[Fr. Frank]

I don't know at what RPM you hit the limiter, but if you just barely hit it occasionally, then with the motors at a cruising RPM/speed, they won't be working as hard as if they were propped for a max of say 5K RPMs.(It's also nice to plane easily).

However, if your max RPM loaded is more than 200 RPM above the top of the recomended max RPM range, plan to change props. 1 inch pitch increase with the same style propos equals an aproximate 200 RPM drop in most cases.

I'm old school - I believe your max RPM at max weight should be the upper end of the max recommended RPM range. It's the old Mad Max theory. "Max at Max should be Max."

If you ever take on any water, and need to run to shore, or get up and drain your boat, having the available applied torque to plane with an extra ton of water in the boat is a VERY nice thing to have.

My previous Seafari was a '77 with a 225 Merc on the back. I once had had a fish snag a wire leader on my snap-in drain plug and thus remove it while 20 miles offshore which taught me about having extra power on tap. I couldn't find a spare plug in the boat when that happened, so all I could do when the water was above the cockpit sole was put it in gear and get going to drain it, and not stop until I ran it up onto the forks of the marine forklift back at the marina.

My advice? Keep it slightly underpropped.