To anyone thinking of buying any boat with Outdrives

Don't worry outdrive users as it's just jealousy from the poor smucks with shafts. They can only dream of our economy and oh how they wish they could lift those expensive shafts just to get a bit closer to the beach. Us outrive users snigger when we see those shaft drive boats anchored so far from land.. Not to mention how they would love just to be able to push a button to have a look at their nice probs as we can. Ding a prop on an outdrive and taking it off is a breeze, do they same with a shaft and I'm afraid it's an expensive lift out. 1200 hours on my lovely legs and still going strong. Oh how we laugh at shaft drive owners, what an inconvenience they are :p
 
Well said KevB. All my boats over the years have been Outdrives. As said before if maintained properly , no problem at all.

Cheers
Keith
CHI
 
As alluded to here several times, the fact is if you're in the position of looking at a sub 30' boat then you pretty much have two choices - outdrive or outdrive, so wishing you had shafts is imho pretty pointless.
 
My two penneth... only ever had one MOBO with a drive, a Bravo II. In the one season I had the boat, it cost well over £1k in repairs/leaks and two lifts and lost me a good lump of the season. I had it serviced by a dealer before the season started too. The previous owner had it serviced by the book - I checked. My two other MOBO's were both on shafts and never gave a problem. Perhaps I just had bad luck.
 
How about some real benefits and savings of an outdrive Outdrive are much faster and much more frugal.

A case example is...

Searay 290 comes in both V drive and outdrive and fitted with 260 mercruisers.

Top speed

Outdrive 47 mph - V Drive 34 mph

Gallons per hour at same speed

Outdrive 22.8 gph - V drive 40 gph

That's a massive saving of 17 gallons an hour. So even if you only did 50 planning hours a season you'd be saving over £5k in fuel alone.

http://www.boatingmag.com/v-or-not-v?page=0,0
 
KevB said:
How about some real benefits and savings of an outdrive Outdrive are much faster and much more frugal.

A case example is...

Searay 290 comes in both V drive and outdrive and fitted with 260 mercruisers.

Top speed

Outdrive 47 mph - V Drive 34 mph

Gallons per hour at same speed

Outdrive 22.8 gph - V drive 40 gph

That's a massive saving of 17 gallons an hour. So even if you only did 50 planning hours a season you'd be saving over £5k in fuel alone.

http://www.boatingmag.com/v-or-not-v?page=0,0
Click to expand...

the more you burn the more you save!
 
KevB said:
That's a massive saving of 17 gallons an hour. So even if you only did 50 planning hours a season you'd be saving over £5k in fuel alone.
Click to expand...

The fuel savings are even greater than that if you factor in the time spent on the hard in the middle of summer, waiting for the drives to be fixed
 
I would just like to add to this thread by saying that it is not unheard of for a shaftdrive boat to suffer gearbox problems. I know of one, nearly new boat, where the repair costs would have bought around four new outdrives. No axe to grind either way, I know the problems, benefits and limitations of each system, it's just that the shaft drive brigade seem to think shaft drive systems are infalible and it needs stating that they are not. I also know of someone who was having cutlss bearing problems that meant he was being lifted twice a season just for replacement. The cost of the lifts, repacement bearings and labour were not insignificant. And to balance things off I personally know of an almost new outdrive which exploded and punched a hole stright through the gearcase while underway.
Personally I'll suffer the increased complexity for the fuel savings, ability to beach, ability to lift and clear prop, and kick up facility should I hit something. I do as much of my own servicing, maintennace and repairs as possible and in 15 years of sterndrive ownership I would say I am quids in.
 
