A friend of mine recently purchased a 2004 35 Fountain Executioner with a pair of 496HO's He's running 32" Bravo props and banging the rev limiter regardless of fuel/pax load at sea level in salt water. Has anyone had this setup and if so, what props ran best? He was thinking of trying 34 labs, but feels he would give up too much of the hole shot & cruise not to mention running delicate blades in a tidal area.

Right now the boat runs up to about 78mph when the alarms start hitting and down trim is needed to drop the revs.

your post isn't 100% clear,are you saying the boat goes 78 mph wot w/32 pitch's on rev limiter?If you are then assuming 496 ho's rev limiter is at 5200 your buds prop slip is almost 25%,somethings not right, possibly used props that were cut down?Please give more info,(topspeed mainly),Smitty

what are the rpms when he's hitting the limiter and as far as MPH is that on a GPS ?

Hitting rev limiter at 5150 hard.
Props are standard 32P Bravo's - 100% stock.

Do you know what ratio the drive is? I believe some of the newer boats with 496's have a 1.65 ratio rather than the 1.50. This would partially explain why the 32's are turning more rpm than would be expected. An Executioner with HP 500's and 28 pitch Bravos and 1.50 ratio will turn around 5200.

I'm with 35/25, with a 1.5:1 drive, a 28p should do it. The Hydro Quad IV 28p works well because a Fountain carries it's bow well on it's own. The Hydro has good stern lift qualities, so the combo of Fountain/Hydro makes the whole boat run light in the water, thus more speed.

I'm running 77-78 GPS 500hp's 5000RPM turning labbed 28 Bravo's 35 Classic single step - you #'s don't add up

It is a 1.5 ratio

The 496 Mags would have to supercharged to turn 32 Bravos on a 35 classic with a 1.50 drive at 5150 rpm.

No doubt he's running a 1.65 drive if the motors are stock. Either that or he's boating downhill

And I'll bet that thing really burns up the gas.