Were you banging the rev limiter with the 28? What gear ratio are you running? My 32 was reworked 3 times before it was right. When it came from merc it had almost no cup. The boat would hardly plane until I got the cup right. To much cup though and you will hurt your top end. My drive is at Teague getting 1.35's so I can run a smaller prop. My opinion is smaller props (30" and under) are more efficient than the larger ones. If you are running 1.50's with big hp you kind of have to run a larger prop. If you guys gained that much on the top I am guessing you are running a non xr bravo with 1.36's. Sounds like the 28" worked well for you. What was the top speed? I am going to try a labbed 30" with my new ratio. I am running a little more hp than your friend, so if I am right about your ratio I would say the 28" should be close. I am by no means an expert on this, just my opinion from my and others experiences with the mach. Chris