything? ( trim gauge and limit senders all need replacing so no trim limit.... that's why I ask)
As always, thanks for any and all input!

Nobody is going to be able to adequately help you further until you install a tach. Next, describe your trim position as negative (angled down in relation to the keel OR neutral (parallel to the keel) OR positive (angled up in relation to the keel). You also need to tell us (in neutral trim position) the vertical distance from a straightedge on your keel to the centerline of the propshaft (the center of the bullet) .

Then you can say - I'm running a Bravo 1 24 pitch, with the propshaft 6" below the keel, at moderately positive trim and turn 4,350 rpm wide open running 51mph on my phone's GPS and (fill in the blank) happens.

Thanks Mcollinstn. I'm trying to get a tach to give accurate info to you guys. And yes I'll be sure to apply the proper vernacular in future posts, lol