It's been a saga of sorting out a bastardized 272 Islander, and all credit to this forum and in particular to Hook'em and Baja Dan for their input in getting this newbie up to speed. The long drama can be found in the link below.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/b...ectations.html

I'm finally getting 62mph out of the carbed 502 @5400k and can probably see another 3-4 with better jetting as I'm now in the 11.8 AFR area with a labbed M+25p on a 1.65 Bravo. Time to start playing with props!

The question is I have a Vortech charger sitting on the motor but not hooked up. Over next winter I want to put on EFI and hook up the charger but most likely the stock Bravo drive won't hang around very long. It'll probably put it into the 650hp area and was wondering what setups people are running on similar boats before I start buying props for the wrong drive. It seems like the Bravo X is a good choice and the XR isn't necessarily the end all answer.

Thoughts?

I've never had 650HP (yet) but IMO if you don't just beat the snot out of it...nailing it out of the hole, airing out the drives, chopping the throttle and so on the B1 should last a while anyway. I believe the 575SC came with the BXR. Im not current on any issues guys have had with them but at least they are in the ball park, spec wise.

Send the drive to Dick Trice. AKA- Mr.Gadgets on the board.
He will fix you up and give you a fighting chance at making the drive survive.

Thanks for the kind words Rooster! I don't know how much help we were except to offer encouragement. 62 is doing pretty good in that boat. That is the most I have ever seen in the 252i and now I'm about 58 most days after a PCM reflash by Merc. Just goes to show that a lot of times it is not one thing that is wrong, but the sum of many small things that add up. Congratulations for sticking with it and enjoy the boat. A 272i is pretty rare and has got to be fun with all that cockpit space.

Ive looked him up and have seen nothing but positive things about him. That looks like the smart way to go - great suggestion.

Baja Dan, when you're upside down in a bilge you need all of the encouragement that you can get, lol. It's amazing how much attention that boat gets at the ramp, and I can't even fill up without someone giving it the thumbs up.

It's amazing how many little things added up. The wrong fuel pump was easy enough, but then found a 22g supplying the coil when a minimum of 12g was required. It just went on and on and on...