offshorexcursion

I get a lot of PM's from members on here asking drive questions, heres a few examples...

OSO Member Flash4212 On his second time out in new to him mint 2006 33 outlaw with 496s under 300 hours blew a Bravo X. Took both in the shop and $850 later hes back on the water. Sorta funny it happened right after chatting with him on the phone about whipple charging his boat. I told him I LOVE my Procharged 33 outlaw but his drives wont last. Sell it and buy a faster boat. A few days later I get the call as he limps back in on one.

So he takes my advice and buys a Clean 2007 Fountain 38 Merc 600's Bravo XR ITS. 200 Hours and blows a coupler 3rd time out. While in the shop the inspect the drives. Both are trashed. Twisted splines, pitted gears, etc etc. He just emailed me the $12,000 estimate last week.

2 other members on here one with a Laveycraft and one with a 288 Sunsation MCOB BOTH with UNDER 90 HOURS, YES 90 HOURS blew their Bravo XR drives behind Merc 525's. They are inland lake FAMILY boaters that NEVER get air under the boat. THERE IS ZERO reason for these problems.

Local friends I boat with. Family boater with children on board. 41 Velocity with 625 Ilmor Fully upgraded Imco SC drives still break the only weak link the bravo XR gears. His drives break once a year

The examples go on and on.

The bravo drive is reliable behind 400hp. That's the fact. Anything else its a ticking time bomb. Yes some get lucky. Some baby it. Some brag how they have gone years without problems.

Sorry not impressed when someone has to drive their OFFSHORE BOAT like Pontoon and only go to the local sandbar to anchor all day.......

Knot 4 Me

The first Sunsation F-4 had 600's/XR Sport Shorties. Boat did not make it out of prop testing from the factory before it popped the first drive. The original owner (Mentalpause here on OSO) babied the boat onto plane and knows how to throttle and was able to get 90 + hours out of the drives. Shortly after trading the boat with low 100's on the hour meters, the dealership that took the boat on trade (Hilltop Marine) popped another drive. The first F-4 was one of the lightest as it had composite stringers but you are still talking around 11K lb.

stimleck

This all sounds great but is there anyone on here that actually uses these and can provide first hand knowledge? I have a question for the members on this thread, does it make sense that a reliable drive should cost $32,000 to me that price as well as $50 k for Arnesons is just another example of a manufacturer that is gouging their customers because of the label "marine" Mercury is the king of this charging 50k for a BBC that a street car builder can build you for 25k. Dont start this crap about marine versus automotive because well built motors with forged internals are basically the same.

Jason3603

Just a thought, it seems that some of te articles that Speed on the Water does stem from the threads here on OSO. I would love for them to do an article based on this thread. Maybe interview each manufacturer about these very instances that we as performance power boaters are talking about. I don't have my head in the sand and live in la la land. I know this will never happen, too many politic will get in the way. It's just a thought and could make for an interesting read.

stimleck

Mercury is too powerful and too big of a sponsor to all parties I assume.

bauberlen

I know exactly what your saying. It seems crazy to cost that much, and if I told you I make very little money per drive that would be even crazier. My issues are in my drive their are 331 parts all made in fairly small batches because I honestly am a pretty small company. When I built the drive my criteria was 4 things. First it couldn't fail, two it needed to be faster then everything else out there, three it needed to bolt straight on to a bravo gimbal with no modifications at all, and four it needed to cost $15,000. I come out of the car racing world where I race for the BMW factory and Bobby Rahal, where constant broken parts is totally unacceptable so I did not understand how it is tolerated in the marine industry. On my journey I quickly found out that design work, cfd modeling, and wind tunnel testing and real world testing would cost a ton of money so the $15,000 price point flew right out of the window. I built this drive out of a giant necessity in the industry, I've been through them all. If somebody else would have had one that worked I would have bought it and been on my way and saved the millions I have invested in this company to develop a product that works. A drive that does work is a number six, but most of the smaller boats can't put them on because their is not enough room in the back to move the engine forward and it also costs in the high 50 to 60 grand range, and the complete unit weighs 645 lbs and takes a lot of hp to drive the drive and the transmission. The x power drive takes 11.5 hp to turn it 7200 rpm, that is less then a bravo by a bunch. In the industry their is no other production dry sump drive anywhere. The number six is actually a totally wet sump with an oil pressure fed upper unit only. The lower unit is totally submerged in oil, I never understood the term dry sump when it is used with the number six drive. The x power drive is a fully dry sumped self contained system with a 3 stage dry sump pump built right inside. The pump alone is $1700. It also has gears and shafts made out of the highest quality materials you can find, and if we couldn't find it we had certain metals made for our own gears. If I could build the drive in a much higher volume I could drive the price down. I would love to do that and put one on every boat in america. If somebody knows of an investor that wants to come onboard and help cure the drive problem in the industry while making a few bucks, well send them my way and I will take them in with open arms. I hope this gives a little insight into the price point of the x power drive and the technology behind it.

Also somebody was asking for references. The latest to experience it is Nordic boats. We just installed one on a Nordic 28ss with teague power and it immediately went faster then any other one they have built to date with that power. Also after a summer of boating with it they don't even look back to wonder if it is going to break. It just goes. Give Thane Tiemer a call and he can fill you in on the performance and reliability of the drive. Also Thane had to be sold, he has heard the talk a million times before so it wasn't an easy sell. Also we have a list of other customers we can reference if you would like. We have them on Nordic, Skater, DCB, Cigarette, Donzi, Velocity, Spectre, Howard, and those ski boats in australia just to name a few. Let me know if I can help anybody in any way with or without our drive I am always at my phone and ready to help.

Bill Auberlen
CEO X Power Drive
805-320-5632

Nordic:
Thane Tiemer
928-961-2303

drpete3

Merc does make some very good products. I would really like to see them develop a new drive. In the past few years we have seen a lot of new engine products and thats great but a new drive would be much appreciated.

pqjack

+ 1

Sydwayz

When you get the call from Jim Darr, in Missouri; just hang up.

Young Performance

He's already a dealer at Supercat Cove