If you're only option was bravo's or ssm III which would you rather have?
I have bravo's on my hawk, and am getting concerned about continuous drive breakage. XR's are not in my budget nor do I want to rebuild them every 150 or so hours.
But I do have my ssmIII's, gimbles, and transmissions still would it be worth hanging on to these or is this old technology not worth it, and won't perform? these are my only 2 options keep the bravo's with hp transom assemblies or swap to the ssm IIIs, so please dont tell me put imco's or bmax's on it unless you want to trade which is more than welcome

Go for the SSM#3s and a high x-dim. Much stronger than a bravo and they run surface props. An interesting thing could be to see if you could in any way swap yor IIIs for Vs. The lower drive x-dim makes for easier and better installation. If you are running biggish power, your bravos are going through hel! on that boat and are on borrowed time anyway.

I have several buddies who have both of your setups on big heavy hulls.

42 Fountain. Stock 525's and XR's. Breaks drives. Yes. STOCK 525s.

42ft Wellcraft Excalibur eagle. 540's, bravos, breaks drives.

46 Black Thunder, XR's, 575's, breaks drives. Why BT would even install this setup is beyond me.

31 Sonic, hopped up merc 575's, modded up bravos with cryo this, cryo that, breaks drives.

386 Sonic, 575 mercs, XR's, good for eatin up vertical shafts several times.

I could go on for a while here. No need to beat a dead horse.

Now, SSM buddies.

41 Apache. 598's, 3A's, No drive breakage.

38 Flatdeck Cig, 800 blower engines, 3A's, no drive breakage.

38 Flatdeck Cig N/A 540's, small shaft III's, no drive breakage.

39 Aronow Cat 650's, Small shaft III's, no drive breakage.

38 Cougar, 572's, small shaft III's, no drive breakage.

38 Fountain (my boat) small shaft iv's, 650's, no drive breakage.

33' Fountain 900's, small shaft iv's, no drive breakage.

You see where i'm going with this bud??? All these boats I listed are used on lake michigan. If you like running big water, with any kind of decent power in a 40' boat, bravo's just wont cut it. Not xr's, xz's, x's, y's, or any of that stuff.

Im sure if you boated on a inland lake with calm water, you may be ok, for a little while with the bravos. If it were me, i'd put the III's on and swing the big props.

Not big power but enough to break bravos! Lol about 590 fwhp each

Thanks m/t looks like next winter will be another rerig! What x would be good? It's at 18 now for the bravos

Honestly if you have all winter to do it and your labor means nothing to you, pick up a set of arnesons like what's in the swap section for $7k, sell your other stuff and be way ahead of the game.

Great idea problem being selling the 3s and gimbles, had pretty much no interest in them at all. I'm sure I could sell the hp gimbles and bravos but that's only about 4k

If you are at 18" with stock length Bravos, an x of 20.7/16" will put you at the same height. I would a least go with 23½"-24". You can always use a 3" spacer and get down to or close to current prop depth if needed, but 23½" will suface your IIIs and that is what they were meant to do. With the big cleavers, you may even be able to go higher. Next question is, do you have room under your hatch?

IMO jamie, use the boat as is this summer to see if its something you want to put alot more time into or sell. Youll prolly figure it out pretty quickly. If you decide you want to build an 85 MPH Hawk, then start collecting spare SSM parts to keep in inventory if you decide to do the re-rig. I know theyre hard to come by and can be expensive, but it should be alot stronger for your power upgrade next year! Haha...That boat may also like the weight of the trannys forward. If those Bravos make it through the summer, theres a chunk of pocket cash when u sell them. Plus OP should have a ton of props for #3's. This boat has been altered hundreds of times! Hahaha

Or sell the iiis, and the bravos, and put some iv or v"s on it and keep the engines mounted low. Then bolt some blowers on for a 90mph hawk with a rooster tail