Ok .. no snickers ... TRS Drives ? I guess a good thing ? I thought they were very different ..but a cpl of boats I am looking at buying .. the pics seem to be Mercs .. TRS just a High Perfromance merc ?

TRS was the drive Merc used on performance boats before the Bravo's came out. They are heavy and require transmissions where bravos do not. My experience with them is that they are a strong drive with a lot of drivetrain loss.

alot of boats are running trs drives. you do lose cockpit
space because of the trans. if you are looking at boats with the trs the borg warner trans is better than the merc trans set up. they do rob power and weigh more but imho they are stronger than a bravo. you do not have water running through the drive either. weight is about 150 lbs for the drive and i do not know what the weight of a bravo is. the trans weighs around 100 lbs or so. i would assume the gimble housings weigh aroud the same. board member BIGGUS is running big power through trs and belive he has good results. most parts are still avaliable and if you need parts mel riggs has trs in stock and so do a few other techs. what boat are you looking at???

Lots of threads on this topic, do a search.

Bottom line IMHO, older drive, sturdy (bigger upper gear than Bravo), harder to get some parts.

IF you want you can change to a speedmaster lower unit and essentially have a Speedmaster #2 unit.

Wannabe

Trs, is not a bad drive to have put some nose cones on them and they work pretty well ! They sure shift smooth compared to a Bravo.

I got to crawl all over the new Konrad 540 HP

This drive is incredible I guarrantee you will be hearing more about this from me!

It will be a bolt on unit to the TRS transom assembly. Warranteed to 740 ft lbs torque!

Currently in use on the Hong Kong police boats (tripple engine v-hull similar to a 47 Fountain) they are running well over 1000 hrs on these drives.

Kurt

Awesome!! Now that would be a killer conversion. It is like having the bravo setup that has the Trans in the extension box.

I am looking at a cpl of Formulas .. a 29 (1990) ...and a 31(1987) ....also a 29 Wellcraft and 27 Baga ...its like Xmas ......

1990 Formula
http://community.webshots.com/album/117525694YrVLBh

1987 Formula
http://community.webshots.com/album/118920420tsfEQG

The 29 Has Bravo Drives .....

Of the Formulas you're looking at, lean toward the 311. I've got a 85 formula 302 with TRS drives, and am pleased with them, and have never wished my boat was smaller, but have wished it was larger (though not just 1 foot). The 311 is very well respected at Formula as one of the favoritist models ever. The 29 will be a little faster due to less weight and no transmissions, but neither boat has a fast hull. Can't speak about Scarab and Baja, but many on the board can.