V Drives vs. Sterndrives Performance Question

fwebster said:
julia valentine seems to disagree with several points in my post above:
Maintenance cost-
Your extra $230 /year for maintenance to pull the drives is based on one huge assumption.........that nothing is needed but fluid replacement. That is one huge faulty assumption. Stainless props put large loads on the i/o propshaft, bearings and seals. You will be paying for resealing the lower unit.........on i/o boats here that are used 12 months a year, on 2 outdrives, careful owners pull drives and service them every 75 hours, and end up resealing at least one drive every other year.]

I would agree with that, When I said that I had no trouble, I meant nothing ever came apart inside, I had the input shaft u-joints and seals replaced once on each drive about half way through ownership, also had the bellows replaced once. That is just normal maintenance. Also boat was always freshwater.
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Like others above, I think some of what Frank posted was accurate but other information posted does not reflect my experience.

First off, as a rule, you should not have expensive mechanical equipment hanging out in salt water if you can avoid it. No reason to argue this point...however...

I think the cost issue is not as significant and I agree with JuliaV above. My cost for service (removing drive, lube, seals, etc) is $550 each year. I also install my own zincs plus meticulously sand/prime/bottomcoat the drives each year. ZERO corrosion in 5 years of salt water. Cost of zinc and paint is maybe $200 year. Takes maybe 6 hours each year do to the work in my yard on a nice spring day.

Oh, I also had the additonal mercathode unit installed for $250 when we bought the boat.

These outdrive things do need a little care, but are not as bad as what some make them out to be. And there are some positives to consider with the stern drives, as stated above. My friend has a new Rinker 36 with Bravo II sea cores and has tons of room in the ER as well as an extra 3 feet of space in the aft cabin which allows them to have guest sleep aboard comfortably all summer long and he is easily able to get to everything in the ER. Another way to look at this: The stern drives increase the usabable space of the boat by more than 10-20% with minimal if any additional cost.
 
This thread http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24202 vs

...a transmission fluid change.

Never been stranded with my V-Drives. My Alpha left me stranded several times. Total repairs to my V-drives - 1 cutlass bearing that probably didn't need to be replaced when I had a line wrapped around the prop. But I changed it anyway since the boat was new and it looked like the line got into the bearing.

On the other hand I've lost count of the repairs to the Alpha but at least 3 rebuilds, one new upper unit and complete rebuild with all new gears and bearing of the lower, reseal job every other year, two rebuilds of the trim cylinders. One rebuild of the trim pump. At least 8 or so trim sender replacements. etc etc etc

Oh yeah, several tows. And a bunch of lost weekends on the water due to mechanical problems with the sterndrive. I'll take a few knots less speed and a slightly greater fuel burn for a heck of a lot less maintenance and not losing weekends on the water.

Best regards,
Frank
 
fwebster said:
julia valentine seems to disagree with several points in my post above.
Click to expand...

I don't know about those Alpha drives, but SeaCore BIII drives are waterproof, bullet proof, shock proof, rust proof, friction free, maintenance free, and essentially indestructable. :grin:
 
JuliaValentine said:
I don't know about those Alpha drives, but SeaCore BIII drives are waterproof, bullet proof, shock proof, rust proof, friction free, maintenance free, and essentially indestructable. :grin:
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WOW...you really bought into the marketing didn't you. Now don't get me wrong they are probably better than previously but come on, maintenance free? No such thing. Oh wait. they are maintenance free, if you replace the entire unit every year or two.
 
trit21 said:
WOW...you really bought into the marketing didn't you. Now don't get me wrong they are probably better than previously but come on, maintenance free? No such thing. Oh wait. they are maintenance free, if you replace the entire unit every year or two.
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Did I not mention self-healing?
 
gerryb said:
Like others above, I think some of what Frank posted was accurate but other information posted does not reflect my experience.

First off, as a rule, you should not have expensive mechanical equipment hanging out in salt water if you can avoid it. No reason to argue this point...however...

I think the cost issue is not as significant and I agree with JuliaV above. My cost for service (removing drive, lube, seals, etc) is $550 each year. I also install my own zincs plus meticulously sand/prime/bottomcoat the drives each year. ZERO corrosion in 5 years of salt water. Cost of zinc and paint is maybe $200 year. Takes maybe 6 hours each year do to the work in my yard on a nice spring day.

Oh, I also had the additonal mercathode unit installed for $250 when we bought the boat.

These outdrive things do need a little care, but are not as bad as what some make them out to be. And there are some positives to consider with the stern drives, as stated above. My friend has a new Rinker 36 with Bravo II sea cores and has tons of room in the ER as well as an extra 3 feet of space in the aft cabin which allows them to have guest sleep aboard comfortably all summer long and he is easily able to get to everything in the ER. Another way to look at this: The stern drives increase the usabable space of the boat by more than 10-20% with minimal if any additional cost.
Click to expand...

