This summer I had my 1995 27' victory stolen and ran up on a shallow rip rap point, so I am in the process of repairing the bottom of the hull, and replacing the outdrive. I had barely broke in my 600hp 540ci efi, but had gotten 72mph with my 23p 4blade.

Is it worth taking out the hook in the victory hull, and sacrafice the ability to stay on plane at low speeds for a couple of mph? While the gouges in the bottom of this boat are repaired, would be the perfect time to change anything, ie: hook, making the rear edges sharper, or blueprinting.

Also while I will also be rebuilding my bravo drive, is there any performance to be gained by running nose cone on my dual water pickup bravo one, or switching to a different lower case?

My personal recommendation would be to take the hook out of the hull. I think it will be worth several mph and better handling if it's done right. I have not done this on my boat, but I would like to someday. Do you have trim tabs? If so, you'll be able to stay on plane as slow as you like.

A -2" lower case will probably pick up a few mph both hydrodynamically and from the higher x-dimension. I ran a -2 IMCO on mine when it had 600hp and was running a 25p and 26p labbed 4-blades in the 74mph range. I'm still running a -2 lower and wish I could go higher. If you don't want to put a whole new case on it, a nosecone by itself on your lower unit will be worth a couple mph, so probably worth it.

Sorry to hear that your boat got stolen and damaged, but the bright side is now you have the opportunity to make your boat even better. Let us know what you decide and your results!

-Tom

I do not have trim tabs on my boat because it is so shallow and stays on plane great. I really dont have a prob adding them, but havnt needed them so far.

My lower case is pretty much destroyed, the nose and scag was used as a rock slider to get the boat through most of the rocks. So, I had plans to put my cryo'd parts into a new case as long as the checked out ok. Im not sure what would be best. I have heard of people being able to blow out the prop at will with a 2- Lower, but I see no reason why it wouldnt help on top end.

With how deep Advantage mounts these drives, you will not be blowing out the prop with a -2. I notice no difference getting on plane from the stock lower to a -2 but you will be able to go up a prop size and pick up top end. I'd even go -3 if you don't mind modifying the upper case.