Excalibur502mag

I have always been interested in the old Blackhawks, and would be willing to spend the money if it would give good top end.
If I would not have read all the threads on here about them I would have probably already bought one.
Can anyone tell me if it will even fit, or benefit?
1999 Wellcraft Excalibur 23' 502 mag.

OkieTunnel

Blackhawks were discontinued...quickly. Maximize your setup with the bravo and you will be much happier.

Downtown42

Teague in PowerBoat just did a story on Blackhawks. The only boat he said worked well was the P-29 Wellcraft.

Pair-a-Dice race team Mark Lee has one for sale if your interested with Blackhawks. 50-60k range x-clean.

Excalibur502mag

What about the Bravo 3? Do they still make it?
I guess I always wondered why no one else used the Blackhawks on expensive power boats.
How about the the Brao 2 or 3?
Or the 1:36 Bravo one. Isn't there a better Bravo one I can bolt on?

OkieTunnel

The best news you could get is that the drive you have is the best for your application. You seem to want to be told something different?

Excalibur502mag

Good point OkieTunnel, I guess I am just not satisfied with 66mph and a 502 mag. I must have been dreaming when I though I would get 70's stock. I am ready to spend money and just want some advice from all of you who have traveled this road of frustration.
I think the key thing to understand is that I live on a lake with a 23' cap on length and none on HP.
I would sell all the other toys if I could have 40 some footer with multiple engines.

OkieTunnel

From another post I think you need to check your compression. If you were getting a true 69mph with the Yamaha prop then that can be achieved again unless your engine was damaged. If your engine is ok then there are many things to explaore such as a shortened lower unit, custom props, etc. If you got 69 from a simple stock prop exchange there is probably 2-5mph above that waiting to be found.

bglz42

The Blackhawk worked pretty good on the old Team Exciter boat, too...

Milord

I have a friend that has them on his P29, count on fixing 2 drives a year. By the way, that is behind SBC's. I wouldn't think they'd live too long behind a big block.

Cord

iTrader: (2)

Airpacker has one on his cat. He broke the vertical shaft the first time out. The reason being was that he couldn't plane of because the engine was lugging. He had it firewalled and finally wrapped the shaft up until it snapped. He now has the drive ventilated so that it planes with out lugging the engine. If you look at the design, merc meant for this drive to be used with silent choice. The exhaust dumps in front of the props to help break them loose when planing. I utilized a simular system on my setup and it seemed to be working. The drive shifted softer than my bravo. But boy, when you trimmed it down, the boat sure did idle fast. Due to some steering issues, I've never had the chance to plane off though. This drive is not the bravo 3. Oh, yea, it uses the bravo shafts, but the housing is totally different. The housing is specifically shaped for the surfacing application and has the water pickup in the skeg. People might gripe about the low water pickups sucking mud, well imagine a skeg mounted pickup! The blade cross sections are also much thicker than the bravo 3 props. Not nearly as thick as a -6 or speed master prop though. The biggest thing to remember is that the hull has to be correctly designed to work with the drive. It must be naturally bow lifting. It can't have lifting strakes all the way to the stern. Often there will be rocker or notched transoms.