Going Faster

" I have a problem. My boat is

" I have a problem. My boat is a Lowe 1652VPT with a 45hp Mercury Jetdrive outboard. My motor turns about 5300 RPM's and goes 31 MPH at this engine speed. I WANT TO GO FASTER!! I looked at a 65hp Mercury Jetdrive and determined (through Mercury) that I would only get about 6 to 7 MPH out of this outboard. This motor has a bigger impeller, but turns the same engine speed. It seems that this is all the faster any of the jets will run. Do I have any alternatives to go faster in my boat? It is rated for 80hp. Does anyone sell an impeller with a different pitch? Thanks for anyone's help. "

Jet drives are not the fastes

Jet drives are not the fastest thing on the water.They waste a lot of power churning water in the pump.If you want more speed you need a regular lower unit.

" Richard,

Yep, in t

" Richard,

Yep, in total agreement with Sparky, Jet Drives are about the most inefficient thing out there. To get the same performance I believe it takes about 30% more HP with a jet. Put an 80 HP outboard with a normal lower unit and you will see a world of difference.

Part of the problem with boats is as speed increases, the force required to gain speed increases at a much greater rate. So, you can actually hit a point where you practicly never get a boat going any faster; this is not usually 30 MPH with small boats though. But, even with a small flat bottom tournament bass boat, you might get 45 with an 80, 55 with a 115 and 60 with a 175 etc. It's from the "friction" of the water, like pushing a plow etc... on land friction plays a big role too, but not until you get up around 200 MPH.

Jon "