What do you do?
A. Whipples will give you around 720hp, my guess $10k per engines. $20k
B. Re-prop properly. $2k
C. Tighten the top cap of your XR's to 35ft/pds every weekend. Specially the left turning one.
D. Never go over 3000rpm till your up on plane and are done accelerating.
E. Buy a spare XR for that rainy day, unless you live in Florida and can go see Mark at BAM or a similarly stocking Merc dealer! $7k
F. Running light and well proped my bet (with help from the speed calc.) 86 MPH.
You won't be the fastest on most days but you'll be up there on the days people remember... And it only counts in the sh!t. Plus it sounds pretty good! <<--CLIK HERE
- All that crap $29k
- Having a freaking Cigarette 42 that goes over 80 and rides in the sh!t safer than most rides... Priceless
That fufilled A LOT of my boating fantasies. Looks kinda cool also!
First you need to get rid of the Bravos. The maintenance, the babying the boat, the cost of repairs combined with having to carry a spare so that your weekend does not get ruined is bogus.
I cannot believe you guys accept this as normal boating.
Put a set of blowers on the motors, which ever set makes the most economical sense as none of them are going to make your engines last longer than any other and change the drives to something as reliable as you would like to be.
$60,000 to buy #6's not even counting the tranny, the re-rig and glasswork.
or
Arnesons whatever they will cost with a tranny, the glasswork again and rigging without forgetting that your boat will be worth about $40,000 less because of them...
I'll keep suffering.
Rik I love your posts and knowledge but suggest to me a financially comparable alternative for the drives that will not absolutely kill the resale and be serviceable somewhere else than NASA.
I am aware of the general drop in resale value of a surface drive boat, but I don't understand the drama.
Here's the complete list of "Minuses" on a surface drive boat:
1) the props are exposed and stick out behind the boat where swimmers can get into them easier.
2) the props stick back farther, and are also closer to the surface, which makes it impossible to "BACK" the boat into a slip at the waterfront bar all the way back so you can step from the dock to the swim platform (unless you have a "porch" style swim platform).
3) the props cost more
4) docking requires a bit more application of power, and can be "splashier" from the props (but experience, prop selection, and down trim will tame that problem).
As far as I can tell, that is the complete list of CONS.
PROS?
1) Boat will go faster with the same power.
2) Drive system can be repaired/serviced by a normal backyard mechanic (normal bearings, and straightforward stuff).
3) If used within the power spec for the size drive, there is no need to baby anything about it. Durable. No weird gimbals to wear out or break. No top cap to fatigue, no vertical shaft to twist.
4) Costs less than any similarly durable drive out there.
5) slick shifting hydraulic transmissions
But the general public is afraid of them. And expects a discount for a boat equipped with them.
My personal opinion?
It depends on what you want out of your boat.
I was not implying the use of Arneson's but at the same time the boats are not going to decrease in value by $40K if they had them. This is the mentality that needs changing.
There are two logical choices.
One, as you are very strong proponent of, is to continue to use a Bravos and not really enjoy the boat b/c of the burning thoughts of "is this the day that's going to cost me some serious $$".
I think he should leave the boat alone if this is the route he is forced to take as your $40K hit in value argument is the maintenance/upgrades of the Bravos from the increased HP that he wants to use over time.
Two, increase the HP and change the drives.
He can use SSM#5's like Jassman or SSM#6's like others.
Is this work? Hell Yes! Does this cost a lot of $$, Hell Yes! But what is the cost of your weekends and holidays or a vacation and a broken boat? Nothing is free, especially a fast reliable boat.
A lot of people do not have a long boating season as we do on the West Coast or South East. So enjoying the boat is the primary reason for purchasing it and using it.
With the suggestions of blowers or prochargers to increase the engines power without following through and making a total solid package, this only increased the time bomb in the Bravos.
The perplexity is the mentality by which some accept this time bomb and most have even embraced it to the point whereby the erroneous thoughts of an alternative solution are viewed unacceptable.
I think that the alternative might cost some up front but staying with the current mentality cost more on an on going basis, both in time, frustration and of course $$$$.
I just wanted to shed a little light on this subject. I again am in the process of doing another 4300 Nortech. The first time I built it I could not afford the big ticket #6 drives, so I opted for #5 drives, which have run flawless with only 750hp behind them. I am being told cause they are not #6's my resale has dropped about 40k, which is about the difference between the 2 drives. My thinking is anything with a tranny will live much longer than a bravo boat, I'll never go back to that. I have a few friends that has a 03' 38 Hustler with 575's and bravo's, he just drove a red 38 Hustler with 525's and the bravo/Arneson. He was extremely impressed, the boat planed up as quick as his bravo 38 Hustler, handled better, and he stated docked as easy. I know he wouldn't lie to me. The other person at Lake Cumberland (TONY) is a salesperson there, good guy, he said the exact same thing, he was also rather impressed. His problem is resale. The mentality needs to change, more Arneson boats need to get out there, there are alot of happy customers that I have talked to here on OSO, that love them. My delima is either build twin 925's blower motors behind some sixes or do a triple 625-750 nat. asp. behind some Arneson ASD8/6's for approx. the same money, just slightly less. Hard desicions, but am seriously looking at the pro's and con's as well. Thanks Jeff
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