Realisticly
 

I have been thinking about new engines and drives for my 03 320. Presently I have 496 ho's and Bravo 1 drives. Want I want most is reliability and long life out of the new engines and drives. I know everyone seems to want bigger power than the other guy and I'm no exception. Question is what would be the most realistic motors and drives for my 320. I "want" EFI no blowers and around 700-750 hp each and leaning toward Konrad drives, cost? but would that be realistic as far as reliability and long life. Another thing I need to look at is the cost of new engines and drive vs the value of the boat. Should I just sell mine like it is and buy a little newer low hour boat with the bigger power I want? Would that be a better value? I wounder what the best option would be and would like some input from you guys that have done this before. I know boats are not an investment. My boat is paid for and runs pretty good with what it has now or should I just be happy with what I have and not do anything but buy gas? If you were thinking like me what would you do?

Can your hull handle that kind of power?
I believe Bravo XRs will live fine behind 700HP on a relatively light 30' twin engine boat.
Raylar has 600HP kits for your 496s. Have you considered those?

My boat has aprox 650 Hp per side and I kept blowing the floors out of the drives but I think that was more the torque because of the superchargers and regular bravos.I replaced the drives with Imco Extreme Sc drives and have been good since.If I was you I would probably look into another boat because by the time you buy the engines and dives from almost any manufacturer,you will more than surpass the value of the boat and will really have no way to get your money back out of your ride.The other thing you need to think about is the 320 hull is indeed a handful when you have that kind of power and running at those speeds,fun but a hand full at times because of the very short pad and it becomes a balancing act.Good luck with your decision in what ever you do and always remember that reliable is worth its weight in gold if you know what I mean.:D

1. You'll quickly get upside down value-wise with your boat if you go as planned. Definitely avoid the 40K to 50K Konrad investment!

2. You can't use 700 HP in a 320 hull - ask Hyper. I'd recommend finding some rebuilt Merc Racing HP500 EFI or HP525 EFI motors that will push you into the 90's IF conditions are right. You probably can get by with your current drives since the 320 is light and only 30+ feet long.

3. This combination will give you reliability, all the performance you'll ever realistically utilize and while you're never going to fully recoup a power upgrade - this probably offers the best financial value for your 2003 boat.

[QUOTE=1HYPER1;2490679]The other thing you need to think about is the 320 hull is indeed a handful when you have that kind of power and running at those speeds,fun but a hand full at times because of the very short pad and it becomes a balancing act.
Is this hull (32) and mine 1986(30) that unstable? I have yet to splash mine as I am building the two engines approx 800hp,800ft/lbs of torque. There is a lot of talk about ballancing on the pad, what happens if you make an agressive(not an emergency) turn at higher speeds or if you thottle back quickly do you fall off the pad and everything gets real nasty? I have raced cars and bikes and have a pretty good handle of what happens at high speed when you have a handling problem. Is this a dangerous unpredictable hull that I am overpowering? I would like to see 100mph with this power. Any input would be great. Andy...

I type way to slow, Revelocity already replied to my question before I submitted it.

Andy,The 30 that you have and the 320 that I have are two different animals.Your boat is a much better balanced boat because it was built as a 30 foot boat out of a 30 foot mould.The 320 was built in a 41 foot mould with a dam installed for the shorter 32 foot length.I have seen Rays boat which was a 30 at well over 100 and very stable at those speeds but always remember that at those speeds in any boat things happen fast and in a V bottom it can be that much more noticable especially on a pad bottom boat.Your boat is a better handling boat than the 320 version,good luck to you with your project,it will be worth it.
bILL

Andy, Hyper beat me to it, but I would get hooked up with Ray (Notda1) and get some input from him. Or if you want to make a couple bucks on it.................:D

Dwayne

My $.02, for what it's worth.

Lets say, for the sake of conversation, your boat is worth $60K, you spend $40-50K on new and bigger power, then add the $30- 35K to upgrade drives, transom assemblies and props. Now you have $130-145K invested in a boat that is worth marginally more than the one you started with, faster for sure, but in reality only worth a little more to someone looking to purchase it. The simple fact is that you will be far better off to sell your boat to someone who wants what you have, then take the $130-145K and go out and find a boat that fits what you want to do. Be that faster, bigger, newer, whatever. In the long run your money is better spent. If you love what you have, plan to take it to the grave with you, then have at it. Just figure if you ever do change your mind and go to sell it you will likely get very little of what you spent back.

