composite outdrives
#1
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Location: williamsport pa
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composite outdrives
Why has no one made a carbon or kevlar out drive yet ? It would be lighter stronger and it could be repaired in the water with underwater epoxy. It seems like alot of a boats weight is in the drives people pay alot of money (for me any way) for 6s and all these other high performance drives. Why wouldn't the pay for the wow factor and weight savings ?
#2
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I would guess that it'd be difficult to keep the frontal area as small as with aluminum. Also probably difficult to keep all the mechanical bits consistently in the precise alignment necessary for them to work and hold up.
#3
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Volvo Penta Ocean Series Composite Outdrives. Fail.
#5
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As post 3 said Volvo Penta had one but not anymore. it was more inline what poster # 4 is mentioning. It was not 100% composite. Volvo did have problems with it plus some of those problems were related to the transom assembly and parts in that area.
Volvo SX and the DP currently are very good outdrives. They changed in 2007 the shape of them and picked up 1.5 to 2 mph over the 2006 and back versions on the same boat testing.
Volvo SX and the DP currently are very good outdrives. They changed in 2007 the shape of them and picked up 1.5 to 2 mph over the 2006 and back versions on the same boat testing.
Last edited by BUP; 06-11-2014 at 10:51 AM.
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I know Volvo is a good engine/outdrive company. My issue against them is the availability of service/parts. There are a number of "grays" in our area and they work pretty good. However, when anything happens the wait for service is long - and in some cases most of the "short" Indiana/Michigan season. That's the only reason why I stayed with a Mercruiser. We all know they have issues but it seems that everyone works on them and parts are all over the place.
Just my thoughts
Safe Boating
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Just my thoughts
Safe Boating
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#7
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Correct. It was a composite shell over an aluminum structure. If you cannot get a decorative cover to stay together...
#8
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If you gut an outdrive and put the casings on one side of the bench and all the 'internal workings' on the other side you'd find that the bulk of the weight really comes from the internals . Not the shell .