Lets talk nose cones

[niceguy]

So I was looking at the Hydromotive or Hardin nose cones for my Bravos in my Sonic, but was curious..... are they worth the money and time to install? Is this something I can do myself? Will I have to change the props size?

They look like a nice cheap way to maybe pick up a little and reduce the drag.

[J.T.]

How fast do you currently run ?

[Chris]

If your boat is nearing or over 70 mph, they can potentially give you a couple mph. If you have a big, older boat with old-design props and a deep x-dimension, probably not.

They will not require re-propping unless you're right on your rev limiter right now and you've got a light boat with an aggressive X. And even then, the cones will more than likely cause a drop in prop slip. I put them on my Velocity 30 race boat and got 3 mph. That was probably a best-case scenario.

[niceguy]

The boat runs about 78-80 now with 26p bravos and it is damn close to the limiter... roughly about 5200-5300 (it was hard to tell exactly..LOL). I do have MSD box's going on and it should allow me to up the rev limiter a little, if need be.

The boat is a 99 model Sonic 31. I have been curious about this X-dimension on this boat and where I stand with that. I have no idea how old the props are, if I had to guess I'd say they probably came on the boat in 2000 as original equipment. They look to be in very good shape though.

So would this be something I could do myself? Looks like it just epoxy's in place??? I'm just trying to do the little cheap things right now before I do the motors this winter.

[Chris]

Grind away the paint where they contact the lower housing, fill the cavity with the epoxy and stick them on. You need to fair the gap with filler before repainting. You should see a couple MPH.

Props have changed alot in the last decade. You could see some big benefits with the right set.

[Griswald]

what about low water pickups?

[jetmech]

I installed a set of IMCO's cones this winter ... still to be tested.My prop slip is 16%.I'll post the results . We tack welded the cones in place then epoxy and filler until they were feathered in. There's a thread on the install on BoatFreaks.org in the tech section.

[niceguy]

I'm gonna do props when I do the motors this winter, so I'll just wait till then.... but I sure would love to get new props now. LOL

[J.T.]

Hydromotive told me 80 mph is where
they may become benificial.

I put a set on, and the boat run between 85 and 90,
and I can't truthfully say that it made any difference.

1 mph if anything.

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

Some boats respond better than others. The ones that benefit the most are the ones that don't need a lot of trim like Chris's Velocity.

Nose cones helped the older short cases the most. Like the alphas and early Bravos. The longer cases like the TRS and present Bravos have a better aspect ratio and don't have problems with blowing out until near 90 mph or above. IMO

[Ratickle]

Hydromotive told me 80 mph is where
they may become benificial.

I put a set on, and the boat run between 85 and 90,
and I can't truthfully say that it made any difference.

1 mph if anything.

Hydromotive is very cautious to promise anything. On the Scorpion, TRS at only mid 70's, I noticed handling improvement and I think 1 mph. Too little to tell. It did handle betterthough. Did not wander at all and turned sharper without blowing out.

[BBB725]

Added a set of nose cones to a 29 fountain boat ran 82 before and ran 82 after, but they looked better on the trailer

[Ratickle]

Added a set of nose cones to a 29 fountain boat ran 82 before and ran 82 after, but they looked better on the trailer

That's the most important thing of all....

[BBB725]

That's the most important thing of all....

It was after all the work and no performance gains

[BenPerfected]

Even with the IMCO lowers that are a significant hydrodynamic upgrade to the Bravo lower, the MPH benefits show at 90+ MPH. Our experience with a low factor X and nose cones in the 80 MPH range was also zero increase in MPH. The nose cones also didn't look that great for long as the epoxy cracked and the paint chipped.
As far as looking good, new sunglasses are a better investment

[smittyseng]

My 272 Baja ran 89.5 or so gps when I had my 945 hp motor (4 passengers) with my well blended hydromotive nose coned bravo,when my spare drive without a nose cone (dual pick up though) was on the boat after breaking my good drive it would only run mid 80's give or take 1 mph depending on the load/number of passengers. So my boat seemed like it slowed down 4-5 mph without one,Smitty

[Blue Thunder]

Even with the IMCO lowers that are a significant hydrodynamic upgrade to the Bravo lower, the MPH benefits show at 90+ MPH. Our experience with a low factor X and nose cones in the 80 MPH range was also zero increase in MPH. The nose cones also didn't look that great for long as the epoxy cracked and the paint chipped.
As far as looking good, new sunglasses are a better investment

I ended up with hydro cones anyway for the panther sprague. I needed to get away from the 1988 lowers and these came along already with cones so we will see. Boat look great in the avatar, did you change graphics?

BT

[BenPerfected]

We did change the paint last year. Last time?

[ROGUE]

Some boats respond better than others. The ones that benefit the most are the ones that don't need a lot of trim like Chris's Velocity.

Nose cones helped the older short cases the most. Like the alphas and early Bravos. The longer cases like the TRS and present Bravos have a better aspect ratio and don't have problems with blowing out until near 90 mph or above. IMO

Yup.

[PlumCrazy]

The boat runs about 78-80 now with 26p bravos and it is damn close to the limiter... roughly about 5200-5300

What power?