Rik

To be honest. (imagine that) when nearly all the people who convert an existing boat (or the build a new boat) they do not keep the same power but the ones that do that come to mind this second (only what I can think of now):

382 Formula, 98 mph to 110 mph (California)
45' Excalibur, 47 mph to 69 mph (Hawaii TRS)
388 Slingshot, 92 mph to 103 (Arizona)
38 Top Gun T/S 92 mph to 102 (Russia)
32 Sunsation (single) 96 mph to 104 mph (Vermont)

Now some are different and like I said a lot were new construction and power for power the cruise and the top end increases as well as the control. They have no maintenance issues, they boat and I never hear from them. I have actually learned that a lot of people do not live on the internet and a lot of my customers are not in America so they both do not speak English as a native language and they do not follow news groups like this so what can I do?

Rik

Weight, I have a customer with a 382 Formula that weighed the "IMCO" drive and he said we were 5 lbs heavier but they had a Stellings box with IMCO drive now if they had a different standoff box make the weight would be different I would have to say. +/- ??

UrbanDisturbance

You forgot the props. They don't come with props do they? If not, we are pushing $55,000 with used props.

Rik

True, but propellers for any drive are not free now days and if someone does the conversion, provided they do not destroy them, can sell the Bravo's and get some $$ back to cut the cost.

ICDEDPPL

iTrader: (1)

Group buy!! Lets get the price to around $10K each!!

tcelano

As a Naval Architect, I see Arneson Drives in a completely different league from the drives they are being compared to above. For instance, Arnesons are perfectly viable for commercial service in saltwater. Could you imagine a Bravo in this role pushing a commercial tourboat offshore in Alaska? I wouldn't risk it myself.

Basically Arensons aren't the disposable (and expensive) toys that most of the other products available to high-performance boaters are. That said, they are much more expensive than doing a conventional shaft/strut, but still less expensive than similarly rated waterjets.

1 MAIDEN AMERICA

Rik: I pay tons of taxes. Taxes keep the government in business. The government keeps you in business. How about you hook up your sponsors?
Ever do a 2002 38 Lightning? It's a semi-stagger.
Can you angle the transom assemblies to push the props closer together?
Does my notch need to be filled?

Rik

I had a customer with a 38' like yours same basic boat but a side by side and Cobra 750's (they dyno'd at a whopping 680 hp) and it ran 110 ish

No, one cannot angle the kits to get the propeller center lines closer to one another. These mount vertical only as these are not the same drives as those we angle over.

Notch, ? At worst case not all of it, just the area where the drive would extend below the notch and in a full stagger this is only like 2" so a 2" tall section the width of the standoff box is all we are talking here.

SS930

I agree and I disagree.

First, I agree you have a superior product and wish so many others ordering and buying new boats would also see the light... especially since I want to see them in the used market! Merc just seems to have a serious strong hold on the new/package market and sadly I dont see that changing unless someone like yourself can come in much lower.

And this is where I disagree (regarding you saying you're cheaper). The reality is the vast bulk of your potential market is in the USED sector. Folks wanting more power and speed, but are limited to the POS bravo platform. When these guys need to upgrade or pop a bravo, the clear options become a new/used bravo based drive, an aftermarket bravo based HP drive, or your drives.

When you look at these alternatives to replace a used/broken drive, your conversion drive is BY FAR the most expensive installed/running option... by a significant margin. With that said, it's probably the BEST option if price is not figured in. When you look at $50k+ for a typical twin conversion, you can buy a lot of used bravos for that about!

So I have to agree with UD above. If you could make this complete conversion to be close to even money compared to a new HP bravo upgrade, I think you'd sell the living sh!t out of these things!

Just my 2 cents.

SS930

BTW, if you dont think there is incredible interest in this conversion, just look at the number of hits on this thread in only a few days vs all the others in this sub forum!

Like I said, make the conversion affordable, and you'll sell the hell out of them.

One other thing, if you started selling a ton of them in the used/aftermarket, it wouldn't take long before the OEM's would follow suite.