Ok -- looking for a little advice. My boat has second generation King Cobra on it, and honestly it's been awesome. Thing shifts better than any Merc drive I've owned. Last fall, I started getting a bit of water in the boat and pulled the drive. The u-joint bellows were weeping in water and rusted the u-joints and input shaft allowing water to get in the drive. Lucky for me, I caught it early and no real damage done to the internals. I'm having it re-sealed and a new cone clutch installed, new u-joints, input shaft re-surfaced etc.

Question is when is it time to swap for a bravo? I have a complete set-up (1998) with transom assembly and everything that should go in with a few minor parts needed, but am not sure it's worth swapping until the next time the motor needs to come out. Lots of you bravo guys will laugh, but even at the power levels I am at I've killed plenty of Bravo's over the years and I flat out can't break this thing. I do know the Bravo I have is better hydro-dynamically and will be a bit faster, but then I need to sort out props and such all over again.

The dilemma is these things are worth a LOT of money in good working order, should I wait until the next time the engine comes out or just plan on doing it in the fall??? Or just run this thing until I have a real problem...

I would stay with the King Cobra, they are an awesome tough piece. Be sure and check the exhaust block off plates for corrosion if you dont have silent choice.

Wait...................

Its Spring Get that ***** out on the water and party!

Switch drives this winter when its snowing butt deep!

God..........when will my engine be ready!

Believe it or not, there is not block off plate in this boat, I was a bit confused when I had the motor re-done in 2011.

EDIT: Nevermind, you are talking about the drive

I echo what the others have said. If it's not broke, why the hell fix it? You have a turn key boat that has given you almost no trouble. Lot's of us would love to be able to say that. What good would it be to sell your KC stuff for some extra money when you burn that money up replacing Bavo drives and being down during the summer?

plus you have a back up setup for it. everything runs better if it knows you have the parts to replace it.

Ok, leave it alone it is. I think I just needed to hear it. Until this boat I swore I'd never touch OMC, and it's really proven me wrong...

So true isn't it...

I think OMC has always received a somewhat undeserved bad rep, and from what I have read, a lot of it stems from shift cable issues they had with some of the earlier Cobra drives back in the late 80's. The cable would bind, causing the dog clutches to not fully engage, leading to a premature demise. From what I understand, a lot of the problems were resolved with the release of an updated cable, but by then the damage had been done to their reputation.

That's correct, but it's not a matter of that anymore. I have the late King with a cone clutch. Parts, if you can find them are a fortune. Luckily I bought up a bunch of stuff for it when I bought the boat...

The ones you are talking about are the original King and original Cobra drives...of course you can still get parts for those really easy.

Here is a good description if interested: http://www.allamericandriveservice.com/OMCCobra.html