Yeah makes sense if you still have to do that.

They got the new hatch actuator installed. Old one wasn’t extending far enough and was installed between the motors which was a bit difficult to do with motors already in. We got these hydraulic ones from Hardin marine and moved the mount to be in front of the motors. I still have a bit of a problem if I lose battery power trying to get the hatch up. For now I might be able to access the quick release pin we added from the port side most forward bilge vent, but when I redo the upholstery, I will probably have them cut me an access hole into the hatch and have a square block in the upholstery that can be removed to access the hole. That is how my Apache was setup.

Think I found the culprit to a running list problem I had. The port side lower unit is about 1 1/2 inches forward of the starboard side. I also think the nose cones have negatively affected the ride. Not sure how I want to fix it. Either replace both complete drives with new standard bravos or maybe just the lower units. The problem is that one is like the first model bravo one design they came out with.

I switched to a 3 blade mirage prop and it helped the handling quite a bit. It turned better, carried the bow better, ran faster and improved the porpoise.

I got to speak with the original owner, Curtis, who steered me in the direction of the drives, said it was a well balanced boat when he had it. It ran 72 with 454 365 mags and he put around 500-600 hours on Lake Michigan in some pretty rough water which is amazing considering the condition. The turning issue also make it run much better in rough water, it’s because the chines are so small, only like 2 inches wide and that’s what they meant when Doug said was like going right thru the wave on first run because no chines to slap down on the waves. You barely feel the waves at all, they don’t even knock on the hull in a slight chop.

Big thanks to Nykamp for sharing the owner’s contact and helping resolve some of the balance problems. I was considering big changes like blueprint and moving tanks and even selling it but made a ton of headway. Think we just need to get it back as close to original as we can cause it ran damn good I understand with the stock setup.

I wanted to repost something TeamSaris posted since there are a lot of people looking at this thread and have read about a lot of handling issues from slight modifications that other saber owners have made and for those making many changes all at once. The post is like a how-to or not-to guide as it relates to drive modfications, speeed, and props. The real takeaway though is these boats are more sensitive then many realize. They are light and narrow; subtle differences in anything on the lower unit have a huge impact. That 1 1/2 inch difference on the lowers was so bad some times the boat would drive a different direction then where the bow was pointed and the list was so bad you couldn't run past 60mph safely. The boat would be pointed at 12 oclock and be driving at 11:50; that is a weird feeling.

"There is no real speed (therefore, HP) loss between a bone stock bravo 1 and a bone stock XR. Whoever told you that is flat out wrong. We've replaced hundreds of bravos with XZ, 1X, XR, etc. These are boats not F1 cars. They just aren't that sensitive. XR are louder and break less. That's it.
I get what you're saying, but yes, 6-7 blades will literally have more drag than 3, even if they're doing the "pushing". Drag. Parasitic loss. Power loss. Speed loss. Call it whatever you want, they are considerably slower.
Like I said a few posts ago, less blades = more speed if you can get them to hook up. I would almost guarantee your PQ would run its absolute top speed with a modified mirage plus, but stink in the midrange. I wish they made a mirage big enough for me to try on the krypto. I know it would put me over 110.
Sportmaster and IMCO lowers are also slower until you're running over 90 or so. A standard bravo lower (if at the correct drive height) is worth 3-4mph, until it sufferers from blowout in the low 90s. The ins and outs of prop, setup, drive height, gearcase size, gearcase design, are immense. Sometimes what you think will work wont even get on plane, and sometimes two identical boats act totally different. We have a wall of props to aid in dialing boats in after repowers. We also work very closely with Brett Anderson. The coolest is when we've dialed boats in at Lake X, but that doesnt fit into all budgets."

Just a thought....you can "T" into the harness and run some leads under the gunnel or under the back seat so if you ever do have a total power failure you can use a jump pack or an external battery to raise the hatch...

I remember once upon a time shopping for a 28 Pantera and the battery was dead and they ran a jump pack to the hatch wiring under the dash and got it to lift that way could probably do the same worst case, but I like your idea Wally.

Ive done something similar to a boat once as well...the thing that sucks is getting under the dash if you have to take panels apart to get to the wiring. But yes thats an option too

The 28 Cyclone is narrower. It is 7' 6" when the web site was up it listed top speed as different also, with the Cyclone rated 100+

Ok, so lets just say, I am bored today, my post is just in my opinion, and could definitely not be accurate, but here is my 2 cents.
The mold is the same for both the cyclone and offshore.
The "cyclone " badge was created for twin engine boats, exceeding 1000 hp.
If you look at the yellow boat for sale, on classifieds, you will see it is "Offshore" as that boat originally had twin 7.4,s.
There is most likely exceptions, but if you look deep enough I would bet, as some point there was a power replacement.