Sorry for not getting back to the post. I had to take the boat back to Ben at Precision and fix up a couple things so I have not had the boat. Should be able to pick it up this week and will get those measurements and we can see what my options are. Thanks for catchin up, MIKE.

Sounds good mike just let us know.

Hey guys,

Sorry for the delay in response. I measured the X-Dem at 7 1/2". Seems pretty deep to me. I am pretty sure that the drive is original from 87. I know that when this boat was built it originally had a surface drive on it but they decided to go with a Bravo for retail. What recomendations would you guys make for prop testing (in the spring ) with this drive?

Parnell, do you know what the boat was getting when tested with the surface drive?

7 1/2 inches is very deep in my opinion. If you are not wanting to go through the trouble of changing it I would probably recomend starting with trying a 3-blade mirage ( hopfully you can borrow one ) , It usually works a little better than a 4-blade bravo in a deep x-application. I ran a 3 blade mercury tempest ( mainly a bass boat prop ) on my older 24' Pantera ( TRS w deep X ) & it worked great for it. It had alot of rake giving it great bow lift & the slip was right around 8-9%. ( which I realize would probably be a little higher on a 28' vs a 24' ) I believe that Saber ran a few turbo props on the 28's & liked them.

I am REALLY curious what the factory would set the X at on a new single ???????? ( Parnell ??? can you find out ??? )
I would think that with prop technology coming along way since the late 80's - early 90's that it would be quite a bit higher say around 5 1/2 " ????????????? I may know someone a little courious.

???????????????

What size 3 blade would you recommend? 23'? I have a 25 Mirage and that is the one that runs the lowest speed and RPM. Had better results with the 22' 4 blade Bravo than the 25' Mirage but I do not know if anything was ever done to the Mirage. It sucks I wont be able to test for 4 1/2 - 5 months.

Yes a 23 is what I would be wanting to try first , hopefully you can round up a loner or 2 to try out between now & next season. I know you said the 25 mirage was slower but do you remember the #'s by any chance ( speed/rpm ? )
I was hoping panell would find out something on the X-dim.

you are right about the surface drive. i still have it on my 19' baron. i think your boat went around 63 -65 mph have that drive and a 420hp.
todd
ps saw it at bens a couple of week ago.

Just curious. Any idea why the surface drive was removed for the bravo ?

resale / sale reasons. it has for sale for awhile but the surface drive scared people away.
todd