Your a nerd. Have you taken the krypto in rough water yet? How'd you like it? Compared to other boats?

I've had my power steering break off its mount one time and the belt fly off another. Both times the steering went completly nonexistant. I was able to spin the wheel like It was final jeperdy. Both times I eased out of the throttle slowly as the boat veared to the right.

I do spin my 598ci to 6000rpm. I used to spin it to 6400rpm. I have only ever thrown 1 belt. If I didnt have a raw water pump belt, I would overheat in about 6 seconds at 3500rpm. The only way that I could still run would be if I pulled out the impeller, because water will not pass the impeller if it isnt spinning. Even then, i woudlnt be able to idle at all, which would make docking hard. hell, the boat will overheat in less than a minute at idle with no pump/impeller.

And yes, I have broken serpentine belts on cars, usually when a pulley goes bad. What happens when you are out running and a pulley goes bad, breaks your belt. You still have an extra belt, but cant use it because it will break in about 10 seconds. If you had a V belt setup you woudl just lose that one component.

Dont get me wrong, I like serpentine setups, they look cleaner and it is one belt instead of three, but single point failures of entire systems is something that shoudl be avoided.

That doesnt make any sense Jay. The only way the wheel will spin freely is if you lose all pressure on the system, blow a hose or something. It just shouldnt do it like that.

zt260 it sounds like with your build and power it was an oversight not to install a serpentine sytem when you built it. If you are able to run without any belts than I would agree a serpentine belt would be YOUR best option. Myself and many others still need the raw water pump and fuel pump to limp out of harms way....like you said...no comparison. By the way that is a badass setup you have, I remember seeing some pics of it not to long ago.

But back to Don's situation, if it was indeed a thrown belt that caused this I highly doubt he was running over 6000+ rpm's at 70-80mph as the driver stated. Was it noted if the belt broke or was it just thrown off? Could it be possible that the power steering pump became loose and the belt slipped off? Is there anybody that can confirm this?

I was out in some snotty water a couple weekends ago. I love it. Compared to other boats I've had it was much nicer because the boat is built around sitting and running. That makes it much more comfortable to me. If you could keep your junk together I would take you out and show you how to run in the rough

I think that is what he is saying. The pump broke off and ruptured the tank at the mounting point. Most likely pumped all the fluid in the bilge. Making it look like the Gulf coast when you were drilling for BP

I am not sure what RPM they were turning at 70-80 mph if thats all they were going, but I do know that 90 in Don's boat was right around 4900 RPM..

The only reason I have a v belt setup is my accessories were already v belts from a previous setup. My builder never mentioned a serpentine setup and 6 years ago when it was originally built it did not cross my mind. I agree it was an oversight, but I was not one to argue with a very experienced engine builder at the time. Not to mention it’s not as easy as many people think on a custom build one off race engine of six years old. I now plan to add a serpentine this winter. No one has to agree with me. It’s my life on the line not theirs.

But enough of that.

The main reason I posted was to find out what really happened and prevent it in the future. I also doubt a 110+mph boat was only going 70-80mph at the time. There I said it, and the truly experienced members were already thinking it.

RIP Don Sorry.

I have been running a serp belt set up many years without ever throwing a belt. I frequently run above 6k rpm with no issues. if there is a problem, I carry a spare belt, a spare idler/tensioner pulley and the 2 wrenches to change them with me. All it would take is 5 minutes to swap parts and I would be on my way again. In my set up, if the belt broke in a bad spot, I could easily get by for a short time to get to a safe place to replace it. I dont rely on my mechanical fuel pump for anything more than idling around, my closed cooling would keep the engine cool enough for a short time without any seawater flow. My only limitation would be heating the headers up. But then, everyones setup is different.

Did the thought that they were running faster cross my mind?....sure it did....Do I have any reason to doubt what the driver stated...not one. The truth is only two people know for sure how fast they were running.

Serp belt....V belt....I honestly don't think it matters either way. Both have advantages and disadvantages. It's hard for me to think that if Don was running a serp belt he would still be here with us today. But since this is the only report we have so far it's good to see people taking it into consideration with their own setups. Hopefully more info will come forward so we can have a better understanding of what happened.