what is this boat capable of doing
 

2001 Profile 280 cat, does anyone know what the capabilities are of this boat??? There has got to someone out there that was involved in the R&D of this boat, or someone that has put big power in one. Come people fess up..
Larry

The 280 cat is capable of more speed than most people are capable of handling. It is very low on the water and pretty small for 100+ speeds. It still feels very solid at 110-115 mph, but there isn't much boat left in the water. The higher your drive x-dimension is, the more squirrely it gets. It seems that a 3" shorty with the drive in the standard bravo mounting position is close to optimum, but somewhat less solid than my current 2". I am running about 1,000 hp and the motor still has tons left and turning about 5500 rpm with a 1.34 ratio and 32" Bravo one. I always have someone else in the boat, so I haven't red-lined (6200) it yet. By the calculator, that would be about 124 mph. I have no doubt it will pull a 34" just fine and possibly a lab 36" if top speed was the most important thing in your life. Docking with a single engine is bad enough already, the 32" idle speed is pretty fast at 800 rpm. If you race or run solo a lot, you may want to go faster, but for "pleasure" boating, it is easy to go into adrenneline over-dose quickly at speeds much higher than that. I always ask my passengers what their speed limit is when I take them for a ride and you usually get the same response "speed doesn't bother me". When you get up into the 80-100 mph range, most cry uncle. On the "man's" ride, we typically go 105-110 mph. I love the boat and am extremely impressed with how it runs/handles for its size, but if I want to go 130+ it will be in a bigger boat. I have actually been considering a 36' Spectre, I just don't know if I want to give up my little hot rod. I would be giving up a pretty respectable place on the food chain for a smoother, more stable ride.

it's nice to have someone outthere with a similar set up, as of right now, I figure I am running about 1050 to 1100 HP, the dyno wasn't avalible when I put it together, so this winter I will pull it out and have it checked, I'm still doing some fine tuning and have had some minor problems, I'm running a imco 12" standoff and 3" rise box, drive is stock length imco sc with 1.34:1 gears, running a 30P B1 labbed, and I am having a high slip problem with this prop, about 17%, it is just bumping up against the 100 spot with this set up, but the boat likes the high x dimention and is very stable at those speeds.
are you running labbed props? who labbed them? I would like to chat more with you about this.
Thanks
Larry

Larry, If your horsepower rating is accurate, 30p is way too small (unless you are not going for top end). I am running a 32P non-lab finished Bravo one prop. I would probably try out a 36P lab finished if I was going for top speed. I have essentially the same setup with a 2" shorty on a BMax.

I am running at lake powell utah and the altitude is 3600 ft, I can only get 5500 rpm with the 30P, thats why I think it needs to come out and go to the dyno, I'm not running a lot of boost, 6-7 lb's, I didn't have room for a innercooler under the hatch, befor the supercharger I got better slip #'s running a stock non-labbed prop, I may try that again, with the labbed 32P It is a total pig out of the hole and just acts like it's to much prop.

Do you have a Air/Fuel bung in the tailpipe/header? I wouldn't take the motor out of the boat. The engine dyno can get you close, but nothing beats adjusting it in the boat under real operating conditions. I had my engine dynoed as well during the build, but there was still a lot of untapped horsepower that in-boat tuning brought out. If you are running a MEFI setup, I would like to recommend Ben Bowman at http://mefituning.com/. It is truely amazing the performance gains that I saw after an in-boat tune. When we were tuning the boat at 5000+, it took a bit of effort. When we finally got it correct, the boat started prop-walking (at 100 mph) because of the extreme acceleration. 5000+ rpm had never been correct since the dyno tune. Now the boat idles forever at 800 rpm in gear, it is just a quick wrist twitch to come on plane (it literally jumps up on plane at partial throttle) and the boat will accelerate obnoxiously to redline (currently set to 6000). If you are not running a MEFI system, Ben still may be able to help you out. He is honest and very helpful -- give him a call. He will be happy to answer questions or come out to the boat. The specs on my motor:
580 CID, Pro 1 355 CNC Heads, Whipple 3.3L (5-8 lbs), Intercooler, 65lb injectors, Roller Hydraulic, BMax 1.34, 32P. At one time, I had entertained running a bigger prop. I have no doubt it would turn a 34P to redline. If I were to invest in a bigger prop, it would be a 36P lab-finished. Your boat should be giving you similar performance if the horsepower numbers are accurate. I wish you good luck, Patrick.