Flybridge to targa.

what does it cost to service/maintain a pair of 5 year old sterndrives over say 5 years? and what mpg would a targa 40/44 do with sterndrives?

In my T40 (d6-350) I get about 1.5mpg long-term average over all sorts of use. I'd expect the T44 to be very slightly less because it is beamier. Service costs over 5 years? A little leg service is about £250 per side, and a big one (every other year) about £600 (these are main agent prices).

However, my experience of owning an earlier d6 boat is that there are quite a lot of unplanned maintenance costs - I've had all the usual problems - gear selectors, gear actuators, steering rams, helm indicator cables, power steering hoses. These can get expensive quite quickly. The later the boat, the less of this you'll have, because of the various design revisions by Volvo.

I think kcrane once posted some mpg figures for his (shaftdrive) v48, and I think it uses about twice as much fuel as my t40. There's probably a fairly straightforward calculation you can do to work out the usage crossover point between maintenance savings vs fuel savings for shaft vs outdrive.

Cheers
Jimmy
 
In my T40 (d6-350) I get about 1.5mpg long-term average over all sorts of use. I'd expect the T44 to be very slightly less because it is beamier. Service costs over 5 years? A little leg service is about £250 per side, and a big one (every other year) about £600 (these are main agent prices).

However, my experience of owning an earlier d6 boat is that there are quite a lot of unplanned maintenance costs - I've had all the usual problems - gear selectors, gear actuators, steering rams, helm indicator cables, power steering hoses. These can get expensive quite quickly. The later the boat, the less of this you'll have, because of the various design revisions by Volvo.

I think kcrane once posted some mpg figures for his (shaftdrive) v48, and I think it uses about twice as much fuel as my t40. There's probably a fairly straightforward calculation you can do to work out the usage crossover point between maintenance savings vs fuel savings for shaft vs outdrive.

Cheers
Jimmy


Hi Jimmy, kevin did post some fuel figures not long ago on a trip across the channe a trip around the french coast and fuelled up back in Brighton, from memory I was very surprised at how good it was about 1.3 mpg which is good for a 1140hp 48ft boat, take all the drive servicing costs and D6 service costs you can buy a fair amount of fuel for that, plus downtime and annual lift out costs for a sterndrives oil and anode changes, plus if you keep a sterndrive boat longterm over a shaftdrive boat your going to be buying a new drive if not 2 at some point, where as a shaft drive gearbox will last 20 years or more if looked after and can be fitted reasonably without too much fuss.l
 
Hi Jimmy, kevin did post some fuel figures not long ago on a trip across the channe a trip around the french coast and fuelled up back in Brighton, from memory I was very surprised at how good it was about 1.3 mpg which is good for a 1140hp 48ft boat, take all the drive servicing costs and D6 service costs you can buy a fair amount of fuel for that, plus downtime and annual lift out costs for a sterndrives oil and anode changes, plus if you keep a sterndrive boat longterm over a shaftdrive boat your going to be buying a new drive if not 2 at some point, where as a shaft drive gearbox will last 20 years or more if looked after and can be fitted reasonably without too much fuss.l

I'd be amazed if any v48 returns 1.3mpg over varied use. I daresay I can get my t40 over 2mpg on a specific max range trip at say 22 knots - but that's not the reality of my boating. I do some longish trips say 50m+. But I probably do as many engine hours flat out arsing about locally.

I think the T40 is a great boat, but I am getting a bit cheesed off at having to pay for Volvos post-implementation r&d for them. If I was in the market for one now, I'd buy that late kad300-engined boat that Essex Boatyards have got listed. Not as quick or as frugal as my d6 boat, but definitely less unplanned maintenance on the drives.

Cheers
Jimmy
 
and Paul knows that I couldn't get out of my boat with KAD 300's quick enough. Two legs and numerous engine issues, but having said all that I've been a leg man all my boating life (15 years), but I'm not about to get into the leg v shaft debate for the umpteenth time.

Neil

oh go on you know you want to
 
"what does it cost to service/maintain a pair of 5 year old sterndrives over say 5 years?"

Its not just the fixing and ongoing regular costs of rubberware with outdrives its also the downtime cos the things have to be ashore to have any work of any description carried out.
Corse you only really know the scale of the grief once they pull it out and have a look see
Need to add your yards daily rate ashore to any repair costs ?
 
scary figures for stern drives. I've done @ 600 miles this year, so far on my targa 43, I have averaged @ 1.2 mpg at mostly 20kns. (whats the hurry stern drive guys?) with a dicky port turbo. it does slow down in a tight turn but just give it the beans on the outside engine.
 
Top