32 fountain props
 

Need a little advice on prop selection. Boat is a 32 Fountain, no steps, running 27p hydros spinning out. I feel the boat runs very flat, maybe it's suppose to and I'm just not use to it, maybe not? I feel it needs more bow lift and would like to get a pair of bravo props to help with that. Rpm wise, what would 26p and 28p bravos vs my 27p hydros do, increase, decrease.... Thanks!

28 Bravos will spin pretty close to the same rpms as 27 Hydro's.

If you're running regular Hydro Q4's, they are stern lifting props. Bravo's or the Q4X's will give more bow lift.

Thanks griff, that pretty much what I was thinking, just wanted confirmation I guess.

I have the same hull and would be curious to hear the results if you change them.

Just picked up some bravo 28p but it's that time of year and she's already in hibernation. I will let you know in the spring though. What motors/props are you running? Spinning in or out?

I have 502 MPI's with 26 Hydro Q4's spinning out. Came from the factory this way according to the test report. I have always wondered if spinning in on this hull would make any speed difference or just make docking harder as most say. Most 32's I read about here have steps and they all spin in and do go slightly faster, but not much talk about ours I have found so I am very curious. I was planning on swapping them to spinning in this year but had a top end let go which ended my summer way too soon. What power does yours have and what speed did you see with the 27's?

I have hp500s and 27p hydros but only spinning them to 4600 at 74.5 but after talking with whiplash from here with a 94 32 and hp500s he was spinning about the same as I am and switched to 28p bravos spinning out and had them labbed. I think he's flirting with 80-82 now if I remember correctly. He was just starting to play around with them when we talked. I have no hydraulic steering and my steering has about 2" of play in it, so it gets pretty loose feeling without the tabs set at 4 right now, but it rides very flat regardless. Steering is getting fixed this spring so I'll have better data then.

I'm no expert but I figured with the little extra power you had with the 500's you should be able to spin those to 5k and be just shy or be able to break 80 or so. Do you have the performance report from Fountain for it I'd be interested in seeing what it did from the factory if I was you. Mine came with hydraulic steering but I hear it's no fun without it. I saw on FB swap a full setup that was pretty cheap if you are looking... I will be overhauling my engines this winter (possibly to around 500 specs) so when you have some more data please share!

Yeah I was told by previous owner it spins them to 4900, had old gas at sea trial and didn't want to run WOT so only brought it up to 4000.... Long story short it's had about 3 full fresh tanks through them now and only runs 4650 tops, but I do run the tabs at 4 and drives at 3.5-4 or she's a REAL handful, so possibly I'm just plowing water being the nose is buried. I do have the performance report, just got it from fountain last week. Motors aren't stock, didn't start making them til 94, and I have no idea what year they are. Report shows 502 mags, 25p mirage, 5200rpm at 74.5mph, tabs at 3.2 drives at 5.4 on an 85* day 6" chop. I frequent powerboat swap shop as well. My plan right now is to get steering fixed in the spring and run it next summer, top end rebuild come September and motor guy says 4 weeks, so hopefully test first couple weeks of October, then over the winter install hydraulic steering. Right now it just seems to ride very flat and almost out of control at WOT, or really anything over 70. I was very surprised when talking to whiplash that his motors were basically running the same as mine were until he changed props.

Dave, how fast are you running?

Interesting...maybe the 27's are just too much for it? I would think it should rev higher. I "labbed" my props in some gravel when I first got it so maybe .5 MPH off but mine runs 75 GPS at 5k. That's with 3/4 fuel, two people and all my wife's girl stuff lol.

I'm pretty much the same also, 3/4 fuel, two people, and gf's loaded up baskets in the cuddy of god knows what.... Baskets are the "in thing" now for organization, or so I'm told.... 5 people and it still ran 73 though. I'm thinking the motors might hit 48-4900 with the 27p if I could just get the tabs and drives up a little more but I just can't with that damn steering issue. It's coming out of storage first week of April and I'm going to go with the JR Marine gimbal fix. Guess I'll find out next spring what it can really do. Thanks for the info though and I'll keep you updated.

Mine is a step but I can spin 28hydros to 5200 with HP500EFI motors.

Check a few things, at 4 on tabs are they level with the bottom? Normally 3 would be. Also try trimming to 5, and BTW the 32's don't seem to like tabs above level. Hard to do without the steering taken care of.

Good luck.

Level is at 3 on indicators, and I also discovered the tab above level issue first time out, wow! Previous owner gave me the tab stops so I reinstalled them. I've tried trimming to 5 but it just gets WAY too loose, like its on ice! Gotta get steering issue fixed first and test after that, then test and compare bravos.

What do you top out at?

A water logged 82-83.

Water logged...lol

Ok, so test reports are in. Dave already knows the results, but I will share with anyone that may be looking for info on the flat bottom 32's out there.

Full hydraulic steering was install this spring so steering issues are resolved now.

65* day, fresh water, 1-2' chop.

Carbed HP500's

3/4 tank of fuel

28p bravo 1 props spinning in.

3000 rpm- 47 mph
4000 rpm- 64 mph
5000 rpm- 78.0 mph

Drives at 5.5
Tabs at 3

Boat felt rock solid and is now a pleasure to drive, whereas before it was a real handful! Noticeable bow lift vs the 27p hydros spinning out. VERY happy with these results!!! All speeds are GPS speeds.

Update, 79.4 today same conditions. With a little tweaking of the drives and tabs I'm thinking it'll get 80!

I have faith but it may take leaving the little lady and the beer on the dock! :party-smiley-004:

I would, give dough at spinellie bros a call he set me up with the perfect prop for my situation and. Never looked back only at the boats in my wake

Shoot me a email and I can give you his direct line to get the ball rolling

[email protected] or 716-673-5176

Jj