boss252

What is involved in putting on a 1" lower on a Bravo1 drive. Can it be done?

Dock Holiday

very easy

IMCO has the ones I like. Just unbolt your lower and bolt theirs on. They seel just the housing and shaft, where you use your internals, or the whole complete lower.

I'm rebuilding to spare drives now and plan to buy a couple of housings.

kr1276

Hey Doc,

I am toying with putting 2" shorter drive on my center drive of my 442. I had an overheating problem (sucked up some trash) on my center drive so I ran home on the two outside drives. I was surprised at how easy it got on plane on two. With the small build #'s on the 442's it is hard to get real world info. Do you know someone I could contact at Baja that I might be able to get some advice before I tackle the change. The center drive hangs so low that I thought it would reduce drag and help on top end.

Thanks,
Keith

boss252

Do you have to use a smaller diameter prop?

Dock Holiday

No, same props.

Dock Holiday

Keith, it does make a difference, but in the case of a big boat like your 442 you will not see much is any difference in performance. I have a friend with a 39 OuterLimits with triple Blower Motors and he runs B-Max drives. He changed out the center drive for an IMCO extreme with a shortie and picked up 4 MPH.

Let me make a suggestion. Are you running dual water pick ups? Both lower and on the side of your drive. If not that is where I would be spending my money. I switched from low water to dual water and have not had a problem in sandy coastal areas since. Actually a friend with a 35 Fountain clogged up both engines parked right beside me in Destin two years ago and I did not have a single probllem. He changed his lowers and we ran together this year at Destin and he was VERY happy. There were a lot of boats again at the Tiki Hut injesting sand.

So if you don't have dual water pickups, change the center lower for sure.

Good Luck

Dock

boss252

Where do you lose the 1" it looks like the prop would hit the cavatation plate. I am just trying to unerstand the difference. Thanks Doc

Dock Holiday

That is a good question that I do not have the answer to?

I do know that I loaned a set of stock props to a buddy two weeks ago to try that has IMCO 1 inch shorties and we never even thought about this and he ran them fine.

Now you have me wondering!

boss252

All I know is that my Hydromotive 4 blade is less then a inch from the plate now. Maybe I need to call IMCO or Fred

kr1276

I am running dual water pickups but the center drive is so low. It must be close to a foot below the hull. I have not actually measured it but it seems to be really low. My thought is that it would reduce some drag and give me some additional clearance.

I had two unfortunate situations that I got into and really sucked it up. I usually do not allow myself to for something like this to occur but sh*t happens.