Bravo 3

[pocketchange22]

I have a line on a B 3, even swap for my B1,( including the 2 props).have any Pachanga ,or (other owners ) ever used one on a high speed boat. I have already got specs from Mercruiser, wondering about real life.
The Bravo 3 is brand new in the box, thinking to do the trade just for the fact o being brand new, and if it doesn't work good, **** can the lower unit , reinstall the B1 lower.
the unit will handle the hp, and tq, more curious about the higher revs, wot is 5400, with top speed of 77 on gps.
I can't make up my mind, looking for a second opinion, more than likely will do the swap, and hope for the best, possibly it will take some of the "chine- walk" from it.

Thanks for reading

[excalibur82]

The b3 is only good up to 65 mph the nose on that is much bigger.I bet your boat will slow down about 5 mph. You might want to check the ratio on that and also the prop size. I would bet money that it could be a 2.20 ratio on that drive and if that was the case you would need like a 30 pitch prop. The b3 is for bowriders and cabin cruisers not performance boats. You can switch the lowers from a b1 to a b3. The gear ratio is in the upper. If you did buy that drive and it didn't work you could put your b1 lower on it but if the ratio is different you'll need a different prop. Good luck with that

[SeaRay Jim]

There's other issues too. I had bad cavitation burn issues. Others I know that had the same problem were putting the props in a similar situation; running 60+ MPH and spinning the props at 2400+ RPM and larger pitch props.

One boat was about half the weight of mine but had a stock 496.

FYI, mine runs a top end of about 65 MPH. It's heavy and the props are spinning at about 2500-2600 RPM. I added a Merc box stock 30p aft prop and it's not burning at all.

Another guy had Brett/BBlades work his 28's and solved the problem.

However, I don't think I'd bother with it on a performance hull. It's likely to cost you MPH on the top compared to now although time to plane should drop to nothing. Dealing with BIII props bites for a non-stock application and it's expensive for little gain.

[TexomaPowerboater]

Ditto on the bravo 3. We've got one in our 240 sundeck. They corrode like alkazesor and are not fast by any means. They are awesome out of the hole and great for cruising.

[selpel]

You boaters that have burn B-3 props might try this. We had a problem like this on a 400SS Formula and we sent the props out and had them polished like a lab finish prop and it stopped the problem.

[SeaRay Jim]

I think it was when working with Formula that Merc. made the changes to the new BIII props because of the same burning issue. Brett (BBlades) was there and involved with that and told me about it.

He's worked some props for someone I know and basically repitched and cupped them putting most of the work on the fore prop. He confirmed cupped props tended to not have the issue and I can attest that when I replaced the rear prop only on mine with a new box stock cupped 30p it no longer burned.

It's the unintentional slight diameter reduction to that rear prop at a ramp first time out in '07 that caused it to no longer bite quite lie it did and not allow as much trim. And I was sober when I did it.