How much faster would the boat be with an extra 100HP per side? +10 to +15mph is a good jump to me.
Raylar 525 kits for the 496s with the existing Bravo drives would be a nice upgrade with out breaking the bank.

Webster:
Main Entry: boat
Pronunciation: \ˈbōt\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English boot, from Old English bāt; akin to Old Norse beit boat
Date: before 12th century

1 a: a small vessel for travel on water

2: b: a ‘Hole in the water which you Pour Money Into,’ But It Is Great to Own One

haha my grandfather use to have a carved wood sign on their sun poorch that said pretty much the same thing. something along the lines of "a boat is a dry hole in the water into which one pours money".

What happened to the original 30 mold? Is it still around, or did it get lost with the whole Regal fiasco? Just seems silly to build a 30' foot boat in a mold that's 10' longer. :hitfan:

I had a 30 (88' Regal) and it was a fast boat for the power we had and very fun to drive. :evilb::evilb:

I had the same sign on my 1962 35' Owens cruiser, My first boat, "Man Look at me!" Paid 18K for the boat / slip was $150.00 month, 2 weeks after purchase slip $350 month + electricity / 6 months later got a call "boat sinking" / I was out of the country. Slip owner $75.00 per day to pump out the boat for 45 days till I returned. No one would pull the boat out for repairs because, "it's a wooden boat". Bought a 40' trailer $9k bought 6 new tires $780.00 and F650 truck $4k . Pulled it out, bent both twin screws. Repair est. 16K, Sold the boat and trailer for 7K and had to finance it 2 years. Truck got totaled out in front of my house with libility insurance only and the guy that ran into it had no insurance and tried to sue me for parking it where I did, no success on law suit. True story. Moral, "Hole in water which one pours money into, but it's great to own one.

[QUOTE=RaggedEdge;2491060]My $.02, for what it's worth.

Ragged, I think your right, Here's a little newer one with bigger power. What do you think about it?

2007 44 MTI

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...mb_550x410.jpg

1550's X 2:cool-smiley-011:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...mb_550x410.jpg

The new 322 has the old 30 bottom!!

[QUOTE=Velocity Vector;2491580]
Not fast enough :cool-smiley-027:

[QUOTE=Velocity Vector;2491580]

Now you're on the right track!!!:D Pier 57, yes or no???

Rumour has it, called cheat and splash. You find a nice old boat, use it as the plug and pull a new mold off it. Putz around a little, new top deck, and Bingo! Whole new boat.

Why change what works?:cool-smiley-011:

[QUOTE=RaggedEdge;2491596]yep 57, I called and they said they would give me the reflectors off the MTI trailer for my boat.

Originally Posted by ziemer
What happened to the original 30 mold? Is it still around, or did it get lost with the whole Regal fiasco? Just seems silly to build a 30' foot boat in a mold that's 10' longer.


I got screwed out of 10' Those bas66ards

Ok 57 is coming around, just like I thought they would. I got the reflectors and the spare tire on the MTI trailer on trade for mine. I'm going to make the sweat it out a little bit longer.

I may have to lean toward your thinking pat.

May seem silly, but it sure is waaaaaay cheaper than making a real mold.

Your buddy S.S. only screwed you out of the part of the boat the thing was actually designed to run on. The 32 feet you got was never ment to contact the water at speed, wonder why it acts the way it does. But they do throw in that "Excitement comes standard" for free to make up for it. :eek:


You keep working those Pier 57 guys, any Velocity is worth the reflectors, spare tire, and the license plate bracket on an MTI trailer. Times are tough right now, you might even pick up half the lug nuts if you really beat them up.

