Are they worth the effort for an 80mph boat???? Since the engines are stayiing in the boat for the winter for the first time in three years , I gotta do something

Whay year are your bravos? If they are the "new" style, I don't think nosecones will help @ 80.

Looks like you`ll have some free time this winter

I haven't seen much of a change below about 88-90 mph. At that point, I have seen 1-2 mph. Good luck.

Finally , Although I still have a few weeks to break something

RD382,
Ones a 95 and the other is an 02( both newer style)

Makes a HUGE difference on my boat.My 272 baja runs 91.5 mph (gps)W/32 pitch prop w/drive with nose cone,87.1 with spare drive without nosecone w/same prop,88.7 mph w/30 pitch w/nose cone,84.5 w/30 pitch without nose cone.I have a drive w/nose cone that I use as my primary drive,when it breaks I have a spare without a nose cone. I recently chewed up my lower gears,put spare on and saw the speed drop I posted above.Smitty

Art,
What kind of power and rpms?

I'm making over 900 hp and ft lbs of tq. The engine peak on dyno was at 5600,boat turns a merc labbed 30 pitch 4 blade at 5900 rpms around 20% slip,turns a 32 pitch merc 4 blade labbed(unknown who labbed it) 5800 rpm's. The rpm's didn't change going from drive with nose cone to my spare with out,just the speed. You can feel it when you start backing off at wot the most,without the nose cone the boat slows down noticabaly faster and going from the nose coned drive to the non caused me a instant drop of 4-5 mph. I got that speed back too as soon as drive was back on. My boat has a deep x dimension,it might not make as big of a difference on a boat with higher x dimension,Smitty

Smitty,

Who did your nose cone and/or what brand is it?

PS.
Love your tag line. Speed Racer is one of my favorites!

My nosecone is a hydromotive,it was one of the first things I put on my boat. With the stock motor 5 years ago the only thing the nose cone did was make the boat handle squirlier,no speed increase. I mounted it myself using epoxy then I blended it in with aluminum all metal. Last year when I had outdrive apart I spent about 10 hours filling,sanding and re-blending it. I also used a d/a sander and disc sander to sharpen the front edge so it was as sharp as possible.
Mo-power,last year when my boat had less power and went 85 empty,83.5 with 4 people and 3/4 tank of gas,it dropped to 80-81mph when I ran the drive without the nose cone while re-building my drive,just thought I'd add that,Smitty