I have a 79' Scarab with TRS drives thinking maybe going to BRAVO drives. What are the PROs and CONs of the switch??

Pros:

Better hydrodynamics
no transmission to worry about
a little more power handling ability
less weight
more parts availability


Cons:

Cost
engines need moved or long drive shafts added to bravos

All kinds on info on this topic in threads.... Here's a search of TRS and Bravo in the titles:

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Konrads are on sale

Bravos are not considered as strong as TRS thats what most people agree on. I personally dont see any point in changing to a bravo its a sideways trade that costs a lot and is a lot of work.

Of course there are reasons people like the bravo's... they are easier to work on if you ask me because if you blow a tranny with TRS the motor has to come out. Bravos will gain you some speed from what i hear and also there will be no power lost because of the transmission not being 100% efficient.

Changing to bravo would be a good idea if you are updating your whole boat.. example if you put a new transom in then you should go ahead and do it because the TRS is outdated and while its not hard to get parts now in 10 years it probably will be.

Just curious... You didn't happen to buy your boat up by Chicago did you?

I agree 100%

Most everyone I have talked to on the subject says TRS are not good over 400hp...??? Is this not correct?

Just wondering.

I would not say that Bravo's are stronger. Especially on an older hull that is heavy. I don't think you would see considerable changes in speed. You are also talking about a big project. Transom, engine movement. Not to mention how are the ride characteristics going to change in the boat. That boat was designed to have the weight and balance of the transmissions in the back. You can still pick up spare TRS's pretty cheep and unless you have 600+ HP they are pretty much bullet proof. Plus they shift so much nicer then bravo's. I am sure others will chime in, but a 1000 threads on this same topic exist. Good luck

Not true. I ran 675HP for 100 hours on TRS. Just changed the oil and that was on a heavy cigarette mistress. I then converted the boat to Konrads.

Hmmm....I did not realize. I actually DIDN'T buy a really, really nice fountiain 10 meter a few years back just because of the TRS set up.

The broker on the boat told me that the power in it (about 500 a side) was to much for those drives.