Broke at Lake Cumberland
09-11-2004, 06:13 PM
#1
Platinum Member
Platinum MemberThread Starter
Broke at Lake Cumberland
Well, another poker run at lake cumberland.
Another batch of Bmax problems.
Through with Bmaxes. No more agony desired.
42' Fountain/Scism MTI cat.
575SCi Mercs with chillers, pulleys, and ECU's (660hp each give or take).
10,000 pound boat.
Runs 110 ish with Hydros lightly loaded. Has run 117 on a cool day with Herings.
Boat ate 3 XR's when new. Got Bmaxes. After several dryheaves with shifting troubles, etc, they were aparently working fine. Went to Cumberland run in 2003. On the way to get the fifth card, ran from Grider to Jamestown pretty hard, running 104 for more than half of the distance. On throttle back, the smell of gear oil greeted us. Bilges full of milkshake, all over the place. Got it on the trailer. BOTH lowers were about to fall off the boat, with many studs broken and one propshaft hanging about out of the lower with the bearings shot. When I say studs broken, I mean that only one bolt was holding one lower from falling off on the stbd side and two were holding the port side, with both of them having been pulled most of the way out of the soft casting.
This year, more shifting problems, but the drives have ARP studs helicoiled in them, and doweled lowers. The original studs were cheap junk stainless.
Destin run went well, but boat was not run very hard, as it had some "elderly" passengers in it for that run
Here at Cumberland again. Shifting still sucking. Can't shift stbd drive into neutral unless you blip the throttle. Shifts into gear nicely, just not out. Port drive only hangs in reverse, not fwd.
Friday went well. Made a run to the Falls and back to Jamestown.
Fueled up all the way for the poker run and took off with the yellow sticker crowd. Ran 100-106 for bout halfway to the first card, then in cross chop, backed off to keep props loaded (still a little worried about the drives). At first card stop checked drive reservoirs for oddness. All was fine. Got first card. Took off. Running 85, was passed by a fast Talon 377. Hammered the sticks. At 100, port drive freewheeled. Stopped to check. No bilge water. Reservior normal. Will shift in and out easily with normal feel. No go either direction, but will shift good (meaning upper gears are spinning). Idled 350 miles back to Jamestown (really more like 16 miles). Put damn boat on trailer.
Was interesting getting it on trailer with only stbd motor that won't come out of gear 4 out of 5 tries...
No propshaft on port drive (no prop either).
Verdict: BMaxes are a very poor choice for this application.
Warning: Drives with high X dim, heavy boat, and cat hull - bad application.
Boat will probably sport surface drives next season. Open to recommendations.
On another note, Saw WildThing Taz boat. He didn't break. That speaks well of Bmaxes on his application.
Also saw Sonic Boom. Sonny Spectre (didn't get to speak to him). Saw boat named "Dock Holiday" out of Arizona, which I assume to be the Dock Holiday on this board (also didn't speak to him).
Also rafted up to some guys out of Cincy near the falls Friday. Nice guys. Cool Spectre with 650 Chiefs. 311 Formula. Couple of fountains (one with some hot babes in it).
Barbecue dinner Friday night gave me indigestion. Had to wait for second batch of bbq to come out since they ran out before 1/5 of the people had eaten. Organizer Roger was very cool about it. Offered to feed us at the lodge, but we preferred to stay around the action.
Totalmp had a houseboat there, but didn't get to speak to them.
Saw an Advantage bowrider with Viper power but didnt see how it ran.
Weekend could have been better. Could have been worse.
Our only card was Jack of Diamonds. We opened it in the truck on the way home.
Another batch of Bmax problems.
Through with Bmaxes. No more agony desired.
42' Fountain/Scism MTI cat.
575SCi Mercs with chillers, pulleys, and ECU's (660hp each give or take).
10,000 pound boat.
Runs 110 ish with Hydros lightly loaded. Has run 117 on a cool day with Herings.
Boat ate 3 XR's when new. Got Bmaxes. After several dryheaves with shifting troubles, etc, they were aparently working fine. Went to Cumberland run in 2003. On the way to get the fifth card, ran from Grider to Jamestown pretty hard, running 104 for more than half of the distance. On throttle back, the smell of gear oil greeted us. Bilges full of milkshake, all over the place. Got it on the trailer. BOTH lowers were about to fall off the boat, with many studs broken and one propshaft hanging about out of the lower with the bearings shot. When I say studs broken, I mean that only one bolt was holding one lower from falling off on the stbd side and two were holding the port side, with both of them having been pulled most of the way out of the soft casting.
This year, more shifting problems, but the drives have ARP studs helicoiled in them, and doweled lowers. The original studs were cheap junk stainless.
Destin run went well, but boat was not run very hard, as it had some "elderly" passengers in it for that run
Here at Cumberland again. Shifting still sucking. Can't shift stbd drive into neutral unless you blip the throttle. Shifts into gear nicely, just not out. Port drive only hangs in reverse, not fwd.
Friday went well. Made a run to the Falls and back to Jamestown.
Fueled up all the way for the poker run and took off with the yellow sticker crowd. Ran 100-106 for bout halfway to the first card, then in cross chop, backed off to keep props loaded (still a little worried about the drives). At first card stop checked drive reservoirs for oddness. All was fine. Got first card. Took off. Running 85, was passed by a fast Talon 377. Hammered the sticks. At 100, port drive freewheeled. Stopped to check. No bilge water. Reservior normal. Will shift in and out easily with normal feel. No go either direction, but will shift good (meaning upper gears are spinning). Idled 350 miles back to Jamestown (really more like 16 miles). Put damn boat on trailer.
