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I'll be interested in hearing your results with a prop change. I run the same whaler with the same Mercury at 6000'. The boat came with a 15 pitch Quicksilver that gave the boat a head snapping hole shot and a top speed of about 40mph with a little over rev. I switched to a 17 pitch last year and the boat still has plenty of pull to get a wake boarder up easily, and a noticeable drop in rpms at mid range cruising speeds, but still tops out at 39.5 mph. That model Mercury just doesn't seem to be built for high end performance. After about 4800 rpm it just leans itself out.