Hi guys

I'm in Melbourne and curious about the offshore racing circuit. Are cigarette style boats still raced in Australia? Say 38ft top guns?

hombre,

I like the 4 blade ET on a hull like yours. You will need to raise the engine another 1/2 over the height when running the 3 blade ET.

The 4 blade was my baby when still at Merc Racing. We couldn't get the money to get the tooling back then even though we had all the development done.

All the pitch sizes will be available very soon!

Thankyou bblades, what pitch would you suggest? also would you recommend starting with a larger pitch and then bringing it down till we get it right?

Thanks
Pete

Hi Pete and Jim,

Antony here. Still plenty of life in National A if you two and one other get going for next year.

Give me a call or send me a PM.

Cheers

Hi Antony, thanks for josephs number organising steering with him now, hopefully the brown bros & the slick guys will also sign up for National A and we will have a great class next season.

cheers
pete

Try www.aopc.com.au. You will see the teams that run in the Australian series.

There was a Top Gun that was the start boat a while ago. Usually the cats are much faster on the water that we race on.

Thycon is in Melbourne, don't forget to go and cheer for them next race...

Thank you, What happened to that top gun? do you know what year it was and is it for sale? Whats the story with performance boating in Australia, it is basically non existant compared to America. Apparently in the 70's it was much bigger. When is the next race in Melbourne, would love to check it out!?
Did you say you have a Cigarette? If so any pics?

Pitch will be determined by testing. Racing and top end can be two completely different things. I'd guess 26 but some base line is required.

Thanks bblades, i would recon a guess from you is near right, actually i spoke with the boat builder today and he has a merc 280 and uses a 26.

will be in touch thanks again.

Pete,

Remember most of the 280 mercs run 1.87 gear boxes. Your 300xs has a 1.62 box but will not rev as high as the 280.

With todays tighter and shorter courses punch out of the corners is just as important as top speed.

Try to gety hold of some test props in the 23 -26 range and work out which is best for your boat before laying out any money.

Also in the rough you are going to want a prop that gives you plenty of punch so once again a bigger prop may not be the best as B/Blades has suggested.

Cheers