Drive lifespan on 32-36' cat?
 

After building a 280 velocity years ago with a ton of help from this forum I sold the boat after 2 seasons and 4 drives. Obviously bravo drives do not like much power and the blown 509 was to much for it even driving very easy. I have owned 12+ outboard boats since then and have become spoiled with the simple maintence of changing the oils every 100 hours. I currently have a 31 contender and a LCB with a new 400 verado. I am wanting to add a 32-36 foot cat to the mix, but the prices of outboard cats are INSANE! I have recently been thinking about going to an inboard cat like a 32 skater, 35 motion or 36 spectre. Problem is we live on the water and put over 400 hours a year on our boats. Am I dreaming to think that the drives and engines will hold up to 150-200 hours a year on a cat with out a tremendous amount of up keep? I am not looking for 120-150 mph speeds. We cover a lot of ground going to New Orleans, Biloxi from our house so stock power with the ability to cruise 80+ would work. Last weekend we ran 420 miles over the course of 3 days on the tickfaw 200. It is not uncommon for us to run 250 miles in a weekend. 500efi/bravo setup?

Look for a cat with # 6 drives and with mild to wild power they are reliable, with Bravo and even Imco Drives you will have issues even with 525s the drives do not hold up. Good luck there are plenty out there with 6 drives

I initially thought about number 6 drives, but after looking them up I read they need to be gone through every 150 hours at a 10k price per drive. Not sure how true that is. I am trying to get in touch with the guy who does my drives to see what he says.

what about Arnesons or equivalent…not sure there are many out there on sub 36’ cats tho

Thats doesn`t seem to be accurate information.. where did you find that??

Even if it is true, I'd rather have them gone through on MY schedule rather than have a Bravo based boat make that schedule for me anytime during the season!!

Imco scx?

I have owned 3 cats with Number Six drives. One was a 32 Skater with 525's and Six drives. One was a 35 Motion with 1200's and Six drives and a 39 MTI with 1300's and Six drives. One word on the drives, Bulletproof, I had way more than 150 hours on those drives with no issues. Can not say the same about transmissions, engines and drive shafts from the trans to the drive. Blew a few, I am back to outboard cats. Not as fast but, far more reliable.

I read that on OSO yesterday while reading through older posts.

I was not aware number 6 drives have transmissions. Did you have many issues with the 525 setup? I would be fine with lower stock power if that meant more reliable.

I agree about the outboard boats being more reliable, but I can not justify $400-600K for a twin outboard cat. How is the ride with the lighter outboard boats vs the inboard or is there much difference?

You found some fake news.
My experience with transmissions was much different.. 12 years of lake michigan boating in a heavy tank , the Huber 1200 is the only thing that never ever gave me any issues.
Over heat them or too much throttle in reverse is a sure way to kill em.
I had a big coolers and never gave it throttle in reverse .

Cats load a drive differently than a deep V. I went ten years with bravos 1:36 ratio without a problem behind blown 509’s in all sorts of water….Lake Michigan, Ozarks, South Florida and the Keys.
Never touched them and typically around 200 hours a year of use.

OB cats may be priced higher initially, but maintenance and fuel cost will be so much lower and it will be easier to resell later.
One of the best priced OB cats out there and owned by a friend who upgraded to a 44 MTI.

2018 Mti 340X 8899 Lake of the Ozarks (bigthundermarine.com)

assuming you had an american offshore, then why were they blowing ssm 2 that often on chriscat? Ssm2 are basically a stronger than bravo trs upper ans ssm 2 lower...
were these drives so weak? Always surprised to see AO using bravos and not hear about drives blowing off, just like you mentionned... whats your take on this?

No idea on the speedy two issues…those are pretty old. Most race boats were set with 3’s from that era and a very few with 5’s. I wasn’t making a ton of horsepower and tried to drive sensible. A sheared propshaft and a prop to the bottom of the lake was my only issue with bravos on that boat. Maybe I had just a lucky set?

That is a beautiful boat and would ultimately be the best for what we do, but with 3 other boats at the house I am not wanting to be 400K into the boat. If I were the MTI would be on my list. A few of my neighbors have them and they are sick boats.

T'he 32 Skater with 525 and sixes was a bullet proof setup. It was also boring. Not enough power. It would run 115 mph but would take too long to get there. All six drives need a transmission. I used Huber and BAM transmissions. With big power over 1000 in a cat they let go from abuse in rough water. It got to where I would rebuild them myself. I started with fast outboard cats and wanted to go faster with each boat. I grew tired of the maintenance with fast I/O cats. I now enjoy my 36 cat with Mercury V8 outboards.