28 Heat & 500 EFI
 

Can someone with some experience in a 28 Nordic Heat with a 500EFI in it tell me what they think. Does the boat handle the power well? Does the boat handle well in chop? How fast will it go? etc...

A 28 Nordic will handle much more power than a 500EFI. I have the 496HO on mine and it's a bore. I know somebody that had a 575 in it and it ran about 78+. I think 73-74 would be a good figure for the 500EFI, maybe a little less. Maybe Dave will post about some other HP figures, he was running a 600hp 540 last year and this winter he is adding a pro-charger to it.

What kind of chop are you talking about? I run mine in Long Island Sound and it's fine until you get 4-5' chop. I'll stay home with that stuff. The chop here is short and steep, so 4-5' rollers are much easier. Although the occasional 4'-5' hole is common and no problem just as long as it's not consistent. I don't see how it could handle chop as good as the same sized Pantera or Powerplay, but it does fine. It's been hit pretty hard with some chop and is holding up just fine. I wouldn't even sweat lake stuff if that's where you boat (unless it's one of the great lakes).

Handing for a step hulled boat is as good as it gets according to the mag tests. It's still a stepped hull though and you need to run it accordingly.

That would be a nice package and Steve was probably a little generous on the speeds. Realistically you could expect consistant 69-71 mph solid GPS numbers at or near sea level. There have been the occasional 73 mph reports but you would be hard pressed to find that consistantly and those are on less accurate radar in magazines. As Steve also mentioned we have a fellow friend/past owner, that had the 575SCi and the best he ever pulled out of it was a tick over 78 GPS, but I believe generally ran 76 as it does for the new owner.
The boat can certainly handle the power from what I understand. Hopefully I'll be finding out. My motor is a mild 540MPI that puts out approximately 560hp and runs consistant 73+/-1 mph on GPS at 1250 foot elevation which it has only seen twice. We generally boat at 4300-6000 feet. At 4300 we run consistantly 67-70.
I am in the middle of supercharging the motor and should be into the mid 80's at lower elevations early this coming Spring.
Sorry for rambling! To answer your question; it would be a very nice reliable package. I don't think you'd be sorry :D
Later,
Dave

Thanks for all the good info. I boat on Lake Champlain where we do get some pretty big waves at times. Being closer to sea level should help me?

Yea...the closer to sea-level, the denser the air = more hp. Some say that salt water is better for bouancy and bite because the salt water is denser than fresh. I don't know of any definitive studies though. You'll do well on Lake Champlain. I've never boated there, but can't see how it would be harder hitting than where I boat. Good luck...btw, if you want to see a Heat, I'm a couple of hours from Albany.

I have one!!!
 

I have a 2000 Heat with the 500efi. I run 70 anytime; flat water, full fuel, 4-5 people,
98*and humid at 1300'. The best I've ever seen is
76. The boat has a mild step, pad, and notched transom. Handles rough water and 3-4' wind blown
lake chop great. Runs straight, flat, and true without any chine walking and turns like its on rails.

rtn137...are those gps numbers? My speedo says 71, but gps is 67. Seems like a great set-up if it is ...Steve:D

Those are gps #'s. Mine is close to yours. Speedo
is around 3-4 mph faster. It needs some chop to get the top speeds. And lots of trim.

Nice numbers rtn137!
What prop and rpm are ya turning?

Blueprinted 28" Bravo 1 at 5100-5200 rpm.

Hey, nice transom! Looks familiar except for mirror imaged; ladder on left and steering on the right :D
We run the same prop setup as you when we go down to the lower 1250 foot elevation and we spin it 5300-5400. I actually like to run our 26 which achieves pretty much the same speed only at 5600 rather than 5300-5400. The blast from 30-70 is a riot too! But, something about 47-48 mph at 3500 vs 41 mph generally keeps the 28 on the when we're down there though. Saves on gas!!

That sounds like a good running 500 for you! We ran the same prop (stock 26) when setting up our boat with the dealer boat (HP500EFI) back to back and we turned it 5300 vs 4900 on the dealer boat. These test were at 3000 feet.

Any plans to speed it up a bit?:p
Later,
Dave

Owned a 1995 non-stepped 28 Heat with a 540 Bulldog, boat ran a solid 72. The Bulldog and the HP 500 are both rated at 470 Hp.

Upgraded the Bulldog with a 420 blower, ran a solid 85mph. Boat handle 85 better than 72.

I've had a Whipple sitting in my garage for a year now. Its going on this winter. I'll be posting lots of ?'s.

Also plan on putting some time of non-skid floor
in like Indy's.

I actually set the boat up when I ordered it for a blower, didn't realize it was going to take 3 years though. :eek:Divorce........ Mine was the 3rd step bottom out of the mold.

rtn, nice garage!!

Sounds like fun RTN!! Sounds like you'll be spending your winter like me. It's a long drawn out project to do it right but it takes my mind off the snow.
I second the nice garage thing!! Ours is stored inside but in a storage unit with no power or gas which equals cold and dark:mad:
Mine is pretty much all torn down. Just installed inconel valves in my heads and am currently re-building all of my fuel system. I have gathered a substantial amount of info for this project so feel free to ask.;)
Later,
Dave

Hey Gary, what outdrive were you running:eek:
This is an area of concern:rolleyes: :confused:
I'm hoping that very little bottom end boost with the PC and our 15-25% drop in hp here at altitude will take some of the burden off of it. It is the latest model Bravo with the bigger shaft and forged gears also.

Your boat and garage are both beautiful. What would keep someone from getting the 28 heat with a 496 mag mpi and a pro-charger or Whipple. I would think that this set up would give you around 600 hp as opposed to the 470 hp of the 500 efi? It would also be a less expensive package. Would there be any reason to go from a bennett to a K-plane on the lake?

This hull doesn't need tabs at all. The only time I use them is for cross wind conditions.

Oh yea, the garage is history now. An EX friends
232 Baja sits in there now!! Cold Blooded..

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Been there;)

Nordicheat,
What do you mean by been there?

Sorry Blkspringer,
nothing boat related...
The "D" word...(divorce), loosing things, etc...

Wow, I am a little slow this time of year. That is cold blooded.

The necessity of tabs depends on the water in which you boat. To say that the hull doesn't need tabs is probably correct in lake conditions. This hull does respond well to trim, but I use my tabs approximately 50% of the time. Some of the time the Bennetts don't hack it and K-Planes would be the ticket. If I had more money when I ordered the boat, I would have gone with the K-Planes.