Aint worth the down time..... Your boat is heavy and that would be my concern on re-entry or coming out of the hole....

just one miss and all it takes is one tiny inperfection in the drive gears and pop!

Louie has some comments on his 32 in this thread

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=148474

Masher... Thanks for that! Very informative.

yes very informative indeed. my phantom is anything but light...pleasure layup, no steps, etc. Hopefully wont be as finicky with people/fuel changes.

Here is a pic of the drive. What's everyone's thoughts with the skeg shaved. Told its actually better for a single engine, smaller boat. B.S. or make sense?

Also any idea of age? has the old school mercrusier sticker on the sides.

Hmm.... dont really know what to think of that pic...

I know when I am running hard and trimmed out I dont have much in the water.... if you gotta steer or take a corner, you better respect the fact that you have a single boat with a big cleaver on it, turning ONE direction. My prop spins right and if you are cornering, you better take it easy... I HAVE almost walked the boat around in a right hand corner when I was running without a spacer.... really narrow light boat with all that torque spinning will wake you up in a hurry.

I doubt I would be too happy without a skeg at speed.

When I put my 2.5 inch spacer back in it felt MUCH better but you still have to respect prop spin....

I am not sure if I would want to pay the tuition to see if that skeg would work.... you can always get a lower if you have to

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the skeg is normally shaved on the center drive of tripple engine boats cause they are prone to damage being buried so deep in the water with three engines etc.

You could have a hering skeg welded on for $1,700.

TO be honest I thought of having mine cut off and having the hering swept backs weled on. ...............But I have had enough of the big boys tell me in about 5 years they start to crack around the weld again.

Not a big deal for race teams if your changing equipment out all the time in the name of winning.

But for pleasure use then I think your better off with traditional skeg or buy a cast swept back from mercury.

Plus when you weld them the cases DO distort and it does change the temper. Yes they can re-machine as the do etc. and get them back together properly. But the properties change in every aspect when you weld aluminum.

I personally can't tell you if your alright or not with out that skeg. But I would want it for handling purposes.

Still need a drive? Take your pick they are in the classifieds !


Jon

Bingo! must be from a triple application. I wouldnt weld either, that could get messy.

On another note, If I were to dry sump my drive I am told I would get another 3 or so mph. My drive isnt there for speed as much as reliability. I might dry sump it eventually but not on the priority list.

How heavy is the 32 activator?
Steps?

Some info on www.activatorboats.com and some photos on the powerboats NW site. I though that was a balsa cored vacuum bagged boat with two decent sized steps and a less than 7' beam.

Cougarman has done a good job explaining my setup. It was a lot of work because we didn't know how high to mount the drive and Mercury didn't have a clue. I am putting big power through the drive and have not had a single issue. It is so nice to not be held "hostage" by the drive.