cavitation on new boat?

[brock9334]

In the market for a 290 ss twin, drove a twin power 350 awhile back- (didn't have a few must haves). My concern was the big time cavitation coming out of the hole. Boat was a 290 ss t-350 with Bravo 3 drives. Had the trim set to mid position but every hole shot big time cav noted. It has been years since I had a prop boat but in the past cav was not a good thing, ie sign of low prop bit ect.

Help me out here but isn't cav hard on the props? There fore with the bravo 3 duo prop seems like a costly up keep over the life of the craft. Has any one out there had this with a like hull? What if any fix did you find? If a prop change is the answer do you think when we buy we can get SR to include the fix.

Must say the whole cav situation has concerned me, when looking at a nearly 200k hole in the water.:smt001 Also have an 08
GMC Denali 4x4 will this pull the 290?
Thx for any info
soon to be SR family member

 

[fwebster]

Twin v-8's are close together in a 290. You most likely experienced ventilation instead of cavitation. Ventilation is where the props move more water than is there and they suck air from the surface. Try trimming the drives all the way down and drive it like a truck instead of a muscle car.

Perhaps someone who owns a twin v-8 290 will offer a more in depth oinion...........I don't own one but have several hours time in a couple and haven't noticed anything but a straight forward good running boat.

 

[matthewmiller01]

I agree with the above post. Start out with the drives down and see what happens, then trim up as speed comes up.

As far as damage from cavitation, the answer is yes. It will damage props. The key factor is time. A few times cavitating will not do any real damage. On a microscopic level, there is damage. Can you see it, no. If you cavitate all the time, you will see damage to your props by the end of the season. The mechanism is actually erosion of the prop.

HTH.