Do you have K-planes?
If so, set them neutral/level with the bottom, bring her up to WOT, trim the drive for max speed, then raise up the K-planes.
This should get you past the chine walk.
I tend to always run my boat with the K-planes at neutral as it does not really scrub much speed and the boat handles much better in all but flat clam water.
You'll see 70+ no problem...

No Tabs......

Then I would suggest not running a stern lifting prop like the QIV and use a neutral prop like a B1.
If you love the boat this summer, add the tabs next year. Tabs help every boat.

I did notice when coming out of the hole, some prop blow out. By pulling the throttle back a bit then laying the hammer back down it bit and all was good. But yes I agree with you, it feels like too much of the boat is out of the water with the Quad IV. I will try the Bravo I again, now that I have a clean bottom. I hope I can get the same cruise speed out of the Bravo I.......Running 40MPH @ 3000RPM is nice, and easy on the pocket.

I may keep my eye out for some tabs in the swap shop area..

I have not done a lot of prop testing with this boat but from what I've read and been told, the QIV is the fastest prop, but a labbed B1 can equall the speed. One prop that I really liked on my last boat was a Hydro P5-X. Those lift the whole boat and are vary stable. You loose a couple on top but gain midrange. Your boat has enough power to run a P5-X; my 502 just doesn't quite have enough for a 5 blade on my boat...

Put 40 gallons of gas in it (plus what was in there) and ran both the Hrdor 26P Quad IV and the Bravo I 26p. No chine walk with either prop. The Hydro I was really only able to hit about 4500RPM which was to be expected. The Bravo I prop I was right on at 4800 RPM. The Bravo I prop actually showed about 2 MPH faster than the Hydro 26p. I saw 67 mph with the Bravo and 65 mph with the hydro. This again with an additional 40 gallons of gas, than yesterdays test. Even though the Bravo I yielded better top end results and is better out of the hole, I still prefer the hydro. Cruise speed, where I will spend most of my time was much better with the Hydro. At 3000 rpm I was able to run 39-40 with the Hydro and 34-35 with the Bravo. At 3500 I saw 49-50 with the hydro and 45-46 with the Bravo. Anything below 3500rpm with the bravo yielded lots of porposing, where the hydro never experienced porposing at any RPM. The one major thing I don't like about the Hydro is I get a ton of slip just as I get up on plane, put like I said earlier pulling back on the throttle a touch seems to do the trick.

A 26p QIV has about 1" of pitch more than a 26p B1. That has a lot to do with why your mid range speed is better but not all.
The porposing issue with the B1, I also have unless I use my tabs. It sounds like the stern lifter helps with that.
At 4500 WOT you are not getting full HP from your engine so my guess is that a 25p QIV would be perfect.

I will seldom, if ever really hammer it full throttle so right now I will stay with the Hydro 26p, unless I find a good deal on a 25p. I like the cruise speed. I use primarily as a "family" boat. So running at the ragged edge, 70 mph, with my 8 year old daughter would be less than smart.

Just got off the phone with the folks at Hydromotive. They suggested sending the 26p back to them and have them do a "recreational" lab on it. They said I would maintain my cruise speed and get back 200-300 rpm. If I went to a 25p I would loose some cruise speed and would end up about the same top speed I have now.

My boat was tested in Volume 8, Number 8, Edition of Poker Runs America Magazine in 2005. It had a 375 hp 496 in it. They said it ran 74.3 on salt water which I think was a little optomistic. That engine came out and went to a parasail boat shortly after that article.:drink: