Yes I will still run TRS drives. I'm not sure what my HP will be. I am assuming 650-675 range depending on boost and octane. I believe most gains will be in the overall TQ #'s.

I gained 14 mph and went from 22" to 28" pitch props when I added 177's and 1050 dominaters on bone stock 502's crate motors on my old Scarab III

Wow, that's more than enough.

how are you making out with your scarab panther. I was curious what you used for add on strakeswhat did you attach them with?
I have recently had my 86 on the water after 4-5 years of putting back together. I am run twin 502's guessing 550 hp with bravo's and extension boxes.and my x dimension is to high right now
the best i have seen is 87mph i was hoping mid 90's

[ATTACH=CONFIG]544481[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]544482[/ATTACH]

I ground off the gel to get to the fiberglass. I had the strakes cut out of white oak on a 24* angle. I then wrapped them in West 105 epoxy and 1708 bi-axial, sanded off the amine blush, covered the bottom of the boat and strake with West Six 10 and then affixed it to the bottom of the boat. I then sanded the bottom of the strake really good and wiped down with water and then acetone to remove the amine blush. I then put a coat of 3M marine filler over the strake, sanded to match original strake line and then shot over that with 50/50 gel coat and Duratec high gloss. I first did this procedure using 1708 and polyester resin, but the water pressure ripped one of the strakes off after a year.

I was nervous about using 3M filler and gel over epoxy because I heard so many horror stories. I called West and they said not to be afraid and to be sure to sand and scotch brite the amine blush and I'd have no problems. I actually have been using epoxy for all of my little repairs now. I really like the West Six 10 in the caulk gun. The viscosity is great and will hang upside down with out dripping. And it is easily sanded.

I like the standoff boxes and was thinking about adding them eventually. Your boat is a runner! I finally hit the 80mph barrier back in June. (80.1mph:)

Thanks for the reply, i would highly recommend the extension boxes or at minimmum raisingin the x dimension. A couple inches.
Just don't go too high like mine is. I am going to pull the engines this winter and lower the engines at least 2 inches. The boat runs great with a one inch spacer and never blows out when i am on plane, it is just getting on plane that is an experience.
Are you running trs drives? What horsepower ?

Yes TRS, around 550-575HP.
It's amazing how much drive height affects speed. I removed some +3" extension boxes off a friend's boat and lost 7-9mph.

Wow what kind of boat was it? Was it already a high x dimension?
It is, i am going to put 2 inch spacers on this week and run it to see what changes.
With my 30 pitch bravo 4 blades i can turn 6000 rpm and get 84mph which is like 26% slippage and with my 26 pitch 5 blade hydromotives i have seen 87mph at 5800 rpm which is 6-8% slippage. I am very curious what is going to change with a 2 inch spacer.
One other thing that blew my mind was the first couple passes i was running 20w -50 racing oil and only getting 82 mph at 5400 rpm
i changed the oil and put 15w-40 in and that is the first time i had seen 5800 rpm and 87mph. Pretty amazing that the thickness of the oil could affect engine horsepower that much

Bringing this back for a update. I have a 30 Panther that's local and been sitting. Curious to ask about it and came across this thread as I was searching for information and hulls. Read the whole thing and really good stuff!

Thanks, the boat ran flawless 99% of the summer. The weekend after Labor day up at HotBoat, I neglected a noisy rocker. I gained some lash which in turn the rocker walked off of the valve stem, bent the stem and I broke a valve. Chewed up the piston a little bit. I'm putting a new slug in cylinder 1 and should be up and running at the start of spring. Not too much damage a few hundred $$$.