I bought a new to me boat 2008 1750 Gator Trax with two gun boxes, driver seat storage box, and extended deck. I moved the battery to the back.
Motor is a 2008 35 hp stock Mudbuddy Hd Sport with four hours on it, short transom.
The boat had never been in the water so the bottom is clean and the prop is new.
I ran it with two guys and it performed great, especially turning with the round chimes.
Deep water, 10mph winds, it cruised 25 gps hitting 26 running about 3800.
Questions:
If I trim the motor up more to increase rpms I could probably get another mph but what should the top rpm's I should be running this motor at to be safe.
I trimmed up and hit 4000 but quickly dropped it back down, is it safe to run a stock motor at 4000 rpm's?
Based on reading everyone else's speeds for boats mine seems to be a little low for a light load but I know this is a big, heavy boat, I love it, just trying to make sure everything is set up right.
Thanks

It is safe to run that motor at 4000 RPMs. Your optimal running range and sweet spot on that motor running unloaded should be around 3800-4000. As you get more tiller time with it you will find your sweet spots loaded and unloaded.

BTW...those speeds are expected for this boat/motor combo with that load. Remember it is a stock motor. A lot of guys here run modded engines.

Thanks
I forgot to add another questioned I was concerned about. The motor idles at about 1450-1500 rpms in neutral, when I put it in gear it goes to about 1050.
Before I had a Go devil so some of this stuff is a little new to me. I know the idle sounds right in gear but in neutral it seems a little high to me. What should it be.

You can probably adjust it down to 1400. But bring a screw driver with you on boat. Test the lower idle also in the water. Then engage the clutch. Sometimes if it is too low engaging the clutch will cause engine to bog or sometimes kill it.

You can actually try a little lower. Go as low as you can without killing the motor when you put in in gear. You'll find this especially advantageous if you ever go frogging or bow fishing. When you're moving at very low speeds, and you're idled up high, when you "bump" the clutch to ease up, anyone not sitting will sure be sitting very soon! That's one advantage of upgrading to the Mikuni carb - it doesn't help much on the top end speed, but it will allow you to idle at lower rpms without killing the motor when putting it in gear - a very nice trait for smooth bumps when frogging etc...


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In neutral I have my idle set at 1100... 1400 seems pretty high to me..

On my gator trad 17/54 w/stock 35 mud buddy I was running my best speed.at 4180-4250

11-1200 is the best ive found for idling got it down to 900 for a lil bit but would kill it sometimes when i put in gear

Well, I still need to adjust the idle, sometimes it is high and sometimes it drops down to 1100 at idle, even warmed up it will do that, don't know why.
I have put about 7 hours on the motor now, I have 11 total now and I think I am past the breakin stage now, mounted the motor, did some fine tuning and it seems my best rpm range is 3800-3900 with one to two people.
Scouting the other day with two people and a light load I ran 26gps constantly bumping 27.
Hunting yesterday with three people, dog, and a hunt load it did not seem to be much different but I did not have a gps and the wind was blowing 20 mph.