Well sh!t, I have Bravoitis

[ExumaBlue]

Looks like I'm gonna go with a thru hull pick up and bypass the transom hose altogether. Any tips before I attempt the install? Also, what size of hose/thru hull should I use? Think I read somewhere that 1 1/4" is the way to go?

TIA

 

[Henry Boyd]

For the 496 1.25” through hull, hose & strainer. The only decision is whether you let water flow through the drive on its own by leaving the line in the drive and unattached, or hook the line from the drive to a tee at the through hull. Also by adding a tee and a couple additional valves you can use one leg of the tee for a fresh water flush/ winterizing port.

 

[Jimmy Buoy]

Check this out...

http://www.marine-496pump.com

Scroll down the page to "Bravoitis Cure". No personal experience with this (I have inboards), but I've used their water pump kit with the wear plates with great success. There is also a link for Bravoitis Repair Instructions for Merc Repairs. Looks rather interesting and at a cost of $60 would probably be cheaper and easier than drilling a thru-hull in your boat.

Good luck!

 

[Chris-380]

Very interesting, surly someone has tried this kit that will report how it worked

http://www.amarket.com/BRAVOblock.htm

Check this out...

http://www.marine-496pump.com

Scroll down the page to "Bravoitis Cure". No personal experience with this (I have inboards), but I've used their water pump kit with the wear plates with great success. There is also a link for Bravoitis Repair Instructions for Merc Repairs. Looks rather interesting and at a cost of $60 would probably be cheaper and easier than drilling a thru-hull in your boat.

Good luck!

 

[scoflaw]

Merc redesigned that transom hose a while back, the pass through section of it is solid plastic that can't collapse.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Check this out...

http://www.marine-496pump.com

Scroll down the page to "Bravoitis Cure". No personal experience with this (I have inboards), but I've used their water pump kit with the wear plates with great success. There is also a link for Bravoitis Repair Instructions for Merc Repairs. Looks rather interesting and at a cost of $60 would probably be cheaper and easier than drilling a thru-hull in your boat.

Good luck!

i read the instructions and it looks to me like the engine has to be pulled first to get at the inside of the transom plate. So any cost savings over a through hull conversion goes out the window. Certainly if the engine has already been pulled spend the sixty bucks and do the modification if you have the old style transom.

 

[Thornton69]

Haven't tried to run a Bravo with that line bypassed, but it is my understanding the the upper drive will overheat due to a lack of raw water (cooling) flow.
The alpha I replaced had a through hull T'd into it before a raw water pump. It has a relatively large scoop on intake. After installing the Bravo, I noticed some slight discoloration to the paint in the upper drive and dark oil. I don't use the through hull anymore.
Not sure if a drive shower on it's own is enough.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Haven't tried to run a Bravo with that line bypassed, but it is my understanding the the upper drive will overheat due to a lack of raw water (cooling) flow.
The alpha I replaced had a through hull T'd into it before a raw water pump. It has a relatively large scoop on intake. After installing the Bravo, I noticed some slight discoloration to the paint in the upper drive and dark oil. I don't use the through hull anymore.
Not sure if a drive shower on it's own is enough.

When we added the through hull to ours Merc recommended keeping the water through the drive and connecting it to a tee at the through hull. An additional tee was added to provide a flushing port. With valves we could run only through the drive, only through the through hull, only through the flush port, or a combination of the three.

Here’s a picture. The garden faucet was eventually replaced with a traditional ball valve and garden hose threaded connection.

 

[ColoSR]

The PO installed a thru hull on my boat, it was a pain to work with the fake a lake.

I had my mechanic install a tee so I have dual pickups. Works great with muffs, far easier on decon stations around here. Love it so far.

An air leak on the flush port compromises the suction on the pump. Unless you are running in salt water I would skip the flush port.