neale said:
I would just like to add to this thread by saying that it is not unheard of for a shaftdrive boat to suffer gearbox problems. I know of one, nearly new boat, where the repair costs would have bought around four new outdrives. No axe to grind either way, I know the problems, benefits and limitations of each system, it's just that the shaft drive brigade seem to think shaft drive systems are infalible and it needs stating that they are not. I also know of someone who was having cutlss bearing problems that meant he was being lifted twice a season just for replacement. The cost of the lifts, repacement bearings and labour were not insignificant. And to balance things off I personally know of an almost new outdrive which exploded and punched a hole stright through the gearcase while underway.
Personally I'll suffer the increased complexity for the fuel savings, ability to beach, ability to lift and clear prop, and kick up facility should I hit something. I do as much of my own servicing, maintennace and repairs as possible and in 15 years of sterndrive ownership I would say I am quids in.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more with that sentiment and I suspect dislike of outdrives would be more common amongst those who pay someone to undertake maintenance? Those who do their own are probably less worried about the labour time and more relaxed about the condition of their drives. When you are paying an engineer to do servicing, I suspect the number of hours suddenly comes under the spotlight and the 25-30% fuel saving gets forgotten :rolleyes: There's also a market where where shafts are not as practical and outboards too thirsty - the 20-28' trailer market is perhaps one? When fuel is cheap - like US markets - seeing a bank of 3-4 outbaords isn't uncommon, but you don't see that many in the UK! My project boat (21') is sterndrive and I'm in the process of rebuilding the drive - not because I needed to, but for my own peace of mind I need to know the condition of every part and that everything is in good condition with all seals, bearings etc replaced. My experience of outboards have been nothing but grief so far and at least with most common sterndrives, parts are readily available!
 
neale said:
I would just like to add to this thread by saying that it is not unheard of for a shaftdrive boat to suffer gearbox problems. I know of one, nearly new boat, where the repair costs would have bought around four new outdrives. No axe to grind either way, I know the problems, benefits and limitations of each system, it's just that the shaft drive brigade seem to think shaft drive systems are infalible and it needs stating that they are not. I also know of someone who was having cutlss bearing problems that meant he was being lifted twice a season just for replacement. The cost of the lifts, repacement bearings and labour were not insignificant. And to balance things off I personally know of an almost new outdrive which exploded and punched a hole stright through the gearcase while underway.
Personally I'll suffer the increased complexity for the fuel savings, ability to beach, ability to lift and clear prop, and kick up facility should I hit something. I do as much of my own servicing, maintennace and repairs as possible and in 15 years of sterndrive ownership I would say I am quids in.
Click to expand...

My Sunline had twin Alfa 1's. We owned her for 5 years. Apart from a thorough inspect, check and replace as necessary every 2 years the only problem I suffered was when clouting some submerged concrete. This damaged the skeg and prop on both drives. Repairs were funded by HKJ (yes, that broker causing so much angst on another thread). Never had any other problems or concerns. We had 2 previous boats with outdrives, an oldish Sea Ray on an early Alfa 1, and an OMC drive on a Sunbird. Again, no problems with either of them. My Azimut has shafts, and I miss being able to lift the drives to check props/anodes.
 
oldgit said:
A little while ago posted a request for comments to relay to a chap who was thinking of buying a 10M boat with outdrives
The fact it had outdrives,did not ring any alarm bells louder then normal ,other than a suggestion for him to check that a nice big wad of long term servicing bills were around somewhere.
We are not talking about budget boating here.
Despite pre sale checks and surveys,during a subsquent lift out for new anodes,close inspection of the DP legs revealed that both were beyond economical repair.
A replacement pair of recon legs are now being provided by a very reputable East Coast Volvo Dealer.
Just another plea to be ultra careful when buying any boat with outdrives.
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Later on you let slip it was corrosion ? In which case why was it not picked up by anybody like the surveyor?
Ask your mate to sue him
If the post is actually true?
See post 58 # below - what a coincidence - everybody ?
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...rcial-perspective/page6&highlight=Sterndrives
 
Portofino said:
Later on you let slip it was corrosion ? In which case why was it not picked up by anybody like the surveyor?
Ask your mate to sue him
If the post is actually true?
See post 58 # below - what a coincidence - everybody ?
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...rcial-perspective/page6&highlight=Sterndrives
Click to expand...

Take it easy on him, it's just jealousy. He can't help himself. He hates the fact that shafts a much slower, hugely less fuel efficient and far less versatile.
 
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