Ragged look at these and tell me what you think. I can sell my 496's 8k to10k for both and come out pretty good I think? He wants 24.5 If I did it this way would be about the same as raylar kit + have the good pistons, crank, headers and -0- hrs & 550hp. The 496 ho advertised 425 hp actually dyno 387 hp. So I would gain 163 HP per side. 1100 hp vs 774 hp should help the "Excitement comes standard" feature and still use the bravo ones. If I did this I would still be way below low retail NADA guidline on my boat.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MERCU...spagenameZWDVW

Which Bravos do you have, standard, X's, XZ's or the XR's?

Velocity Vectory - you are now moving to the dark side! :D away from your initial goals of non-blower, EFI and reliability. I submit that you'll definitely get upside down on the boat buying "no name" blower motors when it came time to sell (if not before). Raylar has some recognition but your still better off with HP 525EFI's if available.

Rev, It say's these motors are Rebuilt "Mercury" 575SCI / 550 hp am I reading it wrong but they aren't blue?

http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o22049-en.html

I'm blessed with standard one's. I have run 700hp thru B1 before and the didn't break but I took it easy out of the hole.

Do you have the luxury of upgrading power and still keeping your stock engines to put back in the boat for resale?

No more than I will get for them, I'd say that is a resonable option. I checked with Leon Derebery he said around $2000.00 to swap engines. 10 hrs. per side X $95.00 an hr labor. The more I look into this my 496's are looking better and better. Talk me out of this maddness before I hit the buy it now option.

I have one that is already done and ready to go.:D

I'd have to sell mine to do that. I wonder what mine is worth with the monster gauge upgrade. I see some as much as 99k but they are still for sale. I'm thinking around the 70K mark to sell. What do you think Hyper?

Call Scott at Dyna-flow, he has good prices on 572's that are 700hp.(you can do a search for them on here, I have read some good and some bad, just posting my experience) We are currently running a pair of those engines in front of bravo1's with o problems since the install last spring. Unless you are dead set against carbs, thats the route I would go to keep the cost down and to be able to do some of the tuning yourself. Keep your 496's to put back in when you sell your boat. (which may help it sell quicker, being stock). If you have to have efi, I would go with the Raylar kit, they are hard to beat and have the bling someone was mentioning on another thread :D

Screw Raylar, plain and simple, buy the "BLOWERS" hit that pay button now! Think about all this later.

Andy, I see you like spending my money just as much as I like spending yours.:angry-smiley-038:

The mechanic I use at MDG had some merc motors he went thru, 500 or 525 I 'm note sure exactly.He does a good job and might make more cent$ .You would get good performance and be fairly reliable with your drives.Plus keeping you in a more manageable operating range.If you gotta have big power .It might be better find a boat that was set up that way.To hit big mph ,set up is very important . :cool-smiley-011:

Hey Andy, i had a 30 with 750's and #3's had a lot of fun with it in the more than 10 years i owned it .The boat broke 100 anytime.Mine was very stable up to 95 ,after that it was as fast as I could drive, usally around 105 top ,but did see 110 a bunch of times . It seemed to work best to set my tads and only use my drives to trim at high speed, but trying most to keep it level at all times . Keeping level was important ,cause we got lots of air time .Sure miss that boat sometime !!!

I owned the 32 tha Hyper now owns, with 525 SC's stock except the Super Chillers and the smaller pulley, they made a little more than 600 hp, and that set up ate up standard Bravos like they were TP. Would take the floor out of the foreward gear, then the tower, then out the side of the case in some instances. That was why Bill/Hyper went to the Imco set up. The pad bottom runs high on the water much like a cat would, and the constant shock loading and unloading is what is so hard on the drive. You can throttle for the big air launches, but you can't for the constant load-unload of normal choppy water. Blower motors are harder on drives than NA's are, what you can get away with HP wise is less. Single set ups are also easier on the drive because it is deeper in the water, I have had friends get by with more HP in a 280 Velocity than I was running with no drive issues.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but believe me with 600, 700 HP in a 32 you will break the standard Bravo. Ask Bill/Hyper, he thought he could get thru the first season on the std Bravos if he was carefull, didn't work. Problem with this type of failure is that you are left with little, if anything, to rebuild, and most times just throw the entire upper out and buy a new one, and at $4k+ it gets old in a hurry.