Turning a bravo 1 backwards?
 

Ok I am new to boats so this might be a dumb question but maybe not. I searched and could not find an answer. Last night I was talking to a prop guy about what to run on my boat. To make a long story short he said since I have offshore controls I could run a left hand prop if I found one cheap and just run the controls backwards. Like reverse is now forward and forward is reverse. Is that even possible or is that bad for the out drive? In theory I can see it but asking first is cheaper.

That's exactly what happens on a twin application. One is in F the other in R, so to speak. On a single LH you may get torque steer.

I though that but a buddy said they do make counter rotating out drives. I have a LH prop I found cheap I want to try so its worth trying now knowing I can. What do you mean by torque steer?

You can just switch the shift cable on the shifter. It will then still shift f-n-r normally but the drive will spin opposite of the original set up.

Most single engine fountains run a lefty so I don't know if torque steer would be a problem or not.

Hmm. Would be interesting to see what turning lefty does on a Checkmate....Never really heard of someone who tried.

The guy that told me that does on his 600hp 283 convincor. But I guess I'll find out soon enough myself. If it works and I like it I'll switch the cable.

i did it its ok but i was also told because you run the drive backwards it slings the gear lube up not down and you you should run a drive cooler .my boat lists to the right with a right hand prop but run level with a lefty dont know if it performs better with the same pitch prop went from a 29 right to a 31 left

That is exactly why he runs a LH prop because his would lean with a RH but with a LH it ran strait. But isn't an out drive completely full off lube so it shouldn't make a difference what way it spins it shouldn't "fling" anything. As for a cooler do you just mean a drive shower?

The gears always spin the same way with regards to " slinging " gear oil.

Its just a matter of which gear the clutch is engaging to the vertical shaft

I just went thru this.. ran swapped for a 70 mile poker run with both of mine switched at helm (10 min job). Didn't like the way min ran an put them back.. Did a 17 mile portion around 4300 the whole way also!

NO ISSUES>>> go for it!

NOTE: I did talk to mr gadgets and he mentioned checking the magnet for metal first. I had a lil fine powder so I swapped them! having chunks out could have possibly damaged a drive in his opinion.