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While you should go up at least another hole, you will be above the recommended WOT range which means considering another prop (Viper 19" or X of another brand) and that is a big exercise for a few mph.
What I want to see is photos of the boat and BC.
I wonder if the dolphin tail affects the top speed.
If the motor is mounted high enough, the whale tail should be out of the water when at high speed, so it should not affect performance. Many dealers recommend those fins because their customers are getting excessive bow rise at takeoff; typically the dealer has mounted the motor too low. Win/win for the dealer, not so much for the customer! You may well find you no longer need the fin once you find the correct motor height.
Maybe I am missing something, but the full throttle range seems to be 5500-6000 (http://www.evinrude.com/en-us/engines/etec_v4/etec_115_v4) rather than 5000 - 5500 as reported earlier. I always like to be at the upper end of the range, as it tends to improve acceleration and gives you greater flexibility, such as when you are heavily loaded. So if raising the last hole gets you to around 5800 - 5900, perfect!
Yes, you could probably squeeze out another MPH or two by trying to find the perfect prop, but you've described the greatly improved handling you experienced with the Viper - to me that's more important.
@ Tedious and @ Perichbrothers. I agree with both of you. I like cruising at no more than 4300 and handling is important to me. When I bought the boat 2 years ago it was so poorly setup for handling and speed I had to do some exploring. I was also suspicious that perhaps the boat is heavier than the spec. 1020 pounds because of a wet hull. I did not like how the previous owner plumbed the bait well. These are the reasons why I wanted to compare outright performance.
