A five bladed Rage ?
 

As I'm sitting here south of Denver in another big snow storm I'm looking forward to a couple of spring projects. In addition to adding hydrualic steering I'm thinking about props and a possible gear change. I would like to find out if any other Rage owners out there have tried or are using one of the new 5 blade props. I have a 496Mag HO that I ordered with a Bravo 1X and the 1:65 gear set. I ordered that gear ratio for the altitude here in Colorado. After adding the whipple supercharger to my 496 I've more than made up for the lost horse power at this elevation. Now I'm looking to get it dialed in. This past summer I got comfortable driving the boat in the mid 70's. I currently running a 30" bravo1 per Lonnies (at Nordic) suggestion. I've not made a top speed run so I don't have rpm/mph numbers yet. I'm going to get the hydraulic steering first before I push it faster. So my question is based somewhat on principal. I'm more interested in acceleration and midrange.(Top speed on small busy lakes is just not safe)

Should I spend my money on selecting and dialing in a 5 blade like the Maximus or maybe changing my ratio to a 1:50 and tweaking my Bravo1? I've already had Max Machine Worx beef up the drive so I'm good there. I've posted this here because I wanted to know if any other Rage owners have tried the Maximus or P5.

Thanks!

Pat

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

My experience with the Rage shows that the prop slip is really low with the Bravo 1 prop. You normally go to a 5 blade to reduce slip. Since it's so low anyway I doubt you'd see a lot of improvement. Probably lose some speed. It also likes a lot of bow lift. I don't think a Maximus would work very well unless it had some major rework. I love the P5X on my 28, but that boat has a lot more prop slip than the Rage. If you were going to try anything, try the P5X.
Bob

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

He is correct ...... Save your money

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

Thanks for your imput. I hadn't thought about the weight/size of my boat as compared to others that might consider a five blade. Do you think a gear change from the 1:65 to the 1:50 is something thing to consider? Or is spending the money on getting the prop dialed in a more effective approach. I beleive that at 5200 rpm the prop shaft is turning about 300 rpm slower on my drive. (1:65 ratio)

Thanks again

Pat

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

If you are truely more interested in acceleration, then stay with the 1.65. Going to 1.50 would probably give better top speed. The 5 blade would also increase your acceleration. I have a customer with a 20' Cobalt. It has a modified, Whipplecharged 6.2L with about 575 HP. He's running a 1.65 gear ratio. He cannot run the boat top speed because of handling, so we dropped the pitch and went to a 5 blade P5X. That is the fastest accelerating runabout I've ever seen. 0-70 in a heartbeat.

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

If I were able to boat regularly on larger lakes I would be more interested in top speed. In Colorado our two largest lakes are at 7500 and 8500 feet. Power drops off up there. The rest are too small to run full speed. I'm willing to trade a few on the top end for improved acceleration and midrange. At least that is where I'm at at this point with my current boat/motor combination. I'll probably spend the coin on upgrading my steering and a prop this year, as well as a much needed upgrade to my trailer brakes, and get comfortable driving the Rage with this combination.

Thanks for everyone's imput.

Pat

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

Pat,
What is the story with your brakes? Mine seem a bit mushy as well and when making extreme elevation changes I need to remove the fill cap and revert the rubber baloon dealio in the reservoir or I can't back it up.
The elevation does some strange stuff.
What is the brake upgrade you are doing?
Thanks,
Dave

Just a side note, we boat from 4000-6200 feet around our parts and no one runs 1.65 gears. Not saying it's not a good idea but I don't think your going to deprived of a bottom end with the Whipple. Also, the props become less efficient over 28 or so and your new peak rpm will be about 5350.
Just depends on what you use it for I suppose.
We pull a speed skier at 5000 feet with my buddy's Rage (the 961 boat in Hot Boat this month) with an HO and although it doesn't yank him out of the water it does do the job with 1.5/26 Bravo One. Once on plane it accelerates plenty hard. The Whipple would yank your arms off even with the 1.5 ratio :)

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

Dave,

After coming down Berthoud Pass and then again Monarch Pass this year I had considrable brake fade and had boiled out some of the grease on the brake axle. This past summer was the first one that I towed in the mountains with my Rage. I did some checking around with local trailer shops and then the manufacturer of the disc brakes (UFP) for the trailer that Nordic makes. The folks at UFP insisted that the disks on only one axle were ok for flatland towing and not realy the best idea for passes in mountainous states. They recomended 4 wheel discs at a minimum. The other problem is downhill on a steep grade the surge accuator is more than likely activated slightly the entire trip, especially if you are following a train of vehicles down the hill. This overheats your brakes, at least on my setup. Both of the local shops told me that they do a lot of work in the winter months upgrading trailer brakes for new boat owners (horse trailers also). They recomend an electric/hydraulic conversion at the minimum, so that the brakes are only activated when you press the brake pedal in the tow vehicle. Adding another set of discs to the front trailer axle will help with the actual braking also. Total cost is about 900 bucks, including intstallation. I'm thinking it is money well spent.

For a couple of years I was always inserting the lock out tab in the coupler so that I could back up. I then found that the trailer wiring harness for my Dodge wasn't set up right. There were a couple of extra wires and I found which one was hot when in reverse and connected it properly so it worked the electric lock out for backing up. I don't have to get out of the truck to back up now.

I'm kindof wishing I would of ordered the 1:50 ratio when I bought the boat. I was going off of my experience with small block bow riders when I ordered the boat. With the 496 HO I think the "altitude ratio" shouldn't have been a consideration. But thats the choice I made. The whipple has plenty of low end get up and go, but with the 30" bravo1 I have more bow rise than I did stock, once on plane acceleration is great. As I've said, top speed is not an overwhelming issue. I was wondering if a 5 blade would be a good compromise compared to the cost of changing gears along with a new bravo 1.

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

Guess I could add a 3rd set :)

Yes, I'm constatntly tapping my accellerator when cruising down hill so that I don't generate too much heat. The rubber nipple thing only happens when returning from Havasu (600 feet) or Mead (1200 feet) to our local lake (5200 feet) and then not all the time.

Your 1.65s will probably be fine; let us know the numbers when you get them.

Sounds like you all are getting tons of snow; maybe that will get Powell on the rise!!

Dave

Re: A five bladed Rage ?
 

WOW....there are so many issues at those altitudes :eek: