bkk7791

Just bought a 99 hammer, with a 454mpi, bravo 1. 125 hours. Everything is stock. Want to kick it up to the 80mph area...What would be the best bang for the buck? IMCO exhaust? Cam? air intake?....Without spending my future kids inheritance?? I am mechanically able, but have not played with a big block boat in a LONG time.....any suggestions ???

Thanks, Brian in San Antonio

cooltoys61

Exhaust is 1st. Try Revolution marine for less than $1000 you get a descent Gil copy.Tell them Allen from KY sent you. How fast are you now? Go to go-fast.com then "knowledge base" then boat speed calculator to see how many more HP it will take for your goal.

xtremespeed

I have a very good friend that has a 2001 Hammer and he had a 496 built for it by us. It will run a solid 81-82 mph and has hit 86. It is a very reliable motor and runs and sounds healthy. It cost him about $3-4000 to have it built w/o all of the paint and crome goodies. It is also a very quick boat. Whatever you decide to do, let me warn you that boat doesn't stick to the water very well when you get up towards top speed, It wants to chime walk bad and as soon as it starts you better pull off of the throttle or it will go on over.

Griff

If you want to go 80 and live, you better get a boat that is made to go 80. That is way beyond safe for that boat. Not to mention you NEED hydraulic steering($2500) if you even want to risk it.

Kidnova

Not challenging or arguing with extremespeed but....my 23 Nova walked bad when I got it up around 60 - 65 mph/gps. You really had to "drive" the boat. It had a 25 Mirage plus on it at the time. This spring I had Throttle Up lab the prop for me. I was on the water this past Sunday in a 12 to 14 inch chop and hit 73 on gps. No walk at all. Moral....walking can sometimes be affected by the prop you're running. If you have to back off the throttle do it slowly. If I backed off too quick when the boat was walking, it got real squirelly...scarey.

I'm not familiar with the 22' Hammer hull. But, is it designed to handle 80 mph? That's really moving in a 22 ft. boat.

And like Griff said, if you plan on going 80 mph you best have hydraulic steering. If you're going over 50 or 60 in a 22 ft. boat and have a steering failure, you could really be screwed.

BadDog

At the minimum install the Sidewinder if you are hitting those speeds.
http://www.drewmarine.com/

magnum27

Be sure to have your insurance paid up!!!

Kidnova

BadDog,
Do you know anyone that has used the Sidewinder? Do they handle ok for docking? I was thinking of one to damp the steering in case of a failure, plus maybe take some stress off of my chitty cable steering.

Insurance......how true, both boat AND life.

Thanks - Bill

BadDog

Bill,

I have the dual ram setup on my BAJA. I am running close to 80 after the Blower install so I added it for insurance. I replaced my cable last year. The only difference at idle speed is slight amount of added resistance. After running it awhile you are totally adjusted to it.

On a very cold morning leaving a marina or cove the resistance is a little more as the shock is pretty chilly. I do like being able to remove my hand from the wheel at cruise speed and not worry about it wondering off. Overall for peace of mind and safety I would recommend it if you don't want to pony up for hydraulic. It has a nice predictable feel.

It is supposed to help with the chine walk as well but I did not have that problem to start with. An added benefit is when trailering the drive stays straight and does not work against the cable and rack. It is also claimed to increase the lifetime of the Gimbel by eliminating the wagging that causes wear on bushings. While installing it I checked how much pressure it takes to move the drive around, you may be able to get by with a single setup. They might recommend a dual for your speeds but one is better than none. The shock works equally in both extension and compression.

Tim T.

SledgeHammer

The Hammer can handle 80 MPH. I know as I have one and it runs right at 80 on a Gaffrig GPS. When I had the stock motor, it showed 68 to 70 on the stock speedometer. I bought a 468 that is supposed to put out around 500 hp and sold the stock motor. The speedo went off the end of the guage and looked like about 86. Put the GPS speedo on and can now just touch 80 with a light load of gas and no passengers. The first season I ran it with the stock steering and it was a real handful. The only way to hit top speed was running in a slight arc to take up the slack in the steering. I put a single add on hydraulic steering and it helped but was still a little scary. I have now added the hydraulic helm and that has settled things down considerably. You can still get a chine walk if you are not paying attention, but at this speed you better be paying attention. Don't think you can drive over most waves at this speed. What you used to be able to drive over at 65 will launch you at 80 when fully trimmed. I think the easiest least expensive way for you to get there is get a different engine and sell the one you have. Unfortunately, you will never get the money back out of it and you just have to chalk up the cost to fun. At some point you may decide you want a bigger boat. If you see that in your future you might just want to enjoy what you have and save the money for the next boat. A bigger boat costs more to make it go fast however. Have fun but stay safe.