Nice Job!

Rain stopped, had a beer, pulled it out, and she roared to life. Sounds real good. :woohoo:
Had another beer and now get ready to put her back in the water

Dodge guy eh. My type of guy. A few friends and me successfully derailed a lot of threads over there at cumminsforum. Lmao. All dodges myself. Except for a turbo coupe tbird and a dump truck.

Nice work.

how did the boat run?

Haven't been able to really run it because Eddie wants to check the tune before I open it up. We have not been able to get together as yet.

The 1.65 ratio drive was a bust, the boat is way to heavy. I put my old lower 2.0 B3 on it and went from 24 to 26 pitch props. The boat comes up pretty well, hope Eddie and I can get together this week

On my 26pc with not quite that much hp but it dyno'd 429hp/517tq, i turn a 2.0 b3 4x3 24 pitch setup. I am not sold on it for the fatties our boats are. The behavior is definitely different from my B2 with the big 21pitch prop she use to turn when the engine was stock. It gets on plane good but as she gets on plane and levels out i start pulling the trim up and start adjusting tabs you hear the boat actually grab. It sounds like what a car sounds like when spinning tires and then it finally grabs like when it bites it puts load on engine.

I am not going to lie i have contemplated finding a nice newer b2 lower and do a swap to test both. The boat came stock with a B1 but that was too small to being her up on plane. The later model 26s came with B2s so I upgraded to that which made a world of difference and would take any trim i would give to it. It may have something to do with how deep of a V and how skinny she is that she likes that prop to sit low in the water.

I am really curious how your brick works out.

The B2 drives do move a lot of water with the larger wheel, but I like the B3 because of ease of backing with a single screw.

Eddie just left and the tune is set. WOT is at 5050 at 46mph with about 20 percent slip (heavy boat). As before I wanted it to come up out of the water better and it does, over all I'm pleased with how it comes up now. Will try the original 24 pitch props some time later to see what the change is. So should have stuck with my original 2.0 drive all along. Guess I have a 1.65 lower to sell.

What was your speed before the engine work? Is the difference between a bravo 2 and 3 only the lower? If so I should try a 3 on my barge. Lastly is that the ideal rpm for a 502? I thought we should be shooting for 5200 or 5400?

Sorry I didn't get notified of this post.

Before the work I was getting about the same top end 45 to 47 depending on conditions. The Bravo drives all use the same uppers, you can put a B1, 2 or 3 lower on any of them. While there are differences between the X and XR's in the gears used for the upper, lowers for the most part remain the same.

The 502 should reach 5200, and I will change the props from 26 to 24 set, but in doing this I can over rev. The 24 set will give me even more hole shot then I have now. Figure in the next few weeks I'll change it and see what the results are.

In short going to the XR upper is the way I should have gone, but could have save some coin if I didn't buy the lower.

AllDodge, you might consider looking for an XR propset. 4 blade forward, 3 blade rear. They are not elephant ear props like the 3 x 3's. I put a set on my heavy 26' runabout and hole shot is significantly improved. Cruise RPM dropped close to 200 RPM for same speed. Lost a MPH or two on top end but who cares, it is a runabout. I went from 26" 3 x3 to 25" XR 4 x 3.

Thanks Knot, wouldn't mind trying one but don't want to buy unless I know it would work. I have a little more then 40K in this project and spending another K right now just doesn't trip the trigger if you know what I mean. Sure to appreciate the input

I had to birddog eBay for over a year to find a nice set at a reasonable price. Turns out I got a set of test props from Cobalt. Guy said they used them on just a couple boats. $600 for the set. Looked brand new.

What is the expected difference between a bravo 1 and bravo 2

The B2 having a larger prop will push more water, but as the for the difference I think the B1 would have a real hard time getting my boat up, the B2 would do it with less difficulity

The Bravo 2 not only has a bigger diameter prop but the lower housing is larger and sets the propshaft and prop deeper into the water which is why I think it seemed to work well on boats like ours.

Bravo 2
http://www.sealinkmarine.com.au/wp-c.../Bravo-Two.jpg

Bravo 3
http://www.outdrives.com/sterndrives...s/Bravo_3X.jpg

Since I did my repower and new transom assembly and new drive i went for what was new figuring newer design B3 would be better than the B2 because they are on all the new boats. I would love to find a nice newer if not new B2 lower and be able to do the comparison. I use to be able to trim my boat to the moon with the 2 and old power. I use to get 39mph gps @ 4200 RPM spinning a 17 3/4 21p aluminum prop After the repower I had a very best of 48mph gps @ 4800 RPM with 24p 4x3 props. For some reason or another most likely due to weight I have only seen 46 this summer but the fact it sounds like the props are cavitating and I can't go into aggressive turns like I use to with the B2 makes me believe maybe the boat still has a bit left on the table with the drive. By no means was i looking for a rocket ship but my goal was simple 50mph WOT and high 30s cruise. I am a little shy on both but very close.