So Rinker make 2 hulls for the same boat? One for v drive and one for sterndrive? That doesn't seem very cost effective does it? Not saying they don't, just doesn't seem to fit the common boat manufactures mode of operation. Same hull, v drive or sterndrive.
 
trit21 said:
So Rinker make 2 hulls for the same boat? One for v drive and one for sterndrive? That doesn't seem very cost effective does it? Not saying they don't, just doesn't seem to fit the common boat manufactures mode of operation. Same hull, v drive or sterndrive.
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I'm not very familiar with Rinker ( and personally don't like their quality too much) but I do not believe Rinker offers an inboard set-up on their boats as an option. Sea ray has several models where you can get a Bravo III or an inboard on the same hull.
 
If the question is strictly performance: Sterndrives!

You should evaluate all the factors such as: likely hood of running aground (sterndrives better), corrosion (inboards better), maintenance (inboards better), and durability (inboards better).

Another factor is resale. The inboards will usually "show" better when pulled for survey/inspection.

Another factor is perception. When you move from an sterndrive to inboard it is perceived that your moving to a "true inboard" boat and is more like a big yacht!
 
I would definitely NOT agree that you are better off grounding a sterndrive.

If you back into the beach and tie up, you might touch the bottom due to wind, storms, etc. In this case, raised outdrives not running will do better. Striking an object at speed.... I'd much rather do that with V's.

There is a lot to consider, but boating is not for the faint of heart, or wallet.

If I bought a 310 to keep in saltwater, I would have gone with v's without question. Even so, had I done that before SR figured out the exhaust problem, I may have been replacing engines due to water ingestion. This was a very common problem in V drives in several SR boat models, and other manufacturers as well.

FC-3, if I had your experience with sterns, I'd be out of them, too. In twenty years of boating, they have been good to me, knock on wood.
 
gerryb said:
I'm not very familiar with Rinker ( and personally don't like their quality too much) but I do not believe Rinker offers an inboard set-up on their boats as an option. Sea ray has several models where you can get a Bravo III or an inboard on the same hull.
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My bad.....I re-read your post and now it makes more sense. I thought you were saying the Rinker with sterndrive has more room than a Rinker with v drives.....Oops...
 
fc3 said:
This thread http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24202 vs

...a transmission fluid change.

Never been stranded with my V-Drives. My Alpha left me stranded several times. Total repairs to my V-drives - 1 cutlass bearing that probably didn't need to be replaced when I had a line wrapped around the prop. But I changed it anyway since the boat was new and it looked like the line got into the bearing.

On the other hand I've lost count of the repairs to the Alpha but at least 3 rebuilds, one new upper unit and complete rebuild with all new gears and bearing of the lower, reseal job every other year, two rebuilds of the trim cylinders. One rebuild of the trim pump. At least 8 or so trim sender replacements. etc etc etc

Oh yeah, several tows. And a bunch of lost weekends on the water due to mechanical problems with the sterndrive. I'll take a few knots less speed and a slightly greater fuel burn for a heck of a lot less maintenance and not losing weekends on the water.

Best regards,
Frank
Click to expand...

Last Saturday I spent the day fishing with a fellow boat owner from my marina. We took his 31 Sundancer with I/O's. His boat was considerably faster than mine and was bearly working hard, cruising at 30 MPH / 3500 RPM's. Because the props were not under the boat throwing water against the hull, it was also considerably quiter than my 320 V-drives. I really enjoyed the day and missed having a boat with I/O's . I wish there was such a thing as a reliable, low maintenace stern drive that could sit in salt water. I definetly prefer the way they drive over in boards. With that said, I had a similar experience as Frank with my old boat with I/O's. I had 3 out drive failures in 3 years and was miserable. His post keeps in all in perspective.

Until they make a bullet proof I/O, I will continue to suffer with my reliable corrosion free in-boards. :grin:
 
for julia valentine:

Dude..........keep drinking that Mercruiser Kool-aid, I bought Brunswick stock a month or so ago. We need more owners like you!
 
When I started this thread I stated that I was suprised that the difference in speeds was so large. I understand the reasons that create the differences but I guess I thought it would only be 3-4 mph.

With my current boat I had no option. As I look forward to my next purchase I'll need to make a decision. There is no better advice than that which comes from real world experience & you guys certainly provide that. So, Thanks to all who have posted to this thread.
 
fwebster said:
Ask him after his first "surprise".
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Don't drink the Dexcool in the SeaCore I/O Mercruiser engines. It may look like orange cool aid, but it ain't. BTW, the self-healing technology Mercruiser uses on its SeaCore outdrives is pirated directly from the alien space ship they captured in Area 51.

I got 4 years before I start paying for the surprises. Ha Ha. Got my eye on that 47DA with Zeus before then. Better get the warranty.
 
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