Go Fast Blog

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Photo by: Sharkey Images

This time of year, you can guarantee that when it comes to one question about winterizing, you’ll get more divergent answers than during a political debate.

So I asked some of my local dealers the following question: “When you winterize a boat, do you put it away with the gas tank full or empty?”

Bravo I Prop

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Photo by: Courtesy of Mercury

When you think about Mercury Racing Propellers, you imagine a technician/artist carefully sculpting custom wheels for Skaters or OuterLimits high-performance powerboats that blast through the water at triple-digit speeds.

Guess again.

“I’m looking for a performance prop with more durability,” said Scott Reichow, Custom Propeller Manager at Mercury Racing in Fond du Lac, Wis.

Go Fast Blog

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Photo by: Sharkey Images

In the first half of this story, Rich Hamilton was a guy with one of the smallest boats entered in the Atlantic City Overnight Poker Run staged by the New Jersey Performance and Powerboat Club on June 22 weekend. He was excited about seeing how his 29’ Fountain, Big, would work as a poker run ride. The day before the event, he said, “It might be a bumpy ride, but that’s all part of the fun and excitement.” Little did he know how prophetic his words would turn out.

Engines like these Mercury Racing sterndrives are popular candidates for “flashing.”

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With gas at $4/gallon or thereabouts and the economy still struggling to bounce back, go-fast enthusiasts are spending smarter, especially when it comes to upgrades. For example at Whipple Industries, which makes some of the most popular supercharger kits for marine performance applications, customers aren’t knocking down the doors for blower kits, which can cost a minimum of $5,000.

They are, however, sending in their Electronic Control Modules (ECMs) for their engines to have them re-programmed or “flashed”, as it is commonly called, to boost performance.