Was interesting getting it on trailer with only stbd motor that won't come out of gear 4 out of 5 tries...
No propshaft on port drive (no prop either).
Verdict: BMaxes are a very poor choice for this application.
Warning: Drives with high X dim, heavy boat, and cat hull - bad application.
Boat will probably sport surface drives next season. Open to recommendations.
On another note, Saw WildThing Taz boat. He didn't break. That speaks well of Bmaxes on his application.
Also saw Sonic Boom. Sonny Spectre (didn't get to speak to him). Saw boat named "Dock Holiday" out of Arizona, which I assume to be the Dock Holiday on this board (also didn't speak to him).
Also rafted up to some guys out of Cincy near the falls Friday. Nice guys. Cool Spectre with 650 Chiefs. 311 Formula. Couple of fountains (one with some hot babes in it).
Barbecue dinner Friday night gave me indigestion. Had to wait for second batch of bbq to come out since they ran out before 1/5 of the people had eaten. Organizer Roger was very cool about it. Offered to feed us at the lodge, but we preferred to stay around the action.
Totalmp had a houseboat there, but didn't get to speak to them.
Saw an Advantage bowrider with Viper power but didnt see how it ran.
Weekend could have been better. Could have been worse.
Our only card was Jack of Diamonds. We opened it in the truck on the way home.
09-11-2004, 06:39 PM
#3
Platinum Member
Platinum MemberThread Starter
Re: Broke at Lake Cumberland
To heck with a bunch of dang #6's. It's still heavy and still an outdrive and still bends the power through two 90 degree direction changes.
Surface drives. Friend already has fought outdrives long enough. Time to leave those concerns behind.
Pros and cons of the different ones available are welcome.
Surface drives. Friend already has fought outdrives long enough. Time to leave those concerns behind.
Pros and cons of the different ones available are welcome.
09-11-2004, 07:31 PM
#4
VIP Member
Re: Broke at Lake Cumberland
I am having the same problem with my Bmax's also. Real hard to shift. One now does not want to come out of forward, feels like I am going to break the cable. The other drive doesn't want to go into reverse.
Stock 388 Hustler 500efi. Nothing to do with power . I fixing to Send them back to Dean to figure it out.Probably the clutch. I hope he still stands behind them again .So far he has taken good care of me with the problems
.
Rob
Stock 388 Hustler 500efi. Nothing to do with power . I fixing to Send them back to Dean to figure it out.Probably the clutch. I hope he still stands behind them again .So far he has taken good care of me with the problems
.Rob
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The Only Time You Have To Much Ammo Is When Your Swimming Or On Fire.
09-11-2004, 10:36 PM
#5
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Re: Broke at Lake Cumberland
Wiesmans - out of Costa Mesa, CA. Very, very strong, light, infinite gear changes. These guys build awesome transmissions, drives, gear changers, etc. Heavy in off road racing, etc. Check spelling on Wisemans. Known as Shifter here on site...
09-12-2004, 09:37 AM
#9
Platinum Member
Platinum MemberThread Starter
Re: Broke at Lake Cumberland
Konrads are supposedly a great alternative to Bravos in the world of outdrives. I appreciate additional comments regarding outdrive recommendations, but this is not a thread on "which Bravo". Crap on outdrives. This boat is finished with outdrives.
So far the only drawbacks to surface drives are purported to be:
* large rooster tail (this is not a ski boat, so this is not a drawback)
* dangerous props in swimming areas (this is not a boat that sees much time in raftups with lots of children - prop sox can be used when it does)
* limited maneuverability around the docks (driver is significantly experienced in boats and most other forms of powersports - surely he can figure this part out)
* Props are expensive (so what? Hurling them to the bottom of the lake is expensive. Breaking outdrives is expensive. Idling for hours at a time sucks.)
Mark, I assume Rik is at Arneson, and not a reseller, right?
He'll be getting a call. As will anybody else doing surface conversions.
At this point, steerable, trimmable drives are what I think it will be getting. Open to other opinions though.
So far the only drawbacks to surface drives are purported to be:
* large rooster tail (this is not a ski boat, so this is not a drawback)
* dangerous props in swimming areas (this is not a boat that sees much time in raftups with lots of children - prop sox can be used when it does)
* limited maneuverability around the docks (driver is significantly experienced in boats and most other forms of powersports - surely he can figure this part out)
* Props are expensive (so what? Hurling them to the bottom of the lake is expensive. Breaking outdrives is expensive. Idling for hours at a time sucks.)
Mark, I assume Rik is at Arneson, and not a reseller, right?
He'll be getting a call. As will anybody else doing surface conversions.
At this point, steerable, trimmable drives are what I think it will be getting. Open to other opinions though.
09-12-2004, 12:04 PM
#10
arneson-industries.com
Offshoreonly Advertiser
Re: Broke at Lake Cumberland
We have made a propeller guard for the smaller drives such as the one that replaces the Bravo so there really is no concern from the "Diving onto the Propeller" concerns.
Docking is not an issue. The distances between the propellers on your application are not on a staggered centerline like a V bottom, so the driver will not see much if any difference when docking. The propeller issue might make it even better.
Propellers are not free by any means but the standard Merc SSM#6 - 5 blade will work very well.
Docking is not an issue. The distances between the propellers on your application are not on a staggered centerline like a V bottom, so the driver will not see much if any difference when docking. The propeller issue might make it even better.
Propellers are not free by any means but the standard Merc SSM#6 - 5 blade will work very well.
