ABSOLUTELY!!! If I'm not getting on plane, making a tight maneuver, running super slow to mark bait, or running rough or shallow water then the tabs are fully up.

Yep, that's the prop. Mike at Skip's Propeller is who did the work. Super guy! really knows his stuff too. www.prop-repair.com/index.html

Mercury 250R is a few mph slower on our boats than a regular Pro XS. It's all due to the sport master lower unit though. Our hulls are too heavy to fully surface the lower without excessive prop slip, so the extra length and drag of the sporty below pad just robs speed. The Pro XS and the SHO run neck and neck. Literally within 1 mph. I've tested them back to back on the same boat, and that 1 mph advantage would flip-flop one way or the other just about every run based on changing conditions.

@@GamblerBassBoats Can a Torque Master gear case work on a 250R? I have run Torque Master components in smaller cases with nose cones due to durability, but never the actual torque master housing. I know the 300R is compatible, but don’t know if it can be run on a 250R.

@@GamblerBassBoats Also, I don’t like the Sport Master on my Allison XB2002, I ran one for about a day and noticed that when you come off the throttle the entire boat wants to drop immediately and get squirrelly. It doesn’t come down smooth, even with a torque tab. The whole boat just drops without warning. A regular Merc gear case with a Bob’s nose cone works way better with an Allison.

@@AUClay so to the best of my knowledge, the only difference between the 250 XS and 250R are rigid motor mounts and the sporty lower unit. The powerhead, operating RPM range, and power output are identical (unlike the 300 XS vs 300R, which are quite different animals). If I am correct on this then there really isn't any reason to push for the 250R unless your setup likes the sport master lower unit. We even run torque master lowers on our 300R setups since they typically don't exceed the low to mid 90's. The older torque master 1 lowers were questionable in the low 90's, but I've personally tested the TM2's with Mercury at Lake X and they'll run low to mid 90's all day long on our hulls. I do however think a coned TM1 might be a smidge quicker and drive a little better at those speeds. Hard to say without testing back to back.

@@GamblerBassBoats I wish people would realize how Gambler, Allison, Bullet, and few others are far superior to companies like Ranger, Skeeter, Triton, and etc. Skeeter, Ranger, and others used to make great boats before producing more boats faster and cheaper became priority. People go for name brand over quality when they don’t know the construction process.