Mercury Blackhawk drives
 

Just trying to get some feedback before I jump into something. What do you guys think the demand is for brand new Blackhawk housings? How about complete drives? With X or XR gears? And at what price for each?

I know, lots of questions but I value the community input here!

The only person I know that had them got rid of them due to constantly breaking. How many boats have them?

There are a good handful. And when they work they REALLY work well. So that's what I'm trying to find out. How many are still in use? Me, I have a new one for my 20' Cig, and I know I want a spare cause once the boat is rigged for it not much else will work.

i think there is still a market for them Mark. Actually a friend just sent me these very intriguing pics of a single prop BH. Talk about a shorty :eek: . . . .


I believe they are from Max

I think one would run nice on my 25 daytona

Yea I think an affordable drive that you can surface and run cleavers on would be a hit.

Who said affordable? lol

Yes - more affordable than a 6 but they won't do the same job either.

Cool, maybe there is a good market for them

I have one and know of 2 with single prop shafts There was a case for one that was for sale last year for 1250. I think the market is going to get higher and the props are getting pricey.

Boy I don't see the need but I love seeing a person with a vision run it,just always believed they were a horribly handling drive in there present state.

I ran them in the 90's on a single 22 Donzi Black Widow and a P29 Scarab. Very fast and light on the steering. The P29's had a hard time keeping them together running them to the max like they where intended to be run. The single engine applications under twenty five feet seem to keep it together a little longer. I never ran them in the rough stuff but they sure where fun to run in the flat.

Phil Lip-Ship sure likes them. He may have good insight on the Demand. If you can make them live, Then You can bring Sexy Back :)

25' cat on calm inland water would probably be a decent platform. are they less reliable than bravo1 s

If you could build a more reliable version at a reasonable cost I think there is a market. I would be interested in a pair...RB

Why do you believe they are a horribly handling drive? :whistle:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]521377[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]521378[/ATTACH]Scarab P-29 has it's own Facebook page, go there. Some of the P-29s have gone to bravos because they can't find Blackhawk drives. I'm scared to death if I might lose one. I would be nice to have a back up.

They work best on a rocker hull..that being said i like the idea of a single prop bersion,,would also be nuce if someone were to legnthen then 2'' so you dont have to set the motor so low in the hull..like a standard +1 +2 +3 would be cool..

oops, pics didnt post from the shop computer :)

word is they work well on Elim Daytonas

I dont know much about the blackhawk ...well actually I dont know anything whats the history and specs on them? are they the predecessor to the 6?

I love my Blackhawks. Yes they are a bit of a pain at slow speeds but, after getting on plane they are great. I would love more options for my setup.

Marc, we have plans to revive the 22 Active Thunder Banshee. This could be a nice option for it. How much HP are you thinking they ought to be able to realistically handle? I know that Scarab P29s went through a LOT of them back in the day; probably 85% due to poor operators. But they only had 350s in front of them.

Interesting . I have one , from a '25 eliminator . Big 29 props . Was thinking of trying to to machine up some spacers and shafts props replacing my alpha on one of my boats for a one off duo prop all purpose boat .never gonna happen I'm sure . Anyone here that's driven a ski pro extreme with a big hp small block with the Volvo dp drive will know what I'm talking about . Trying to talk my buddy with a 25' formula 496 b3 into a weekend swap just for kicks .

Damn a Blackhawk with 2 shifting props could be interesting ..

350's ???? everyone one i have seen in p 29's had 502's in front of them..at least the ones by me were..

Well maybe I can give some insight as we did a lot I.E. Hundreds and hundreds of test hours on them in a 242 formula with a 502 mag. At first yes had some reliability problems with the gear case floor and the come clutch set up. But after a few mods and some upgrades we started seeing more and more hours on them. We even had a few with over 150 hours on them. We even went out on super rough days and aired the boats and even used a 33 foot carver to make our rough water to air them used to have a few pics. Ole boat looked good in the air and handled it great.

