454 with bravo drive

[progunrunner]

Removed my 454 with the bravo drive we are replacing it with a bracket and outboard, just for piece of mind i took the entire motor outdrive and components by the scales, 1597 lbs, i was shocked it was that heavy, Outboard 2stroke is 404 lbs, bracket is 47lbs, so we lost about 1000 lbs in a day !

 

[progunrunner]

Re: 454 with bravo drive

floated the boat today with out the power plant it sat, 10 inches higher in the rear, The boat sat with the Chine rail level with the water, with the 454 lbs on the very rear of the swim deck. Changed the height we need to set the outboard bracket, we had worried it would be to low, now we are moving it down , still
Max draw should be about 18 to 20 inches now !

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: 454 with bravo drive

post a photo plz!

 

[progunrunner]

Re: 454 with bravo drive

I am taking photos of the rework, So far i have rewired the entire boat all electrical changed out the fuse and breaker pnls, and installed new switches for all electrical, Installed new hydraulic sea star steering,Changed our idea on the prebuilt bracket when we were fitting it to the boat, Ended up building one longer and its going to be bonded to the back of the hull and the swim platform intagrated into one piece, Installed Bamboo flooring down in the cabin, And starting to build a hard top the alum frame is done starting the top, it will be 1/4 ply sandwich on a frame and west system glass to enclose it top and bottom, Hope to post photos next week, After building the new outboard bracket had a boat builder check it out before glassing started he said it was over kill but more is better, he also sharred that any outboard bracket thats box style gives 46lbs of floatation per square foot below the water line,

 

[progunrunner]

Re: 454 with bravo drive

Also did a weigh in on the boat, factory specs said 5900 lbs, But i wanted to know for sure so after removing all the engine and drive equipment i put it on the scales, 6021 lbs, So that 5900 was with out any power plant even the wellCraft people in Va Beach didnt know that, so the true weight of the boat was almost 8,000 lbs with the power plant and fuel

 

[progunrunner]

Re: 454 with bravo drive

These are the photos of the Bracket and cut out before the glass work ,

 

[progunrunner]

Re: 454 with bravo drive

I can't seem to post photos, So i am going to start a Blog with all the photos, so far we have bonded the new transom extension on, Built a hard top, Rewired the boat, installed Hot blocks and ground blocks , made sure everything on the boat is Fused to its own fuse, Installing a float guage on the water tank with a display on the dash, Opened the old out drive hole into a square and when we bonded the extension on and bolted it, we are glassing the edges of the hole to seal it and that will give me access into the transom extension and my control cables and sea star steering and fuel lines will come in through that area of the transom.