Bravo 2 engine choice

[Whitey]

Hi, I have a 45 ft pontoon houseboat and have been told by others who have similar sized boats that I should fit Bravo 2. This I accept, the debate begins with which motor to marry it up to, 4.3 V6 mercruiser seems to be a popular choice along with 5.0 and 5.7 V8 mercruiser. My question is would the 4 cylinder 3.0 work well or is it underpowered. Another thought is what about going diesel. Thanks in advance for your replies. Cheers Dave

 

[spannerman]

3.0l pushing a 45ft pontoon boat is being very optimistic, its going to be working hard and guzzling gas, the fuel consumption won't be any better with a V6 or V8, I guess you are just cruising at a slowish pace so I'd go for a diesel on a Bravo 2 which is the right drive for this type of boat.
Where is the engine installed in a central pod or are you going to have one in each pontoon.

 

[MapisM]

Hi, I have a 45 ft pontoon houseboat and have been told by others who have similar sized boats that I should fit Bravo 2. This I accept, the debate begins with which motor to marry it up to

I understand that bigger props can make sense for a pontoon houseboat, in principle.
But I'd rather start from the kind of usage you have in mind - in other terms, how fast do you want to go?
That drives the engine choice, which in turn might confirm (or not) the choice of BII as an outdrive.

And if anyone think that wondering about the kind of performance someone might expect from a pontoon can be ridiculous, this reminded me of an old but still funny story about what some guys use pontoons for, over the pond...

PS: welcome!

 

[Whitey]

The boat will have one engine mounted in pod a rear of boat, as far as expectations, not sure but 10 to 15 knots seems like it would suffice

Cheers

Dave

 

[MapisM]

In this case, the V8s would definitely be overkill.
In terms of power, maybe also the 4 cyl could keep up with the job, but the V6 is a better engine imho, so that would be the first in my list.
Btw, I don't think it would burn more fuel than the 3.0, which would be a bit stressed in such application.
And IIRC, the 3.0 is only mated with the Alpha, whilst for such a large boat, at the speeds you're talking about, the B2 is just perfect.

 

[AndieMac]

We have a 45' x 14' alloy, cat-hulled, two decked (fully enclosed, full lengthed fly-bridge) house-boat here in the marina, and she is powered by 2 x 25 hp Yamaha four stroke outboards.
Obviously the windage is massive, draws very little and is relatively quite light, but the performance of the little yammies is quite impressive. The location of the engines outboard also give the vessel better manoeuvrability than a single installation on the centre-line.

She only runs along at displacement speed, around 7 knots, but in wind against tide situations these craft ususally are not designed to bash into any weather conditions. 10 to 15 knots will be an awkward and high fuel consuming speed for a houseboat.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

I'm guessing you're Stateside, will you have both diesel and Gas available in your cruising area?

 

[Whitey]

thanks for your input everybody, Just for the record I am in Australia and the boat will be used on an inland lake. I have taken into account both your replies and the advice of local houseboaters and decided to go with the mercuiser V6 MPI together with Bravo 2 leg. Would have loved a diesel but the finances don't stretch that far. Cheers Dave

 

[MapisM]

At risk of sounding as a typical US waiter, excellent choice, Sir.