blkspringer

Can someone with some experience in a 28 Nordic Heat with a 500EFI in it tell me what they think. Does the boat handle the power well? Does the boat handle well in chop? How fast will it go? etc...

Indy

A 28 Nordic will handle much more power than a 500EFI. I have the 496HO on mine and it's a bore. I know somebody that had a 575 in it and it ran about 78+. I think 73-74 would be a good figure for the 500EFI, maybe a little less. Maybe Dave will post about some other HP figures, he was running a 600hp 540 last year and this winter he is adding a pro-charger to it.

What kind of chop are you talking about? I run mine in Long Island Sound and it's fine until you get 4-5' chop. I'll stay home with that stuff. The chop here is short and steep, so 4-5' rollers are much easier. Although the occasional 4'-5' hole is common and no problem just as long as it's not consistent. I don't see how it could handle chop as good as the same sized Pantera or Powerplay, but it does fine. It's been hit pretty hard with some chop and is holding up just fine. I wouldn't even sweat lake stuff if that's where you boat (unless it's one of the great lakes).

Handing for a step hulled boat is as good as it gets according to the mag tests. It's still a stepped hull though and you need to run it accordingly.

Nordicflame

That would be a nice package and Steve was probably a little generous on the speeds. Realistically you could expect consistant 69-71 mph solid GPS numbers at or near sea level. There have been the occasional 73 mph reports but you would be hard pressed to find that consistantly and those are on less accurate radar in magazines. As Steve also mentioned we have a fellow friend/past owner, that had the 575SCi and the best he ever pulled out of it was a tick over 78 GPS, but I believe generally ran 76 as it does for the new owner.
The boat can certainly handle the power from what I understand. Hopefully I'll be finding out. My motor is a mild 540MPI that puts out approximately 560hp and runs consistant 73+/-1 mph on GPS at 1250 foot elevation which it has only seen twice. We generally boat at 4300-6000 feet. At 4300 we run consistantly 67-70.
I am in the middle of supercharging the motor and should be into the mid 80's at lower elevations early this coming Spring.
Sorry for rambling! To answer your question; it would be a very nice reliable package. I don't think you'd be sorry
Later,
Dave

blkspringer

Thanks for all the good info. I boat on Lake Champlain where we do get some pretty big waves at times. Being closer to sea level should help me?

Indy

Yea...the closer to sea-level, the denser the air = more hp. Some say that salt water is better for bouancy and bite because the salt water is denser than fresh. I don't know of any definitive studies though. You'll do well on Lake Champlain. I've never boated there, but can't see how it would be harder hitting than where I boat. Good luck...btw, if you want to see a Heat, I'm a couple of hours from Albany.

rtn137

I have a 2000 Heat with the 500efi. I run 70 anytime; flat water, full fuel, 4-5 people,
98*and humid at 1300'. The best I've ever seen is
76. The boat has a mild step, pad, and notched transom. Handles rough water and 3-4' wind blown
lake chop great. Runs straight, flat, and true without any chine walking and turns like its on rails.

Indy

rtn137...are those gps numbers? My speedo says 71, but gps is 67. Seems like a great set-up if it is ...Steve

rtn137

Those are gps #'s. Mine is close to yours. Speedo
is around 3-4 mph faster. It needs some chop to get the top speeds. And lots of trim.

Nordicflame

Nice numbers rtn137!
What prop and rpm are ya turning?

rtn137

Blueprinted 28" Bravo 1 at 5100-5200 rpm.