I have to say I love my Hammer. '98 with a 7.4L MPI motor. Did a tune up this week (original cap and rotor and could not see the contacts on the cap with the thick corrosion on it). Took it out for a spin. 3 adults and one 13 year old, 60 gallons of fuel. 62 MPH (on GPS) in the Gulf with 2-3 foot waves. Motor seems to top out at 4700 RPMs. It has a Bravo 1 drive with a Mirage Plus 23P.

So does this seem good? This is my first boat so I have no means of comparison. I was thinking of getting a new prop, and keeping my current one for a spare. Do you think I should just get the same prop maybe labbed for a little higher speed?

Thanks

If i am not mistaken,(boat is about 300 miles from me) I have a Mercury 4 blade 34p that has been worked and can get upper 60s easy with 3/4 tank of fuel and 1 person. I have a 3 blade with a different pitch that the guy told me that this was the best prop for top speed just a little slow out of the gate. I'll look this weekend and see what it is. 4700rpm is that when you hit the limiter or is that just where it quits pulling? Mine will hit the limiter wot occasionally. If I get a chance this weekend I'll run the boat by myself,(wife is pregenant) and let you know about what speed and rpm it does.

my guess is you are 99% on target with this set up. 1 or 2 miles per hour with couple hundred or thousands $ but you are already maxed out on speed for sure

Thanks for the reply. Mine does not hit the rev limiter. It just runs out of push. From about 3/4 on the throttle, there is no differnece (3/4 meaning the throttle position and that does equate to the throttle body opening only opening about 3/4s and more TB opening and no gain after that).

Sounds like to me that you might could stand to have your prop worked so that you can get the rest of your rpms if you want to max it out.

Already have a call into Bblades. Apparently they are busy as they took my info and said someone would get back to me in 24-48 hours... I tried doing a seach here to see what the rev limit should be on the motor, but could not find anything specific.

If I recall, it's 4600-4900 rpm for that motor.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

The rev limiter on my boat is set about 5200. It has the 454 MPI mag.

My Hammer came with the 7.4 MPI. Rev limiter would hit at 4,800. Couldn't hit it with a full tank. but at at a little more than half tank it would touch it occasionally. I also had the 23 Mirage Plus. I got a labbed 25 mirage plus and pulled about 100 rpms less but got 2-3 more MPH. On the Faria Speedo I was running 68, so your GPS number sounds about right. If you are interested I still have the prop. Will sell for $275 plus shipping. You can't run it into the sand etc., as the blades are thin but is fast. I currently have a 555 in the boat and am running 83 on 26 Bravo 1. I am running out of prop and need to change it.