Interesting stuff here, I may have to look into this more, I have a buddy who has a 265 Express with F225's also who isn't a member of the site, I will have to see what he runs. I have seen something similar to twinyam's, I get roughly the same top end if I am lightly loaded of fully loaded, but it does take more time to accelerate and get on top when full. I usually cruise my boat at about 4k and see about 29mph, sometimes I go to 4200, I did get a top end around 42.3mph with 3/4 fuel and 4 guys onboard, trying to outrun a T storm, that was in a stacked 3ft shop. IMHO, too much speed for where I fish, there is often wood and other crap in the water, so until I get to open water and head offshore I can't use speeds over 32-33mph anyways, and when I head offshore it is an 85+nm run for me so I need to run at cruise and be efficient. I agree, top end would not be my concern, but a higher cruise speed would maybe be nice at a similar fuel burn, I think this is more of what FishingFinattic is looking for. I agree with what twin yams says, you ideally want you end to achieve 5500 or more, under that puts you at the low power spectra, you may be within the max rpm range, but you are really losing power that would be nice to have.
