How Long Will Bravos Last Under Performance Use?
 

I was just wondering how many hours people's Bravo One drives have lasted between:

A. Blowups
B. Rebuilds

Also how much did the repair or rebuilt cost (or even replacement if it blew up beyond repair).

I'm just trying to get a feel for how long these things will last under performance use, and what to budget.

Michael

fixx
 

depends on power,,stock hp under 500 hp will last a long time if the oil is changed often..over that your on borrowed time..

Are you easy on your equipment or rough. How's your throttle hand. What type of waters do you boat in. What kind of HP are you pushing through them. Do they get serviced often. Heavy or light boat. Over propped, underpropped, correct prop. Do they have drive showers.

So many variables, I've had good luck with mine with stock set-ups. With basically no information from you it's hard to judge but being that they are part of a boat who's job it is to break down and cause headaches and drain your bank account I'd budget heavy all the time for everything.

I had about 275 hours on my xr/its sportmasters behind my triple 525's in a 43 NT! only normal service, no issues but I don't drive my boats hard, careful out of the hole, drive showers, fresh water, etc!!!! good luck

Cigarette Bullet. 575 a side. Over 100 HRS( then I sold it.) in one summer. Beat them like red headed step children and NEVER an issue. In the ocean too! Still going strong after another 50 Hrs..:boat:

Go on plane easy &service them a good amount of time!Add steering even longer!

I Raced a 26' Corsa with 650 HP and used the same Bravo drive for over two years (until we picked up a lobster Trap in Key West) Keep good clean oil in it and don't abuse it on re-entry and it goes a long time.

standard engines and taking it easy a long time. My fontain is 20 years old and looks to have original drives and are fine.

Cost for a new drive out of the box is around 5k. A refurbed drive about 2-3k. Used ones about 1000-2000 maybe more maybe less. To have somebody fix a drive for certain issue could be dollars, hundreds, or thousands

I had Bravo's behind 700's in the Apache... They lasted 10 - 20 hrs tops and that was with driving it like a cream puff.

Scrapped the Bravo's and went to BMax and upped the HP to 830 and have never looked back. 300 hrs later, I'm still happy. :)

the answer depends on these factors:

1. boat weight
2. hp
3. mainentance and oil changes
4. how hard you drive your boat (out of the hole, etc)

+1, also depends on weight. If its pushing a 38 top gun, not going to last as long as a 28 or 32ft boat. My drives are original, pretty sure they've never been rebuilt.

Cost seemed like it was around 3500 for rebuild and 5-6000 for new.

He also needs to be looking at the gimbal ring. If its subject to a lot of rough water use the gimbal rings can go at 150-200 hours even on a stock 502 28ft boat. Previous owner had to replace the transom assemblies at around 200 hours on my boat.

Friend has a 1989 Formula 272 with 509s @ 610 HP each with Bravo 1s and only had one minor issue with them. Maintenance and how you drive big factors.
Me I had a 271 Fastech with a Whippled 502, 637 HP and broke 2 Bravo 1s. Went to an XR ran it for 5 years no problems.

5. drive set-up/shimming

Having the proper clearances and gear mesh is critical.

Smaller twin engine boats will be easier on drives than same size single engine boats. Drive failures are fairly common in any 27ft+ single engine boat running bravo one with more than 500hp.

The biggest factors are HP/torque, weight and probably the biigest factor is the driver.

They will last between 5 and 1000 hrs depending.

The best thing to remember is that a bravo is not a surface bearing drive , keep it in the water and it will last alot long than if it breaks free, that is when most of them blow. they arent that expensive so if your using it for performance keep you a spare around and you can change them out in acouple of hours easy. That way you dont miss your time in the water and you'll enjoy boating a lot more!!!!

Thanks for your input, guys. I was thinking 28' or under, single engine, ocean use. I heard so many horror stories, I became concerned that Bravo replacements would become routine service. Some people even said XR's are a waste of money over a standard Bravo One. That's worrysome given the large price premium of an XR. I believe Merc's website gave the following specification (but no longer shows it on the product page):

Bravo One 400 hp
Bravo One X 450 hp
Bravo XR 600 hp

Michael

400 Hours here behind 425's in a 30' boat. Easy out of the hole, and smooth with the throttle hand and they still look brand new inside. Oil changes every 25-30 hours.

+1

I had a new style Bravo XR 1.50 on my 28 Arrow. Padded/vented keel.
875hp 572ci.

With:
- good shower (own design)
- foot throttle
- 10h oil change

It was with out any probs with me just around 2000 nautic miles, both race and pleasure. Pulled the motor and sold the boat and as far as I know the new owner runs the same drive w/o any issues. Now with a 650hp.


Mange

you guys will probably not believe this but i have a bravo with close to 2000 hrs behind a stock 330 1989 spent its life in fresh water has been resealed thats it, oil changes 1 time per season

Ah Griff, but if you're a true idiot with a heavy boat and / or lots of power, I'll bet you can get less than 5 hours out of one. Sadly, I've seen it done.
:lolhit:

So you think 6.5-7k is cheap for an XR replacement without transom assy? Checked prices on shafts, parts, billet shafts, gears and props lately? Blow a few and you could just have bought an ASD or Konrad, to which you prefer.

Bravos suck.

7 hours. XR has lasted 2 seasons so far.

One of the drives was rebuilt on your apache. During an oil change some chips came out. so i removed that one and found the upper gears had a piece missing. Replaced upper gears and went thru the drive.

Bear in mind that Fred Kiekhafer himself was quoted a few years back as saying that the Bravo was never intended to handle more than 300 hp. Given that statement, the drive's performance in performance applications is easy to understand... ;)

Heres my experience.....

An Ilmor 710 in a 5 thousand pound boat can wreck one pretty quick in the ocean.

10-50 hours on the ocean with moderate stick bursting to high speed occasionally.

If I keep my arm out of it and boat on lakes 50% of the time 100-150 hours.

Its fragile enough to where if you sending it over 500 HP consistently you should think of sonething else.

I had an old Bravo 1's gear last 10 years with 500HP against it in a 2300LB boat.

Uncle Dave

Yikes!
 

Never heard that before.
Great thread by the way. Being an O/B guy my I/O owning buddies all lie to me until I get them drunk. Once intoxicated they state exactly as posted.
500 HP's seems to be the magic # where everything else gets more important.
Hole shots and being good on the sticks in the rough seems to be key from what I hear.