I bet you'll be fine when you remove a plug or two. I'm turning a 28 bravo also. It doesn't like it when you fill the wells and put 30lbs in there but it'll get up. I put a foil on it and it helped a bunch. It would get up before but it took quite a bit longer and had a ton more bow rise.Originally Posted by happykamper
I would have a hard time putting 30 lbs of blue cats in my wells much less bass, lol. Hope to get out this weekend and play with the venting on the prop.
You must become one with the hole shot of your specific boat. A combination of feathering the throttle and trimming up as you break over for the fastest hole shot. Once I reach a certain rpm, I try to hold onto that rpm all the way through by throttle and trim manipulation ... I'm trimming up before I even completely break over.
I struggled with hole shot on my gen2 TM. I was not settling for sluggish or cavitating. A foil really helped, but I have not seen one yet on a 4 stroke sporty with the thick cav. plate. As far as adjusting plugs, at least in my case, start with all open and start plugging farthest from the gear case first.
We have done a couple foils on the V8 Sporty but only at customer request. The cavitation plate, as thick as it is, is actually hollow. Also worth mentioning there is a bulletin from Merc that basically says anything attaching to the gearcase will void the warranty....kinda hard to swallow considering the Sporty is around $11k new.
Fastbass Marine LLC
We specialize in NEW and USED ALLISON BOATS, Blazer Boats, Platinum Mercury Marine Repower Center, AquaTraction Flooring, and custom marine electronic installations on beautiful Kentucky and Barkley Lakes.
2022 Allison XB-21 BasSport Pro Elite
2022 Mercury 450R
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2005 Mercury 300X
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I always wondered why Mercury allowed this in the first place... Dan
They can't just completely void the warranty on the entire lower unit. They can refuse to replace the case if they determine the foil caused it to crack. But if something happens to the gears, the foil had nothing to do with that and legally they have to still cover it.
However, since they don't just sell a case, if it does crack you'd still be out the 11k. I probably wouldn't risk it if the cavitation plate is hollow. As much as the foil helped on my boat it would bum me out not being able to put one on there.
happycamper, where are you going to be doing your testing this weekend?
Probably will not be this weekend, hopefully next week on maybe lake Grapevine, it is close to the house. I still need to get my Ghost trolling motor mounted, it came in with a bad circuit board, couple of other small things to do at dealer, then I need to get my tarp custom fitted, it will not fit with the graphs and trolling motor, hell it will be summer time before i get to fish, lol
Well, Tim should know, he's in the business, if he says it voids the warranty, it voids the warranty... Dan
Hello Tim,
Do you know of or have experience with the Allision Skid Planer on any newer 21 foot boats. I have this one (still new) from my 20ft XB2002. When I have more time I want to try this on my XRS. Would appreciate any input you might have.
Alli skid planer.jpg
It can't, there are federal laws that do not allow that. I have no doubt Mercury says it does, it is just a strong arm tactic trying to get people not to do it.
May not void but they could turn down a warranty claim maybe.
BULLET 20 XRD/250 Merc Sport XS
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Why???... What strong arm... Mercury doesn't off it as an options for a reason... Thinks about it, Mercury could offer a Whale's Tail option and add another $500-$700 and make it part of the lower unit. Easy money... But why don't they???... You're altering the cavitation plate. Try drilling a few hole in the exhaust tuner, the engine cowling and then try to file a warranty claim... Dan
I'm not making this up to be an a-hole on the internet. They can't just void the entire lower unit warranty because you drilled holes in the cavitation plate. They can deny a claim such as a crack that developed from those holes that you put in there. But if a gear somehow goes bad, or a seal goes bad they still have to cover it. You have to have caused the problem for them to deny the claim.
To use your holes in the exhaust tuner example, if you did that and then the computer went bad, or the alternator went bad, they can't just deny that claim. If they tried and you took them to court and won, they have to pay your attorney fees. This stops big business from using their wealth to drain you in court. If you drilled holes in the exhaust tuner and you burned a hole in the piston, they certainly have a case for denying the claim since modifying the exhaust tuner might change the air/fuel ratio.
But to go full circle, if the lower unit is $11k, I don't think I would drill holes and put extra load on the hollow cavitation plate especially since they won't sell an empty case.
This is absolutely correct. Federal law only allows a manufacturer to deny a warranty claim if they can show that a modification you made led to the problem. They cannot void an entire warranty, or even a warranty on a subsystem simply because of a modification to one piece of it. All that being said, I wouldn't put a foil on an $11,000 case with a hollow cavitation plate that still has a warranty on it and even if it didn't have a warranty I would want there to be ample proof that it won't hurt the case before I'd do it.
If you ever get a chance to try a 26p bravo or pro max give it a try.
I ran the boat today, had full tank of gas, livewells full, two men at 225 each, boat was very slow out of the hole, did run it up to 80 mph, maybe could have hit quite a bit more but I am new to the boat and it was pretty windy out. I am running a Bravo xs 28, at least I think that is what it is called, it has 8 vent holes. I think I may need to drop down to a 27 to get good hole shot for a tourney load . I did not get to see the rpm's , almost impossible to see the gauge while running that fast, trying to get gauges on my Lowrance HDS, dealer has not yet figured out how to get that done,
Trust me, a 25p Bravo XS will get out of the hole just fine, and you can still run 80, but not much more before you get into the limiter
I have a 26 Fury, maybe I will try it, also have a 27 Tempest, may look for a 27 Bravo to see what it will do, thanks for the input.
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