Stern Jack for Bravo, Pros and Cons
 

I saw this posted for sale and couldn't help but wonder what the pros and cons are versus an extension box like ITS, Stelliings, etc. My first thought is what is the multiplier for wear on the gimble and the rams? Interesting none the less the "better mousetraps" that are invented and tried.
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Pros? Cheap. Cons? I wouldn't do that to my gimbal ring. They are enough of a weak link as is. I've never been a fan though many have used them with good results.

^^ Agree Knot, I wouldn't do it. Seems like the additional leverage would accelerate wear.

If I remember back to the articles written it seams like a mod for a 18 to 22 foot lake boat. I don't think it was intended for an offshore twin engine boat.

A guy on Sunsation's old website had a set on a 32 Dominator with fairly healthy blown BBC's. Dominator Scott if memory serves. Pretty sure it was a 100 MPH boat. Always scared me. I agree with the thought that the target audience was smaller boats.

My buddy has a 21 foot Checkmate open bow mated to a 383 and Alpha 1 drive. It does very well for him over the years, but this is a light boat. I to would agree to not use one on anything much over 2500 if that

Shameless plug,

I have an Alpha one w/ new bearing if anyone is interested.

Long live Garth Brooks

Pros: On boats that required a ton of positive trim to gain speed, they did indeed show some benefits. Of course one could argue that boats that need a ton of positive trim to gain speed are poorly designed and / or set up in the first place. So that makes this a really expensive Band-Aid.

Cons: Increased stress on Gimble Rings, Trim Cylinders, Steering, etc. Also, when one adds a Stand Off Box to a high performance boat, moving the drive back also requires moving the drive up just to stay even on hydrodynamic drag. The Stern Jack effectively moves the drive back, but doesn’t move it up. So if you were going fast enough for hydrodynamic drag to be an issue (say about 75 MPH or more), the Stern jack actually hurt you. And finally, for many boats it added so much leverage that one could fairly easily get really stupid with positive trim. And you know what that leads to when you hit an unexpected wave, wake or roller. Enough said?

How about an extension box and that spacer!?!