[mikeyt]

Originally Posted by jgreen

Wow your wife lets you bring 25 gals with you.

Now that's a wife who is a good sport!

[PlumLazy]

1994 Z211 Shabah, 5.7 Bravo III, 24P props. The wife and I, a cooler full of beer, msc junk, and probly 20 gal of fuel. 57mph in light chop on GPS with her yelling "slow down"... Didn't have time to check the tach, but around 4200. Hoping to get all the junk out of it and take it out one more time with a 1/4 tank and try to break 60 before I winterize her.

[rayzorback]

'97 Shabah 210 LE, 454 with bravo 1, not sure of prop (Boat is at the lake) 60+

[DougR]

2003 sx 20, with a new vortex 350, 20 pitch four blade aluminum prop, four people and a half a tank of gas we get a solid 45mph on my gps...
However, I'm thinking that might be pretty slow after reading some of the other posts...???

[rajjneef]

DougR... Probably not. Some people catch really, really BIG fish if you know what I mean. LOL!

[Motoxxx43]

Originally Posted by DougR

2003 sx 20, with a new vortex 350, 20 pitch four blade aluminum prop, four people and a half a tank of gas we get a solid 45mph on my gps...
However, I'm thinking that might be pretty slow after reading some of the other posts...???

Could be the prop being a 20p and a four blade. What are your RPMs at?
I have the 4.3 V6 and I am in the low 40s with a 21p.

[mikeyt]

Originally Posted by DougR

2003 sx 20, with a new vortex 350, 20 pitch four blade aluminum prop, four people and a half a tank of gas we get a solid 45mph on my gps...
However, I'm thinking that might be pretty slow after reading some of the other posts...???

You might be good for another 3-4 mph with a prop change but....that 20" 4 blade with the 350 pushing it should literally jump when you push the throttle down, have great mid-range response and provide excellent control pulling tubes/wakeboarders etc. That's a sacrifice i would be happy with because i try not to run at WOT.

[Jgos929]

I took my boat out Thanksgiving weekend for one last run to burn up some old fuel before I put her down for the winter. By the way it got up to 81* here yesterday so not sure how much of a winter we'll have.

Anyways the lake was smooth as glass, perfect for the above scenario. It was just me, a full tank of gas (30 gallons) and a cooler with a 6pack in it. The boat is a 1997 Shabah 180se Limited Edition. I was able to run about 46mph (speedo) with the throttle pinned. Thats with a Volvo Penta 4.3L, Cobra SX outdrive, 14.25" x 19" 4 blade aluminum prop turning at about 5200rpm.

I wasn't looking for top speed when I switched from the 3 blade to the 4 blade. We do a lot of tubing and skiing so I was looking for that out of the hole punch and mid-range power. Im sure I could get some more out of it with a 3 blade.

[mikeyt]

Originally Posted by Jgos929

I took my boat out Thanksgiving weekend for one last run to burn up some old fuel before I put her down for the winter. By the way it got up to 81* here yesterday so not sure how much of a winter we'll have.

Anyways the lake was smooth as glass, perfect for the above scenario. It was just me, a full tank of gas (30 gallons) and a cooler with a 6pack in it. The boat is a 1997 Shabah 180se Limited Edition. I was able to run about 46mph (speedo) with the throttle pinned. Thats with a Volvo Penta 4.3L, Cobra SX outdrive, 14.25" x 19" 4 blade aluminum prop turning at about 5200rpm.

I wasn't looking for top speed when I switched from the 3 blade to the 4 blade. We do a lot of tubing and skiing so I was looking for that out of the hole punch and mid-range power. Im sure I could get some more out of it with a 3 blade.

You could get just a touch more with a 20" - 4 blade and lose very little of that punch. It will also get your WOT rpms down to about 4900-4950 which is close enough to the recommended range to be safe.

[Jgos929]

Thanks for the tip Mikey. I might try out a 20" next spring and see what she does. At 5200 she was screaming so I didn't keep it there long. I prefer to keep it under 4500 and cruise in the mid 30s. My local lake isn't all that big and running 30-35 will get you where you need to go pretty quick.