iv got a 36hp prodrive on a 1748 boat, the prop has worn down a bit where when i carry 3 people I'm sitting around 24 mph. recently i have just added IM heads, Carb and MM muffler. after all that was installed i could tell a giant power difference and that i could carry a load much better. top speed was 27 by myself (150) and the same with a friend (150). we bumped 28 for a couple seconds but that was it. i had just ordered a new prodrive prop, put it on, when and ran it with the same loads and got the same speeds.

should i be able to go faster that 27mph with those mods on my boat.
also i remember a while back that turning the prodrive prop on the motor was very difficult and made grinding type noise that it always made when turned by hand. now i can turn it with 1 finger and it is much smoother. is there a problem with my clutch? motor has 80 hours on it
thanks

i have a 1652 36 PD stock worn prop my motor has 680 hrs on it 130 hrs on lower unit i way 250 my brother inlaw at 215 we ran 24mph GPS'd steady in chop and into the wind

You should be able to get to 27.7 MPH with the pro drive!

Sounds right for a prodrive!

Is it a Prodrive boat? If so, try bending up the trim tab that sticks out from the bottom of the transom and goes from one side of the boat all the way to the other. My buddy had a new PD 1754 that was getting similar speeds stock and it ended up being that tab slowing him down.

You should be running around 30 deep water, especially if it's a prodrive boat. My skiff would run 30-31 with those mods, and it's an 1848 with 3/16ths bottom.

Does the boat seem like it running real flat or even plowing a little water?

Or the bottom of your boat could be fucked up

its the 1748 x series prodrive boat, i bought it all packaged together motor and boat. i thought i remembered when i first got the boat that i could run 28 empty. just suppressed me that now with IM heads, carb, mm muffler i can barely touch 27, mainly run around 25, 26. i can tell the boat runs better with a load but what happen to the top end speed? and the boat has some dents in it, how bad could those hurt performance, and whats the best way to fix them? iv never had a problem with the front of the boat bouncing up and down. ill look at the tabs and see what they look like. i have also heard that if the LU can hit the boat when in reverse it could be the way the motor is mounted?
when i had my cousin sit on the front deck, water would spash out from under the boat at the very front.

should i consider getting a different prop with more pitch than the stock prop? or could their be something wrong with my setup?

thanks.

Take some pics of the bottom of your boat at the transom.

ill do that, i do know that there are some pretty big dents in the boat, can those make that big of a difference? and how do i get the dents out? a rubber mallet or what?

Yea they can make a big difference if they are at the transom. Use a dead blow hammer. They will come back easier now since the aluminum has been stretched and weakened.

so a simple solution could be to beat the back end of the boat till its relatively flat with deadblow hammer and 2x4. get it as good as i can, which i can only do a little because the boat has a floor that starts 1 foot from the back of the boat which would stop me from getting the dents that aren't right at the back by the transom.
then check speed again?

Before you start bashing on your boat and skeg, what RPMs are you running (by yourself and with load)?
Who did the carb install and are you sure you have full travel on the throttle?

I took the floor completely out of my Pro-drive boat and beat the dents out. It was trashed

i did all the work, I'm not the most knowledgeable on motors but i know the basics, and to look things up to make sure i can do it properly all all that. i took my time installing everything making sure i had properly done everything to the best of my knowledge.
with the old prop i was always bouncing off the rev limiter pretty easy and just about always running 4,000-4,300. that is with the prop trimmed down with more than half the prop in the water. the new prop i really can't tell to much of a difference in top end speed, i think i have more load carrying with it and lift? it feels like the back end lifts up a little quicker but other than that no difference to first prop.
i was hoping the new prop would but me in the 30s but i never even touched 29 and hit 28 for a second. and running a constant 25,26,27.
running those speeds i was again bumping the rev limiter at 4300, it slowed my rpms a hair maybe, but not big difference. still 4k and up running half the prop in the water.

One thing I do remember is that there was a lot of tiller torque when trimmed certain ways.

and also there was a very interesting bumping on the motor sometime between idle and getting on step, my cousin said he could feel when just sitting in the boat. what could that be? it was quite distinct and my guess would be it having to do with the prop catching air and water in some way ?
any ideas on that?
thanks

got some pictures of the underside, couple days ago i went to working on a couple of the dents and got them flattened out some and tapped the trim tab on the back up some, altho it didn't seam to be pointing down, there is one big hook i think thats under the battery try that i need to get, think it could be causing 2mph?
also when looking it i noticed on the transom supports (the 2x4 running from bottom to top of transom cut at angle on top) there were cracks running down the welds on both supports. they look pretty new, but who knows.
after I did find them I inspected all of the transom to see if there was anything else that i had missed on the back side or sides or anything. sense then i have towed it 30 miles to my house.

i just went out and took pictures of the boat and noticed a crack running on the topside of the transom pretty much all the way across. any one else had this happen?

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