bravo three trashed
 

Last night i got a call from a friend. Taking on water and can't get boat into gear. Apparently he had hit a submerged log in lake shelbyville, il. I towed him back to the ramp and loaded the boat by hand. The bravo three was hanging off the back of the boat only by the shifter cables and hoses! Upper and lower housings both trashed, Gimbal ring broken, and i assume there was damage to the drive coupler since at speed when it happened. Question is, what does this repair typically cost? Does the whole transom assembly have to be replaced in this scenario? Just trying to help a buddy get his boat back up and going.

if the boats insured, turn it in, pay deductable, if not, internals are probably ok, may just need cases and gimble ring, engine coupler should be ok I would think, look at the drive shaft and check it's condition, it should give some idea of the coupler condition, start disassembly and look for broken parts, make sure you check the inner transom plate.
Larry

I had something very different happen to me. I lost a tooth on a gear and locked my drive. The input shaft broke at the u joints and then it spun around wiping out the Helmet, Tearing a section of the Gimble out from teh hinge pin to the steering pin on the left side, internaly the gear locking the way it destroyed the upper case of me Imco. The drive coupler was destroyed in the process as well (center splines were cocked sideways and shaft would not go in). If it was not for my hydrolic steering being attached to the drive I would have lost the whole thing as it was the only thing still attached to the boat when I got it back to the trailer. If you friend is going to try to go for a quick fix and reteun to the water please make sure that you take a shaft and try to get it to slide into the coupler and make sure that it is still aligned properly before trying to run the boat. As far as parts and the expence of the repairs goes, I have a good used Gimble and a good used Helmet if you are looking to save some money. Good luck with the repairs, they are not hard to do they just take some time.

His insurance company will cover the cost, just want make sure it gets done right. new bravo III's from bam are $5k....ouch

talk to scot at Victory Marine in texas he has good prices 713-910-2000

i've got a used bravo III with 2.00:1 gears came off of my fathers 2001 Searay 260 Sundancer...260-265 hours on it...WORKS PERFECT. has a little bit of corrosion but mechanincally perfect. i came across a deal a few months ago on a new one so i grabbed it for him. if your interested let me know...im going to put it on ebay this coming weekend.