Bravo 3 vs Alpha, 5.0 L vs 5.7 L

[sumdood]

I am looking at new boats and am curious as to the advantages of Alpha vs Bravo 3 and 5 liter vs 5.7 or 5.7 Magnum. This is for a new Bryant 23 or 24 foot . The 5.7 mag Bravo 3 is about $5000 more than the 5.0 alpha, how much better is the bravo 3 with either the 5.7 or 5.7 Mag?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Bravo 3 vs Alpha, 5.0 L vs 5.7 L

I am looking at new boats and am curious as to the advantages of Alpha vs Bravo 3 and 5 liter vs 5.7 or 5.7 Magnum. This is for a new Bryant 23 or 24 foot . The 5.7 mag Bravo 3 is about $5000 more than the 5.0 alpha, how much better is the bravo 3 with either the 5.7 or 5.7 Mag?

Ayuh,... It's worth Every penny of it....

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Bravo 3 vs Alpha, 5.0 L vs 5.7 L

I am looking at new boats and am curious as to the advantages of Alpha vs Bravo 3 and 5 liter vs 5.7 or 5.7 Magnum. This is for a new Bryant 23 or 24 foot . The 5.7 mag Bravo 3 is about $5000 more than the 5.0 alpha, how much better is the bravo 3 with either the 5.7 or 5.7 Mag?

Howdy,


Welcome aboard!

I am not sure that I would say a Bravo III (by itself) is $5000 "better" but I would say that after you drive a boat with one and drive one without, you'll want one.........Especially if you get a 5.7L MAG (300hp?)

That's a pretty good size boat. With a 5.0 and an Alpha, it's going to be somewhat anemic out of the hole and loaded with fuel fuel and say, 6 people.

When i had the 1987 340hp OMC (BB Ford 460) King Cobra installed in my 21ft Liberator It would do about 60mph flat out (5000 RPM....200 RPM I think above recommended max RPM) but it was absolutely a DOG out of the hole. It took a fairly long time to plane.

After I installed the 1997 330hp Mercruiser 454 and Bravo III.... I was amazed that I can still run about 57mph at 4600 RPM (rev limited to 4700) and it just ROCKETS out of the hole! everything else is more or less equal.

My brother bought this boat new and used it for about 15 years including having the engine rebuilt (and tricked out a little) but he was always disappointed in the sluggish holeshot. He couldn't believe the difference with the Bravo III!!

The slow/idle speed FWD/REV handling is also FAR better with the Bravo III.

If it were me and I was deciding between the 5.7 MAG/Bravo III and a 5.0L Alpha, (and I had the additional money) I would get the bigger engine with the Bravo III!


Cheers,

Rick

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Bravo 3 vs Alpha, 5.0 L vs 5.7 L

sum, some of the advantages of a dual priop outdrive over a single prop drive are:

Faster time to plane
Ability to hold plane at a lower speed
Lower rpms at cruising speed
Less "blow out" in tight turns
Much better manuverability at low speed, especially in Reverse.


Disadvantages are:

Higher initial cost
Very expensive propsets (new that is, just expensive used) so experimenting is difficult.
Boat will move FAST at idle speeds. It does nothing slow at "slow" speed. So be prepared to shift in and out of gear a lot. Or run into stuff faster than you want.

 

[rick3452]

Re: Bravo 3 vs Alpha, 5.0 L vs 5.7 L

Bravo 3 on my 24ft deck boat 5.0 awesome drive