Ok i bought a boat and have been scratching my head why it doesnt do what it is ment to.
It is a 2008 fountain 38ec. The boat came with little history, but thing i know, the bravo 3 drives failed with previous owner trying to water ski behind it. they have about 20hr on new bravo 3x drives, with 27XR 4x3 props. the boat has 2x 496ho, and the hull is stepped. The boat tests i ve found says i should be getting 60mph+. I dont know the ratio of the drives as the sticker has been propspeeded over. I am getting 54mph (GPS) at 5200 rpm(question on this in a second) but it continues to rev up to 5600-5700 before i pull it back, it doesnt seem to have a limiter.
So i obvisouly dont want to over rev, but the only prop higher pitched is a 28xr. Ive got a feeling this still wont be enough. I assume i have a 2.2 drive. otherwise the slip figures are up in the 17-18% this seems very high for a bravo 3, but i dont know. Do i bite the bullet and try change the drive ratio to a 2 or 1.81 ( i think it came with a 1.81, 25 pitch originally from what i can find on the internet,. I assume 2.2 units were put on it, so it was better a tow sports, but any other advantage?
Second issue on tach read outs, the livoris gauges annalogue looking, read about the same all the way up the rev range, the smart craft often has a 400rpm difference between engines at the same throttle position. which gauge is more accurate generally? if they are different is that a cause for concern?
It is a 2008 fountain 38ec. The boat came with little history, but thing i know, the bravo 3 drives failed with previous owner trying to water ski behind it. they have about 20hr on new bravo 3x drives, with 27XR 4x3 props. the boat has 2x 496ho, and the hull is stepped. The boat tests i ve found says i should be getting 60mph+. I dont know the ratio of the drives as the sticker has been propspeeded over. I am getting 54mph (GPS) at 5200 rpm(question on this in a second) but it continues to rev up to 5600-5700 before i pull it back, it doesnt seem to have a limiter.
So i obvisouly dont want to over rev, but the only prop higher pitched is a 28xr. Ive got a feeling this still wont be enough. I assume i have a 2.2 drive. otherwise the slip figures are up in the 17-18% this seems very high for a bravo 3, but i dont know. Do i bite the bullet and try change the drive ratio to a 2 or 1.81 ( i think it came with a 1.81, 25 pitch originally from what i can find on the internet,. I assume 2.2 units were put on it, so it was better a tow sports, but any other advantage?
Second issue on tach read outs, the livoris gauges annalogue looking, read about the same all the way up the rev range, the smart craft often has a 400rpm difference between engines at the same throttle position. which gauge is more accurate generally? if they are different is that a cause for concern?
