John, The advice from listees has been good: Check top RPMS to see they are in the 2300 RPM range, check with a pro, etc. Perhaps ask a pro to check your engine..Check with any commercial guys in your area with dry stacks... see what they say. If your engine does not turn up max rpm, maybe its control linkage limitations. 8V71's come in various forms from about 310 to 350 HP....with smaller HP often in commercial or continuous applications. With a natural, 1500 RPM to 1800 RPM regular running (at normal operating temps) will result in an engine life that will probably exceed yours. Smaller injectors/reduced HP further extend engine life...at 350HP those engines run 10K even 15K hours if run frequently.... Three very easy tests to eliminate a lot of problem areas: ("peace of mind") With engine cold or warm (not hot) remove the radiator cap and insert a finger to the under side of the top of the heat exchanger....is there black oily residue?? (not good) Get an infrared thermometer (see many T&T posts on the subject, Radio shack has them) and check each cyclinder exhaust into the exhaust manifolds for temp...under load, normal crusing speed, normal operating temp....If one is colder than the others, you are likely getting incomplete combustion in that cylinder....I'd say they should all be within about ten degrees of one another...Takes only ten minutes once underway with somebody else at the helm.. Listen to the exhaust for a "miss"...mis fire in a cylinder....not always easy to detect, but a pro will know immediately... Finally: If your prop is East Asian, it's possible you'll get better prop performance from a US manufactured prop....I just heard that again yesterday from a trawler friend...But be sure the engine is running as expected before fussing with the prop... Good luck, Let us know what you determine.... Rob Brueckner Hatteras Yachtfisherman

At 08:44 AM 12/17/2004 -0500, GYMKIDD319@aol.com wrote: >Finally: If your prop is East Asian, it's possible you'll get better prop >performance from a US manufactured prop....I just heard that again >yesterday from a trawler friend... How does the water know? Can it read the "Made in Taiwan" stamping and say "Yuck, I'm not letting that sucker move efficiently through me." As long as the prop is properly shaped, what possible difference could there be that makes a US prop better than a foreign one. This kind of thing probably gets started by somebody with a dinged up bent prop that originally came with his offshore trawler replacing it with a nice new Michigan prop and noticing how much smoother it was and how he gets more speed for the same rpm. I'm not a prop expert, other than the fact that I can count the blades, so maybe somebody on list can shed some light on this. Jim McCorison Starfish Marine (619) 337-5370 http://www.starfish-marine.com