Arneson Surface Drives

[Magnum]

Has anyone had the pleasure or otherwise of skippering a boat with Arneson surface drives? Apart from the higher top speed that greater efficiency brings, what is low speed handling like?

There's an Arneson equipped Mangusta 80 opposite us in Palma and everytime it comes in it looks, well, a bit all over the place. Lots of slooshing noises and froth though.

 

[masaccio]

Close-quarters manoeuvring can be a bit tricky due to the reduced thrust at low speeds...it just takes a bit of getting used to. With care, and sometimes judicious use of the bow-thruster, you can manoeuvre round the marina safely and without too much vrooom-slosh-doink. Patience, and a light touch, is all that's needed. And when you've got the hang of it, it shouldn't be any more difficult than with outdrives.

 

[Tony7]

Easy as pie, I've got Arnies on my Superhawk. as the prop is designed for going forward, you need to give a touch of power for reverse. IE if you want to turn in own length would need a fair bit more on reverse prop. Otherwise lower the arnies in port and treat as an outdrive. the rooster is as sexy as hell.

 

[Nautical]

Always look very sexy at boat shows and look cool running at speed with that rooster tail. Have to say though many are fitted to boats not really suited for surface drives just a marketing con.

Discovered this last trip out to Potofino when we were thrashing the factory demo boat up and down the coast. We were 45 sports cruiser on D6 350 legs and managed 37knts flat out the Pershing running alongside us was on twin 600's with surface drives and flat out was only hitting 40 knts and she was much the same size (but perhaps a little heavier with those big mutha motors). Not a huge gain for monsterous fuel burn. The big difference was we were flinging around like a little sports boat while he was still cornering like a traditional shaft drive.

In the right boat and hull form they are a neat bit of kit but for some just a bit of a pose job. Close quarter stuff can be a pig as mentioned not really a huge amount of grip from those props in reverse, need big handfuls to make anything happen.