Scot have you had any Bravo failures? I have never had one and I am fairly hard on my stuff. Don't get me wrong #6 drives are #6 drives but the prop price alone is crazy let alone the drive or repair. Dan you and your dad have been running Bravo's on your last couple of boats did you guys have lots of failures? Kevin you had Bravo 1's on your heavy blower motor Bullet any drive failures? In my XR's on the Tiger the have the Imco gear set and one lasted 420 hours and the other was still together when I sent it out to be redone. I think if you can buy a boat with 6's happy day until they break. Scot your cat has been sitting with a broken power head what would happen if you blew a #6 drive? Sorry nobody is safe on here.... Now go buy a boat I heard Jeff's real number $24,999 cash and no pesky out drives and fresh lowers

Lowers are Fresh! ill have them thursday
-Mike

Well, never a bravo 1 failure here, and Ive had at least 5 boats with them. My Carrera was almost 700 HP and no problems for 3 full seasons now. Cigarette took a good beating and no Bravo 1 issues. I dont know, some people blow them up all the time, and they live a long time for others. I guess with big power they are not gonna live long, but with moderate power and a good driver, you can make them last. If Scot plans on flyin his new boat through the air without thottling it in and out of waves, or buying a 700+ HP a side boat, he'll need a more forgiving drive.

Heck, Sick stinger is gonna have 750+ HP with TRS drives! Why are we yelling at Scot???

I've always avoided bravos like the plague! I've just seen way to many failures for me to be comfortable buying a product that is known to fail under any significant stress.

Your points regarding the cost to repair 6's are well taken, then again, it's a totally different league. You simply cant run a bravo boat like you can a boat with 6's. The piece of mind alone to me is worth the occasional addition cost when it comes time for prop replacement or rebuilds.

Add much power (>600 hp), a larger boat, time, get the boat out of the water, a heavy hand, etc and bravos simply wont last. I dont think it's even questionable. The frequent failures are very, very well documented.

I'm not sure how well your examples demonstrate the great reliability of these (disposable) drives. Kevin had his 31 (not a large boat) with those blower motors all of what, one season? How long did your drives in your 35 sit behind your upgraded power, about the same? Dan's dad's boats were both light and under <35'... and had 500's correct?

Your 'new' 42 will eat a drive or two if pushed, especially if you bump the power up to 725 for next season and get it out of the water. The guys that owned your boat before certainly didn't push it. In fact I only recall them ever just cruising around in it (and it shows in its excellent condition). But I think you made a really good call redoing both drives before the start of this season...

If you want to just cruise with the boat, I agree they will hold up just fine and are very cost effective. If you want to go out and hammer around in a 38'+ boat with anything more than some 525's, you better have a spare or two kicking around becasue you're going to eat a upper gear in time. Then again, I know you're okay with the idea of buying a $5k-$10k drive every year or two, so that works for you.

40'+ boats with 700's+ are going to eat bravos pretty quick if pushed. I agree 6's are expensive to fix, but they hold up much better, have way better resale, offer peace of mind, and throw a cool rooster tail to boot!


I'm not saying bravos are all bad, I'm just saying I personally would prefer to not get into a 37'+ boat with over 600 hp knowing I'm going to have some fun with it and end up needing to buy a drive every year or two...

BTW, the powerhead on the cat was popped and repaired within a month... I just lost interest in the boat and haven't bothered bolting the new one on since. Popping a $5k+ drive every season or two would likely dishearten me over time too.

Again, what size boats and with what power. Larger boat, larger power, and bring it out of the water = short life with bravos!

TRS drives are more rugged than the bravos. Also easy to swap over to SSM if needed (I believe the gimble is the same as the V?)

Hopefull the new parts will help the lowers live... the lowers on the 300's are yet another steller Merc design.

Im not saying your wrong for wanting a better HP drive than a Bravo here Scot with one t, but help me understand something...Franks Cafe weighed 10,000+ lbs. 550 HP for 2 seasons. He owned it with 500 HP for 6 seasons before that. The boat was 4500 to 5500 RPM 75% of the time he owned it. The boat went in and out of 3 to 5 footers every year, everytime it went out. Not saying it was abused, but it was driven HARD and put away flushed and towel dried . All Im saying is he owned it for 7-8 yrs without a Bravo problem....ever! How can you not appriciate that? Do you think Frank just got lucky? Or just a better driver than most ?...............................Im not afraid of Bravos .

Just saw the Psunami boat for sale listed by Outerlimits. Dan, did you guys trade the Sutphen in twards the OL? Someone should snatch that boat up! Nice boat for Jeff when he grows up! Sorry Jeff, Ive been really tough on you lately!!

TRs are stronger than bravos and give up some power.


3.0 lower sportys are a good design executed badly.LOL
sadly enough they have had 2 decades to perfect the design and never gave a crap.LOL

Kev you dont bother me any, it just allows me to point out the finer points of studio 54 More often!

theres plenty of fine points there too!