How often do you replace bellows on bravo 3? I boat in salt water in NYC area and keep my boat in the water for about 6 months out of the season. Purchased boat 7 years ago and didn't replace bellows yet so it made me think. Visually they look and feel good. If you recommend them to replace it anyway how difficult of the job it is? I know you need few special tools which cost of them might be almost equal to paying somebody experienced to do it.
If you've had the boat 7 years and never replaced the bellows I'd say you're on borrowed time.. I am in fresh water and I've had this boat since 2013 and I had both drives done last year. Under $2500. If you can visually see no cracks all around all the bellows you may be good. After 7 years in saltwater I would keep close watch on the bilge for any excessive water.
On the safety side I would say every 5 years but have gone as far as 10 years if there are no cracks and feel flexible. The hardest part of the job is removal/installation of the drive which is very heavy. You need to make sure the alignment is correct as well. I would review the procedure in the manual that can be found under Documents of this site.
Actually my drive is currently removed to replace sills etc. I checked document section and at this point I think I got decent idea how it's being done. It looks like once there it makes sense to replace all bellows including water hose and at the same time replace limit/trim senders and shift cable. There's fair amount of special tools needed for this job which cost of it might cover bigger portion of labor if let the mechanic do it. Also good weather is right around the corner and if possible I would love to post pone this job it till next year when I could prepare myself better with all the tools and materials.
Actually my drive is currently removed to replace sills etc. I checked document section and at this point I think I got decent idea how it's being done. It looks like once there it makes sense to replace all bellows including water hose and at the same time replace limit/trim senders and shift cable. There's fair amount of special tools needed for this job which cost of it might cover bigger portion of labor if let the mechanic do it. Also good weather is right around the corner and if possible I would love to post pone this job it till next year when I could prepare myself better with all the tools and materials.
I would also replace the gimbal bearing. All this comes as a kit. One last thing to check is for excessive play of the swivel shaft.
Since everything looked good I'll post pone the job to after 2020 season. I checked the bearing and is super smooth with no play. I'll prepare myself better and replace all the bellows, trim position/limit senders and bearing coming winter.
Bellows replacement
Linear Mode
