Just a little thought here, have a 2006 Fountain in pristine condition. One drive has a flu bug of some sort. Somewhat convinced that two new drives is the right thing to do here.

So I spend north of 20K on this brain fart, what does it do for the value of this boat?

Do the Merc rebuilds? Do local dumb fock rebuilds?

Where would your real money go?

We've got a solution that can fix your health problems.

Where about in northern NY are you. If you need a local dumb fock to rebuild I may be able to help you

Ayuh,.... It's worth the same money it's worth now,....

Drives are rebuildable,.....

Rebuild. I just had one rebuilt by a very well known, reputable drive builder for under $5K with shipping. That included upper and lower gear sets, cone clutch, all new bearings and seals, input and prop shafts refinished/resized, etc. Plus a 2 year warranty. Assuming you have XR's so they might be a bit more. I would not buy new unless your cores are junk. If you insist on buying new, I'd put that money towards SCX's or Arnesons and be done with it.

Just go through them both. As far as value, its like buying a used car with newer tires. Lucky buyer but not going to pay you anything for them.

No question Peter, find a reputable drive guy and send it (or both) in for diagnosis and an estimate. Barring some unforeseen issue the rebuild should be by far the more economical and sensible way to go. It will require however that you suppress your legendary perfectionism-gene because you will have "rebuilt" parts on your machine (oh the horror!).

Boy that's a heck of a way to gain some respect of someone local that might possess the skill to correctly perform the rebuild!

No offense intended. Just that most will do the work and then when it / they fail the standard answer is don't talk to me, perfect when it left here. One has been done already, was not blown up or trashed, just making some metal. Never was perfect, so one would have to think that something was missed. Must have been just a bit off the perfect mark.

Might not be the best choice, but have had plenty of Bravos done over the years and never has anyone stepped up cover their work. Not a single one was ever anything but Merc power of a level compatible with the drive. I'm not complaining about the Bravo drive, I've had pretty good luck with this present boat, which is why I am considering the new ones or maybe the Merc factory recons.