36 hop with hp 500's
 

how bad is the hop with 500's & how long does it take to drive through it? the only 36 I've rode in was a bear to get on plane & with 4 people on board it hopped for quite a while. would 575's help alot?

All the 36 we put together had at least 600hp,the more power you have the easier to drive thru the mid range hop,I have never driven a 36 with 500 but i would recommend more power in that hull 650-700 seems to be perfect,flattens out real nice

thats what i figured but there are several for sale with 500's.
does a tunnel tab help? & what about trim settings? i'm trying to decide between a 36 spectre & a 35 motion

We set all of our 36 spectre with tunnel tabs,i have found running it even with the tunnel and running the drives even with the bottom works well,still need to power thru mid range porpoise,if too much tunnel tab or negative drive trim does't help,makes boat very confused,when set up right the 36 spectre is a awesome boat and very easy to drive,the extra hp makes it a lot more fun,easier to drive,and handle better.

The same thing with a skater.They porpoise at low speeds,but with horsepower you can drive thru it.
I have a friend that has a 36 spectre with 1000hp motors and he put a tunnel tab- between the drives- and it pretty much elininated the porpoise.Eliminators also use the tunnel tab for the same reason.

I recently bought 2003 36' Spectre with the MDG 650's. It has a porpoise from 70 - 80 on calm water, but it's easy to drive through. It also has a tunnel tab and will settle with some down tab if you want to cruise in that range. I'm just very careful with the tab down when it comes to turning or launching off a wave.

By the way, the 650's Dave at MDG built are great. With about 180 hours on them, they idle perfect and push the boat to 120.

thanks guys