May have ruined my Bravo 3 today - Maxum Boat Owners Club

ShoreAcres · 08-03-2012, 06:19 AM

Out on a cruise today in unfamiliar waters and was distracted my my boatful of passengers and didn't notice the depth sounder. In struck a rock with my prop going about 15 mph. The outdrive immediately went out of gear and I assumed I sheared whatever pin or system protects the drive. Unfortunately, that wasn't it. There was a ding on one blade, not too bad - But the boat still operated in reverse but not in forward. I was 25 miles from home with a storm rolling in. After trying for many minutes I finally got it in forward and started limping home slowly in a storm. It popped out of gear several times and it took a few minutes each time to get it moving again. I think I ruined the gears.

The good news is that it should be covered by insurance, but I fear by the time I get this sorted out and fixed, my season will be pretty much over.

pascavone · 08-03-2012, 08:20 AM

If its just a blade aluminum shim, down by the prob, that can be replaced in 30 min.

its supposed to break there, to protect the rest of the out drive.

the slipping out of gear is probably from the out of balance rotation.

sounds like you got of easy....

shrew · 08-03-2012, 03:29 PM

B3 outdrive. SS blades and no prop hub or shear pin that I'm aware of. Does it sound like a coffee grinder when it's in gear, then gets much lighter in neutral? That might be broken teeth rattling around the gears. You are probably going to want to haul the boat and pull the drive and split it open. Look for metal shavings in the top end and posibly borken teeth in the bottom.

ShoreAcres · 08-04-2012, 12:42 AM

I don't think anything sheared because it works in reverse and works good at a moderate forward speed if I can keep it in gear. It takes many attempts to getting out of neutral. It seems to get sketchy around 15 mph but not really grinding.

ShoreAcres · 08-08-2012, 10:22 PM

I talked to the mech at the dealer and he says it is pretty common for the gears to go on the B3 after a prop strike. In fact my friend's Bravo 3 is in right now. He just bought a nearly new Sea Ray 260 Sundeck and the gears went suddenly. The mech said when he opened up th B3, the top gear set was like chicklets. He was pretty sure the previous owner had a prop strike. Since he can't prove it, he will not have insurance coverage like me.