purchased a 2000 awesome 26' this past weekend.
took it out and played around today. now have a few questions

on the test drive before i bought it i found two problems.
it "blows" the prop when getting on plane, just before the bow lays over the engine jumps up a thousand rpms and then back down real fast then the boat just takes off like nothing happened.

also had a bad enough porpoise around 4k you cant try to run it through to smooth it out.

i got the tabs working and took it out today.
with tabs down and myself and a pass in the boat it planes quickly but still slips the prop. only way i could get it to plane without slipping the prop but couldnt go full throttle had to leave it around 3/4 and it took forever to get on plane.

running tabs down helps the porpoise but doesnt eliminate it and i feel like im just dragging the lake with so much tab in it. it doesnt have indicators for the tabs so im not sure how far down they are, but i know i have to hold the switch for a couple seconds.

454 mag mpi
bravo 4 blade 26p.
prop isnt dinged or bent. looks straight.

so finally my question is where do i go from here?
get prop checked, weight front of boat? just deal with it?

Does the prop have any holes on the front section of it? That is where the blades start. Sounds like you're getting exhaust around the prop, which is good for outboards but you have too much torque for that.

No, there's no holes in it.

I forgot to mention I have a 1" spacer installed.
I'm having the prop worked right now and have been told that a 3" drive spacer "may" help.
I find it hard to drop a grand on a "may"
I'm hoping to find a used one so if it doesn't work I can recoup most if not all of my money.

You NEED a 3" spacer it will help!!!!!!

I tried a 1" and a 2" spacer now I run a 3" Spacer it works the best.

My 27 Carrera did the same thing with a Bravo 4 blade,due to a high X dimension ,
Labbed P5 blade prop took care of it all with out adding a spacer or loosing speed.

Ok guys thanks.
I just got my prop back from being trued and balanced.
Guy said it was all outta whack.
Hopefully this helps out some.

It seems like everyone with this boat is running a 3" spacer. And some still have this
Problem.

I love the boat and the ride. But I'm not an all out speed type,
I'm into cruising and I honestly can't see a reason to go tearing ass across the lake at 5k rpm.

I'm hoping to find a used spacer but if need be ill just buy a new one as it seems its the most recommended fix.
I won't get into prop ?s in here.