What's a complete Bravo One worth?

[thunder550]

On a whim I looked at CL and found this freshly painted B1 for sale for $1000, including the trim Rams, transom bracket, drive shower, etc. Seems cheap... Good deal or no? I am planning to pull, prep, and paint my drive this winter and install a drive shower, would be easier to just swap them if this one is a good deal and in good shape. Any idea what a used one usually goes for? If I swapped I wonder what I could get for mine.


https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/bpo/ ... 49467.html

[vans]

http://www.michiganmotorz.com/marine-ou ... 4_144.html
New replacement pricing for comparison/with warranty

[AsLan7]

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Any idea what a used one usually goes for? If I swapped I wonder what I could get for mine.

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Hey, that's a great price ($1,000) for an entire Bravo 1 drive, T550. The only issue is (as Forrest Gump would say) "you never know what you're gonna get".

It's difficult to check out the history and what may have happened inside that thing if it hit something catastrophic during use. Still may be worth pursuing at that price though. Offer $600 and settle on $800. Then rebuild it stronger w/ "X" drive components.

An entire used Bravo 1 outdrive sold recently (Oct 8th) on fleaBay for $1,800. Shipping was another $200:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCRUISER-BRA ... Hs&vxp=mtr

merc outdrive.jpg

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With you pushing 415hp, you certainly want a drive that has no issues internally. That kind of torque will find the weaknesses in a drive.

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[cmattj]

Make sure it a 1.5 ratio first... That does have alot of Goodies that are big $$ to go with it.

You may want to add the cost of fresh cone clutches and gear sets including a freshen as you do have power that equals a Bravo "1X" series. add $2500 to go through it and your still in good shape. (you can upgrade the Gear set to X gears)

Your close to alot of Havasu people who go through out-drives so maybe hold out for a swept back X drive. 2005 or newer. Then you could sell yours off or keep it for a spare.

[thunder550]

Im intrigued, might call the guy today. I googled the number and it points to a local auto body shop that has good reviews. Not that that guarantees anything but I'm more comfortable with a commercial number that has a reputation. I am curious how it has the transom assembly though, seems like maybe a salvage part out? Are there any other circumstances where someone would want to pull the whole transom assembly out? That's a lot of work.

Are all Bravo Ones interchangeable, regardless of year?

[AsLan7]

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Are there any other circumstances where someone would want to pull the whole transom assembly out? That's a lot of work.

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I saw that too, T550. If that transom plate came out of the same boat, then that means they pulled the entire engine out. That is a similar plate that I had replaced on my boat due to the metal fatigue issue. The inner plate for the Bravo's is not that expensive. Mine new ( for a Bravo 3) was about $300. It's the outer plate that is the more expensive one.

In any event, I'm guessing it was a complete engine and outdrive pull. I'd be curious to know the history as well. I'm guessing boat crash and the auto body shop is "piecing" the components out since the hull was not salvageable.

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[thunder550]

I just talked to the guy, without going into details it sounds totally legit. The drive is out of a '98 Regal 28 footer that got left outside to rot, the guy bought the boat for the engine and drive and trashed the rest. He said they water tested it all before pulling it, and he was going to put it in one of his 5 boats but he injured himself on the water after a hard landing doing 80 over a roller in one of his speed boats earlier this year and decided he's done with boating. He runs his own business, the phone number matches up to a local auto body shop here in the Phoenix area. There's more parts than what are pictured, including the trim pump and some other stuff. He sanded it all the way down and the only "damage" to the casing was some small cosmetic dings in the bottom of the scag that he epoxied and refinished.


So...with the assumption that the CL drive is sound, thoughts on the deal? If it were you, would you buy, swap, and resell the current drive and extra parts, or keep and refinish what's already on there since it's a known good unit?

[cmattj]

I just talked to the guy, without going into details it sounds totally legit. The drive is out of a '98 Regal that got left outside to rot, the guy bought the boat for the engine and drive and trashed the rest. He said they water tested it all before pulling it, and he was going to put it in one of his 5 boats but he injured himself on the water after a hard landing doing 80 in one of his speed boats earlier this year and decided he's done with boating. There's more parts than what are pictured, including the trim pump and some other stuff. He sanded it all the way down and the only "damage" to the casing was some small cosmetic dings in the bottom of the scag that he epoxied and refinished.

So...with the assumption that the CL drive is sound, thoughts on the deal? If it were you, would you buy, swap, and resell the current drive and extra parts, or keep and refinish what's already on there since it's a known good unit?

Well. First you need to verify ratio.. most where 1:5 that era but.... you never know without a serial number.

Second.. the lower if tweeked or bent at the skeg ( you almost need a shot from the bottom) are a common whoops now that he mentioned expoxy??

Not a bad score if you have the need but if your current drive shows no metal... no delayed cone clutch shift.. no whine.. then you may just have a spare sitting to eliminate down time in the event of failure.. it is priced low.

[thunder550]

Well. First you need to verify ratio.. most where 1:5 that era but.... you never know without a serial number.

Second.. the lower if tweeked or bent at the skeg ( you almost need a shot from the bottom) are a common whoops now that he mentioned expoxy??

Not a bad score if you have the need but if your current drive shows no metal... no delayed cone clutch shift.. no whine.. then you may just have a spare sitting to eliminate down time in the event of failure.. it is priced low.

Yeah I'd verify ratio. Not sure if a serial number is visible but I found some info on U joint markings for different ratios. C = 1.65:1, F = 1.5:1, H = 1.36:1. I can spin by hand and count rotations.

The need is more like a "I'm lazy and would rather swap drives than repaint my current one", coupled with being able to either break even at a minimum or maybe even come out ahead on cost. This is why I'm hesitating...if I NEEDED a drive, I'd be all over this one, but I don't. Saving time repainting plus being able to put some $$ in my pocket sounds nice. But...I am hesitating. Maybe that's my answer, lol.

[cmattj]

When the need isn't there it's hard to pull the trigger even when it's a great deal..

btw merc paint has great results.. you should hit up Aslan7 for his masking off and paint supplies used!!

[AsLan7]

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"I'm lazy and would rather swap drives than repaint my current one"

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Oh if you're goin' lazy, painting is much easier than an outdrive pull, Thunder550.

Just buy some Blue painter's tape...grab a bunch of sheets and newspapers...and tape anything you don't want black.

Spray with Merc spray and then just apply your decals. This assumes of course you only need a touch up.

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[thunder550]

Yep I decided I'm going to pass on that drive. But...mine does need a little more than touch-ups. Going to hit it with The Works first and see how much of this crap comes off, but there's a lot of spots where the paint is gone and I'm seeing either primer or bare metal.

IMG_20171019_171217.jpg

IMG_20171019_171222.jpg

IMG_20171019_171227.jpg

[AsLan7]

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I think that will clean up nicely, T5. You'll be surprised how much of that will come off and then with a recoat, she'll be good as new. Good call.

[thunder550]

I think that will clean up nicely, T5. You'll be surprised how much of that will come off and then with a recoat, she'll be good as new.

I'm glad you're confident, that makes one of us

Did you re-prime anything, or just shoot paint? Yours looks good.

[AsLan7]

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Just a reshoot. I'm lazy