Nosecones...Are they worth it?
 

I put a Hydromotive nosecone on my OMC Cobra drive a couple of years ago. Can't say I saw (or felt) any difference. But then again, my boat is only in the low 60's. Did I waste my time?

I lost 1-2 mph with nose cones. I think it really isn't needed unless you get into higher speeds where prop blow out is a concern.

On a 90mph drag outboard, I lost 2 boat lengths on holeshot and was still picking up speed thru the traps.

Took the cone back off and picked up all that had been lost. I added it to an XR4 2:1 gearcase for dragging, but couldn't keep water pressure up. After the bad cone episode, I ground "tracks" in the sides of the case to lift the water to the pickups. Got my speed back and got my water pressure back.

Got real mixed feelings on cones...

After running the same boat with and without nosecones with various power I have concluded on my own experience that it depends on the hull. If your hull likes stern lift and carries the bow very well with little positive trim you may gain something. If you have trouble carrying the bow and stern lift forces the bow down you will probably lose speed. My hull has hooks in it (they are coming out this winter) and the bow does not carry well above 60 the nose cones added stern lift and caused the bow to sink as speed increased. On occasion with the right chop and wind it would pop up and carry until conditions let it drop I did see some gain. Sort of like a teeter todder. May not be hurting you at 60. Steering seemed as it it had more of a tendency to grab in hard turns.

You do not want them as I understand with Bravo's unless you are going over 75-80 and TRS drives if you are going 80-85. Anything slower you will likely loose speed by putting them on.

Jon

On an Eliminator 28" Daytona with Bravos, the cones started making a difference about 85 mph. We had one drive with a cone and one without running at the same time. By 90 mph, the throttles were pretty far apart and the drive without the cone was gaining a ton of rpm compared to the one with the cone.

Below 85, both drives ran about the same.

Thanks for the input. I have the cone on an OMC Cobra drive, which I'm sure you guys aren't using. Unfortunately, when I put the cone on, it was with the old engine which was slowly dying, so I couldn't tell if it made any change. I have noticed with the new engine, that I do tend to run a lot of positive trim. Actually, the engine story would be a good one. I'll have to post it one day. How hard is it to get the cones off??

Just removed two; one welded -- one just epoxied. The welded one was actually easier cause it was only tacked and a die grinder took care of that -- then WHACK and it's off. For the full epoxy installation, you gotta use heat and then WHACK. --- Jer

Sledge hamma.

Not a baby tap, BIIG smack.

Yeah, a big ole whack!

I heated mine with a torch just to get the epoxy a little soft, the whackaroo. I had both of them off in about 10 minutes. An added benefit later was the left over epoxy filled in some of the pit marks that were under there.

Sounds like I have a little work ahead of me.
I'll have to repaint this thing too.:rolleyes:

I had changed the lower due to a broken skeg on my 24'
Formula. The gearcase that I used had a nosecone and was a newer style case. It slowed me down bigtime.
Eric(TRIPPS) Told me it was due to propwash. Does anybody know if there is a speed difference in Bravo lowers? The newer style ones are heavier and the propshaft housing is 4'' longer. Anyway the boat did 62 GPS before I ran aground at 3am.DUH I didn't have my $750 GPS with me! I haven't checked the speed since changing lowers. Anyway I bought a replacement skeg and will try to run new wires out to my garage so that I can get The P&H tig welder going. Need more amps service out there. Of course I'm going to use the lower without the nosecone. Thanks, BBB

I want one just for how cool it looks on the trailer.

Roby :cool:

Where do you put them on the trailer?:p

:D :D there is one in every group :rolleyes: :D

Roby

I Had an '88 Lib 211 with a King Cobra and a Hydromotive nose cone.( it was more pointed)
Speed didn't change , but it did handle better:) Prop also had a better bite on the water in tight turns.

For those of you who have had possitive experiences on the top end by adding a nose cone----what kind of speed loses or gains (if any) were experienced at the midrange or cruising speeds? Just curious. Thanks

My boat presently runs in the 90s (GPS) and has no nose cone. Its a 2000 bravo. I would like to know about good results as well as which model was used. Thanks greg