Originally Posted by Steve Zuckerman

Bill, one thing that really stands out to me in your setup that could be causing and/or aggravating your chine walk is your trim angle. If you can get your boat to run with the propshaft more parallel to the pad, it will handle better at speed and use your horsepower more efficiently. You are headed in the right direction with the labbed 30" prop.
I am not familiar with the X dimension on the Rage. Just a theory, on Butch's older '96 Heat with a deep (I think it was 15.5"s) XD, he always had to run a lot of trim to (semi)surface his propeller, which induced a lot of porpoising. We put a 2" shorty on his boat (now with a theoretical 17.5" XD), and it runs much better, even though it runs flatter. It requires very little if any positive trim now. I run maybe 1 or 2 degrees max. On my manual Livorsi gauge, with a 1-10 scale, I cruise at 2, and run WOT at 2.5 to 3. 2.5 on my gauge is parallel to the pad. My XD with a 1" spacer is 18.25"s.
Has anyone tried a short lower on a fast Rage? How did that work? Although a 4 blade should have plenty of blade area for your boat, has anyone tried a 5 blade on a fast Rage?
Lateral weight placement is also critical to getting a pad vee to handle properly at high speed. There is so little hull in contact with the water, they are inherently unstable. When your fuel is level in both tanks, does the boat fall off the pad to one side? If it does, reduce your gas load on that side. I run 1/4 tank more on the right to offset the propeller torque on my boat, which tries to roll the boat to port.
Bob L had one at Lake Cumberland a few years ago with blown 540 in it. I know it was really fast. He probably has some ideas for you.
Best Regards,
Steve

Originally Posted by DesertRage

Bill, from previous conversation, your prop shaft is the same as mine @ 5.5" below the pad.

Originally Posted by Rage

Steve, Thanks for posting your suggestions and info. Is that 1/4 tank extra weight on the starboard side of your Heat to balance the prop torque with driver only or other? Do you use that same 1/4 tank with both the five blade and the Bravo four blade props? My prop shaft is 5.5 inches below the bottom of the pad. How does that compare with yours? i appreciate any response you care to provide.

Thanks again,

Bill

Originally Posted by Steve Zuckerman

Bill, one thing that really stands out to me in your setup that could be causing and/or aggravating your chine walk is your trim angle. If you can get your boat to run with the propshaft more parallel to the pad, it will handle better at speed and use your horsepower more efficiently. You are headed in the right direction with the labbed 30" prop.
I am not familiar with the X dimension on the Rage. Just a theory, on Butch's older '96 Heat with a deep (I think it was 15.5"s) XD, he always had to run a lot of trim to (semi)surface his propeller, which induced a lot of porpoising. We put a 2" shorty on his boat (now with a theoretical 17.5" XD), and it runs much better, even though it runs flatter. It requires very little if any positive trim now. I run maybe 1 or 2 degrees max. On my manual Livorsi gauge, with a 1-10 scale, I cruise at 2, and run WOT at 2.5 to 3. 2.5 on my gauge is parallel to the pad. My XD with a 1" spacer is 18.25"s.
Has anyone tried a short lower on a fast Rage? How did that work? Although a 4 blade should have plenty of blade area for your boat, has anyone tried a 5 blade on a fast Rage?
Lateral weight placement is also critical to getting a pad vee to handle properly at high speed. There is so little hull in contact with the water, they are inherently unstable. When your fuel is level in both tanks, does the boat fall off the pad to one side? If it does, reduce your gas load on that side. I run 1/4 tank more on the right to offset the propeller torque on my boat, which tries to roll the boat to port.
Bob L had one at Lake Cumberland a few years ago with blown 540 in it. I know it was really fast. He probably has some ideas for you.
Best Regards,
Steve

Originally Posted by goebel1

Bill
I agree with this quote. First off I don't believe you will get every bit of the china out of the hull. You will learn what water condition and slosh you can get away with. The full Hydraulic steering will help a lot but you lose your turn radius on a single engine application. A out of a box five blade will help also but you may lose 1-3 mph on top end. If you have a buddy that has a 5 blade Lab Maximus or22degree Hering to try out I would definitely try them. These prop will lift that bow for you (less trim)... If you like you can borrow my Hering to try out. So you can see what using less trim will do for you.

George

Originally Posted by Steve Zuckerman

I use it to offset the right hand propeller torque. With just me on board, it seems about right. With a passenger in the port bolster, I have to use even more gas weight/level in the starboard tank. The passenger weight makes it a little worse. With a boat load (3/4/5) of passengers, I try to get more weight (guys) to sit behind me or in the rear middle with a load of five. It's always better to get the boat to run level laterally by redistributing your total load (coolers/accessories/gas/crew) rather than tabbing it out. Obviously, if we are just out for an afternoon cruise to our local lake bars, I just use the tabs.
I sold my four blades off. I did have one that worked pretty well, which was labbed by Throttle Up (unfotunately no longer working on other manufacturers props), but it still fell off with a load. 4 blades are more weight sensitive on Heats with high X dimensions. With the P5-Xs, there is very little difference in performance. The extra blade area carries the longer/heavier Heat much better.
Good luck with your testing Bill. Your boat is running very well. Sometimes it takes some "seat time" to get the last 2 or 3 MPH wrung out. Be safe and keep us posted.
Best Regards,
Steve

Originally Posted by goebel1

Bill
I agree with this quote. First off I don't believe you will get every bit of the china out of the hull. You will learn what water condition and slosh you can get away with. The full Hydraulic steering will help a lot but you lose your turn radius on a single engine application. A out of a box five blade will help also but you may lose 1-3 mph on top end. If you have a buddy that has a 5 blade Lab Maximus or22degree Hering to try out I would definitely try them. These prop will lift that bow for you (less trim)... If you like you can borrow my Hering to try out. So you can see what using less trim will do for you.

George

Originally Posted by bobl

I recently swapped my 29 P5X to goeble1 for a 28 P5X. It really works great on my Heat. You might want to give it a try when we meet up in June. I'm affraid George's Herring might be a bit large for Bill's Rage, but it might be a good test of handling.

Bob