It is interesting reading your journey and your results. You definitely put some time into it and a lot money! It is nice to throw some ideas back and forth with a fellow Formula owner who has worked on similar

https://fbcdn-photos-d-a.akamaihd.ne...4ac08cc0015e56
Obv mine is the station wagon on the right....
https://scontent-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...51749932_o.jpg

https://youtu.be/5dxUveatyWM

Sure wish I had that much room in my engine bay. Your 26 is a good looking ride and the vid is nice.

Mine likes to cruse between 34 to 36mph (3500 to 3800 rpm). Did notice that as I got below 1/2 tank my prop slip is reducing slightly. The all anchor chain in my bow reduces the amount I can trim up and the plus on that is if I turn hard over everyone needs to hang on. The boat turns so quick that what isn't tied down goes sliding real quick. Found that out when a jet ski came around flying in across my bow. My thought is the B3 or B2 will turn about the same if it is trimmed in more at the turn. Would be nice to try and prove the theory

Im, told a b3 is worse for top speed than a B1, where would a b2 fit in to the performance comparison?

Agree from what I've heard is the B3 is good up to 50mph, then starts loosing out to the B1. Haven't heard anything in comparisons to the B2, then again they seem to only put them on heavy boats

AD, how do you like the turn-downs on your boat? I was thinking about a set of those for mine. I like the rumble, but I also miss the ability to run it through the prop and carry on a conversation without yelling. Guess I'm getting old. ;)

I do like the turndowns, and while mine are only about 4 inches under water at idle, they do a nice job of making everything quite enough to carry on a normal conversation. When running it is much louder but I think it helps also with the sound being reflected down. I can still talk to the wife as we cruise but do have to raise the voices.

Old guy here also

i run a b3 Up to 63 mph with a very low slip ( around 8%). It is a pretty light boat but the b3 dies abive 50 isn't true.

I think you have to raise your voice a little bit even with thru-prop exhaust at speed - you just get so much mechanical noise from the engine as much as exhaust noise. Is it about as quiet as thru-prop when you are at idle? I'm OK with a little rumble.

Maybe last update to this thread:
Unloaded 110 feet of anchor and chain and took it out. Not much improvement, managed to get 48mph at WOT, and cruise speed looked a bit better. Still having at least 20 percent prop slip. Think I'll look around for a set of 4x3's in a 25 pitch to try

Hey it's a brick :rolleyes: just like to reduce the slip if possiable

I have not followed this thread to closely so did you raise the propshaft height (x dimension) on the boat? did you have a bravo 2 on and put a bravo 3 on it. I have been dealing with slippage and drive height issues as well

No didn't change height, at least I don't think I did. Had a standard B3 drive, rebuilt the transom and installed an HP transom assy, Bravo XR upper and used my old 2.0 B3 lower. Had 24 pitch props and now running 26

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...bravo-iii.html

interesting thread

Very interesting thanks

I had a different situation arise, finally timed and tuned my motor and picked up 3 mph with the 3 blade but my slip rose to 20%, Ill put on the 4 blade this weekend to see if the slip drops. The bottom paint has been removed and the hull painted with interlux VC epoxy bottom paint and the drive is in perfect shape. These last 3 changes had zero effect on speed or slip numbers, only the timing/tune.
Using a bravo 1, I'm curious how a 2 or 3 would change things?

Don't see how your getting 20 percent slip with your boat. Its 26 feet and 4800 pounds dry weight. My 23 foot rinker cuddy is also 4800 dry and turns 60 to 62 mph with a 300hp 454 B1. What numbers are you seeing?

21 pitch 3 blade 1.50 ratio 5000 rpm 53 mph with 4 adults 2 kids 3/4 tank of gas, i have a hard time believing the weight claims from wellcraft,this thing feels like it weighs much more

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AllDodge! I just read this tread. Nice build. Did you time your props? I never knew what this could do till Bup posted about this on other tread.

No I didn't have them timed, going to go and look timing up. don't know what it consist of. I do plan to have my current props checked (26) at the end of the season. Kind of wondering if I might have something else going on. Seam to remember checking prop slips before the build when I had 24 pitch, and don't remember it being that bad.

Link?

I've always followed the Merc manual on this, but want to see what BUP had to say. John has tons of experience.

I always set the inner (bigger) prop with a blade straight up under the cavitation plate. Then install outer (smaller) prop with the blade from the inner prop directly between the space between two blades of the outer prop.

Knot 4 Me I think that's right. I will try to find the post.

That's the way I do it, just wanted to make sure BUP hadn't learned something via experience or factory seminars, etc.

If memory serves, the Merc documentation you used to get with your boat shows timing for the Blackhawk but does not make mention of doing it for the Bravo III. Obviously the same timing would apply. I'll dig thru my old manuals and see if I can find it.

Never would of thunk it, they both spin but go figure. Today is a good day, I learned something

I imagine it has to do with the inner prop optimizing water feed to the outer prop?

Old thread on XR props, cavitation burn with higher HP, effects of bad prop timing, proper prop timing, etc. Only takes a few minutes to get thru.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/p...-prop-set.html