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Good afternoon all,

Early last summer I bought a 2006 226 with 496/ bravo 3 engine/drive package with 500 hours on it. This is the exact boat I have wanted (down to color, engine, and options) since they were still made and I was in high school, and I absolutely love it.... When it wasn't broke... The crappy part is after about 20 hours of use, I started having delays in shifting into forward. Cone clutch seemed to be the issue. After having my shop pull it apart, they found evidence of water intrusion in the drive and the clutch was in need of replacement. Unfortunately, summer was over for me way to early. But that's how it goes buying a 20 year old "new" boat, I had planned on some thorough maintenance over winter anyways (bellows, gimbal bearing, shift cables, etc.)

Now into my bigger problems. My mechanic called me to come take a look at what he found. My gears had started to be chewed up. So in addition to the clutch and other items that were getting repaired I have to replace gears. Now my boat has been sitting in the shop since August waiting on gear sets from Mercury.

I get that there are supply chain issues but I would think that they would be starting to get resolved. It's not a big deal right now as it is winter, but I'm starting to be concerned about being ready for summer.

Is this something that is common right now? Should I be concerned about being ready for summer?

While you are waiting, buy a used drive and then sell it when your original drive is finished.

When my boat was in the shop last spring, the mechanic pointed to several Mercury outdrives that had been waiting on gearsets for almost a year...

I would think seriously about buying a used drive or just the upper from Sterndrive Engineering. I think when it all sorts out you could sell one of them and get most of your money back. Otherwise, you could be sitting here next spring wanting to go boating and still waiting on parts.

Not sure what is going on in the marine world, but I ordered a transom trim switch for my boat (Volvo) from my dealer the first week of September, still no switch.

billk2632 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2023 2:06 pm I would think seriously about buying a used drive or just the upper from Sterndrive Engineering. I think when it all sorts out you could sell one of them and get most of your money back. Otherwise, you could be sitting here next spring wanting to go boating and still waiting on parts.

Not sure what is going on in the marine world, but I ordered a transom trim switch for my boat (Volvo) from my dealer the first week of September, still no switch.

This feedback is not encouraging. Is Sterndrive Engineering a quality replacement for OEM? Or is the quality going to be significantly under par?

"I would think seriously about buying a used drive . . .

Just went through this. Bought a used drive with a 30-day warranty, had it tested and installed. Works perfectly. At about 1/4 the price of new. Pay careful attention to gear ratios. Be leery of anything pre-2005.

Kate wrote: ↑Sat Dec 16, 2023 7:02 am "I would think seriously about buying a used drive . . .

Just went through this. Bought a used drive with a 30-day warranty, had it tested and installed. Works perfectly. At about 1/4 the price of new. Pay careful attention to gear ratios. Be leery of anything pre-2005.

This is something I was wanting to look into. I hate the idea of losing this summer. Where did you buy your used out drive from?

Personally I have never had a SEI drive. I’ve heard of issues, but they do have a good warranty - issue is shipping on a warranty claim. I also know several people that have bought SEI Alpha drives and have had no issue. I would compare the cost between SEI vs used. The thing, with the SEI you know what it is, a used drive you can’t be sure how much it was used, previous problems etc. I do think they are a good alternative to a new Mercruiser drive - I would probably buy one, especially on an older boat.

"Where did you buy your used out drive from?"

Put the word out on the grapevine. Got a number of hits. Then found one at, believe it or not, a local auto repair shop.

"SEI drive"

Don't think they offer the complete drive he needs. Also, when I was looking, there were too many negative reviews of SEI drives. (But I am by no means an expert.)

SEI does now offer Bravo drives, they used to only have Alpha's. I'm not necessarily promoting the SEI drives, no personal experience with them. But, I would at least look into them if I were in this position.

I appreciate the feedback. This is certainly frustrating. I think I would prefer a used out drive in this case. Not that I plan on selling anytime soon, but I would think that a mercury on it would be easier to sell than anything else aftermarket.

Again, thanks for the ideas. I'm open to options, but don't don't really want to pay for a brand new drive from Merc.

https://www.sterndrive.cc/Mercruiser-Br ... tions.html

Full B3 drives for $4K might be worth a shot while you rebuild the original, 3 year warranty if you tear it up. Hang onto the rebuild until sale time. I would pay extra for a boat with a spare rebuilt B3.

You can also check Jasper:

https://www.jasperengines.com/products/ ... erndrives/

UPDATE!

Just in time for spring, got her back today. New cone clutch, gear sets (major out drive overhaul), all new throttle and shift cables, bellows, gimbal bearing, full tune up, etc...

After all this, I have the serious itch to get her out early this season.

Anything else I should watch out for with a 500 hour engine? Hopefully I should be good to go for a while.

Thanks for the update.

Was there a maintenance history with the boat? Did you have the engine tested? The obvious move is to focus on the Merc recommended engine maintenance.