Nothing I'll handling while under power running on plane yes they were great. But when idling they drive like a Mack truck at idle but all. It was was a even sway back and forth.

As for the single prop conversion that defeats the minimal torque steer that a hawk delivers. In a twin situation it probably would be no problem.

As for props yes pricey and like I mentioned on e before on e you start getting over a hundred hours start checking the base of the blades for cavitation burns and puts you can see through. We started shaking blades off when we got a lot of hours on them.

On a 25 foot talon with a bulldog in it with a hawk it would touch right under 100 in the right water. The formula would run a touch over 70.

I know of one p29 with 383 strokers in it and he is very happy

I had a friend who had a 22 Daytona with a 502 Mag and a Blackhawk drive. I've got to believe it was one of the most efficient boats ever. The boat was a Kevlar lay up and the centerpod was modified specifically for the Blackhawk.(lower) It was a very fun boat. Very different to drive though. Almost like a jet. You had to give a lot of thrust to turn. It would move laterally in a crosswind a crazy amount. I believe it is the fastest stock 502 boat ever. His ran 94mph. Supposedly Leach had one just under 100. There was a lot of load on the drive shifting in and out of gear because of the efficiency of the props. His gimbal ring wore out very fast because of all the vibration from the surfacing props.

How were they breaking them in and out of the water with power on? This will be my first summer owning the P-29. I've searched threads over the years never really found what was breaking. Great thread!

How much power and torque will they be able to handle? And what would the cost be per drive?

there are three or four P29's around me here and all have small blocks, the Merc 383 strokers i believe. I thought that was the hook of that boat,

Most P-29's I've seen have fuelie 350's.

In reference to breaking Blackhawks:

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...-magizine.html

I've seen other similar stories over the yeas too.

Shifting props do not like to be surfaced...They self destruct!

I'm running a Scarab P29 with 550HP per motor and rebuilt BlackHawks with 1:50 gears, Rebuilt with XR parts and the stock 31p props with some mild modifications, I do keep a spare on hand as well. They will stay together if driven with care, back off the throttle when out of the water and they aren't for hammering out of the hole. It's not so much that they were blowing apart that Merc stopped manufacturing but there were wasn't a big enough market for them in the twin setup and boats built with a natural bow lift were suited for the Black Hawk, other manufactures weren't going to change to accommodate. It s a very efficient setup. They are a great drive and wanted in the shorter boat single setup design and there is where the market is/would be. Parts are easily available and it is the knowledge to rebuild the drive properly where there is a shortage (just don't hell the casing). Tim Bostic with Hoss Props has explored the thoughts of bringing back as well and he could make props for them since his dad worked with Merc back in the day in the development of them. Gary Musenburg was a lead developer in the BlackHawk back in the day and has lot of information about the drive, he's around some where.

Your boat is bada$$. Love the avatar.

The early Blackhawks had the original Bravo gears so they had the typical problem with the gear floor. The later ones had the newer style gears.

I will have a few (5) brand new Blackhawks available. I have brand new housings and have rounded up the rest of the parts. I can put these together with pretty much any ratio & gear. X, XR, stock, even with ITS input shaft which is what I am using on my 20' Cig project. Any interest let me know.

Single engine boats have not benefitted from the horsepower proliferation that the twin boats have due to the issues associated with having a single prop. There could be a market for a duo prop drive that could handle 1000+ hp. That would allow boats up to 33-35 to have a single engine. It would need to be cheaper and stronger than twin XRs.

A lot of the big power single Vs seem to be limited by their handling when going for big speed.

Seems like everyone thinks of running them instead of a short Bravo, or thinking they are surfacing like a #6...
wonder if they would be a good alternative to the elusive Alpha SS instead of trying to run on the bigger applications???
Just a thought.

My single needs a B3 instead of a B1X. I have a very deep X dimension. Would running the Blackhawk be the equivalent of running a B3 shorty? What's the difference in height between a B3 and Blackhawk?

8 inches