First Drive Failure, Swinging for the Fence
 

For background info 2005 Formula Fastech 353, 525EFI, XR drives, 28P 5 Blade Maximus, with ITS. Our boat has 311 hours on it, we purchased it January 2013 with 260ish hours, 1 previous owner. Boat always would chatter getting on plane whether it was a slow gradual feed or pushing it a little harder but never high RPM. Sent props to BBlades over the winter and Brent dialed out the chatter and we only lost 1.5 MPH off top speed. We were cruising along on the second leg of LEOPA Thunderfest and the boat went into a neutral, it took me a few seconds to gather myself off the dash and get situated boat kicked back in and that's when you really hear the coffee grinder at full tilt.

Reason I bring up the chatter and my fix, is it possible the gears were just weak or beat over time from that condition? The people who owned the boat before us had kids and idled for nearly 200hrs on a river and when they did use the boat it was in the very low RPM range.

Anyway, the drive is broke and replacing with a whole new unit. Do I get some kind of Bravo "kill" sticker or at least a smiley face for the fridge?

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvdMtd2npM8

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Damn sweet video, u were eatin that chit up, til boom,

Thank you, doing my part to make sure Merc employees stay employed.

Atleast you beat the other boat in the video.

5 blades on XR's are a grenade waiting to happen. Just talked to a buddy today with the same boat, he went through 4 drives with the 5 blades before switching to a 4 blade(not sure pitch but think 32's) and no problems since.

Agreed...you were moving along nicely before it went boom. How fast does that thing go with 525s.

Consistent 83 MPH with occasional 84. The 84s were before I had BBlades work the props to eliminate the chatter getting on plane. It runs out well, not the fastest 35' out there but it fits what we need it to do.

You should get a sticker for making a bravo XR last 311 hrs!

Time to tear down the other one as well.

Kind of ruins your day doesn't it ?

I've had the pleasure of experiencing that twice....at least the 2nd time wasn't on my boat.

With XR's, your new drive may last a while, or the gears may start falling apart real soon...I've seen it go both ways.

Thanks for the video, at least now I know what to listen for when mine go.