V drive vs I/O costs

Bk124tt

Bk124tt

Member
Apr 23, 2017
57
Long Island NY
Boat Info
2005 320
Engines
Twin 350 MPI Horizons
I had a mechanic today tell me that the Sundancer 320 that I'm in the process of buying is a great boat but.........
1.,With the v drive vs the I/O I will be sacrificing 5-8 mph in speed.
2. The general mechanic time to do anything on the v drive is considerably more expensive due to the little room the vdrive leaves in the engine compartment

Thoughts?????
Thanks?
 
Vdrive way before outdrive. Performance at the dock is night and day. Maintenance far easier than outdrives. ATF and Filter clean annually. That's about it.

Oudrives will give you higher top end speeds so if your 30 or less then I get why speed is important.

Outdrives will give you better fuel milage.

Outdrives need zinc's. props and gears all in one for a higher failer rate.

Outdrives are basically gears underwater with bellows that need maintenance and prone to failier taking out bearings and gears if they leak.

Outdrives with transom plates cost between $8000 to $15k

Vdives around $3000.

Vdives have a better resale as they are perferer in handling.

Good Luck
 
There might be a reason why your mechanic prefers customers with outdrives. Its called a guaranteed revenue stream for him!
 
first off don't buy a 32' foot cruiser if you are looking for speed.....a few mph off of the top end speed should not even be a concern when you are talking about cruisers....

6.2's will be fine....I have them in my 340 and they perform well....

as stated before V drives perform MUCH better than outdrives in slow speed maneuvering and maintenance is a fraction of the cost when compared to outdrives...

cliff
 
Vdrive all the way, especially in NY/Saltwater. The mechanic has his own interests in mind as YES that ER is cramped as you will find out. But you can certainly maintain them, many owners here of vdirves do. Plenty of threads on access, but overall it's something that can be done.

Speed should not be a factor. You will find a few MPH slower equals a much more comfortable ride for the crew and captain..
 
V-Drives for sure especially in the salt. Agree with the others about the mechanic and his own agenda.
 
Oh goody, the I/O vs inboard debate........All I can say is you really, really, really need to sea trial that boat loaded as you intend to use it (bring a bunch of people and fill the water tank, also note how much fuel is in it, to make sure the performance is acceptable for YOU - as far as maintenance is concerned, yes, outdrives themselves need more attention but with proper PM can last a very long time - Bravo III drives built after '04 are generally better than the earlier ones......as far as handling around the dock is concerned, twin bravo III drives are fine, the props get a lot of bite in reverse and the boat pivots and responds well - the 320 with v-drives does not "dock" like a large diesel boat.......it has three blade props and low torque small block engines.....you often need a little power to the reverse engine (just like with an I/O) to start your pivot...
 
It seems there's usually a vessel size break between boat that have I/O's and those with V-Drives.

Are there any Sea Rays that could have been configured/built both ways depending on the order?
 
Little Ducky said:
It seems there's usually a vessel size break between boat that have I/O's and those with V-Drives.

Are there any Sea Rays that could have been configured/built both ways depending on the order?
Click to expand...

yes....I know that the 1999 - 2003.5 340's like mine could be had with either V drives or outdrives.....a dock friend has a 1999 340 with Bravo II outdrives....

cliff
 
BK, one of the big advantages V-drives have over I/O's is the location of the props on the boat. With the V's, the props are located several feet forward of the transom. With I/O's they are located a couple of feet aft of the transom.

The advantage of that is the V boat will spin in a much smaller circle. Picture this--if you hold a pencil in the middle and rotate it around in a circle the diameter of the circle is the length of the pencil. If you hold that same pencil by the eraser and spin it the diameter of the circle will be the twice the length of the pencil.

Now think of that when you are maneuvering the boat around a tight dock area.

Yes, the I/O's will give you a few more mph top end and burn slightly less gas to do it, but most cruiser skippers tend to run on plane at an easy cruise speed, not WOT.

If I were buying a boat and had a choice of I/O or V-drives I would take V-drives 100% of the time.
 
I know the above seems like a sound theory, but in practice as the skipper of a twin bravo III boat I do not find that to be the case - I have no problem turning my boat in its own length - my boats piviot point is roughly at the helm - without current or wind I wait until I am looking at the center of my slip to start my pivot......perhaps its the additional reverse thrust that makes up for it.....But I do agree with GFC.....If I had a choice, I would go v-drive for the way I boat.......

As for the questions above on boats offered with both.....my era 300 only came v-drive but the similar 290AJ came either way.......the 310,320,330,340 and '06 up 38 all came either way too.....'05 up 390/40 were inboard only.....
 
I want to do as much of my own maintenance as I can on my own boat. With the V-drives almost ALL the maintenance is in the engine room. No gimbal bearing, no bellows, no lower unit drive oil, outdrive corrosion, etc.
That is not to say the V-drives don't have their own issues, but I don't have to haul out my boat or don my scuba gear to address most of them.
 
I/O's-better performance and fuel economy.
V drives- better handling around the dock.
Both have pros and cons as far as maintenance.
I'd take test runs on both tomsee which better suits your particular needs.
 
I ran the same set up you are talking about for 8 seasons 320/6.2L/BravoIII. I got pretty good at pulling the drives off and working on them over the winter..... pretty much every year for one thing or another. Drives are a lot of work but manageable in fresh water but I wouldn't consider owning bravo 3's if I boated in salt water.

She cruised effortlessly at 30 mph and 3400 rpm. Run the RPM's up to 4000 and you are getting places in a real hurry. The guys with the v-drives are reporting running at 3800-4000 rpm to get anywhere near 30 mph.

I'm sure the v-drives handle slightly better around the dock than B3's, but I have never felt docking the 320 was difficult with the I/O's. It actually responded very well.

Lots of room in the bilge too. Could change both water pump impellers in an hour.
IMG_2071.JPG
 
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Please let me note a few things:

The pivot point in my boat is almost exactly under the helm seat. It spins evenly without having to add throttle to the reversed engine.

It is much faster and steering is far more responsive on plane compared to V-Drives.

Fuel use is less.

Some honest numbers for my boat: 3100rpm is 29-30mph (where I run most of the time), 3600 rpm is 35-37mph, WOT is 4800 and 48-51mph. I get 1.0-1.2mpg at cruise.

Way more room in the bilge.

Maintenance is relatively simple (and absolutely vital with outdrives).

I and many others who run them with me have found BIII's to be very reliable. Here is the very big caveat... You absolutely have to do the annual maintenance, and never ignore water in the oil, or loss/gain of oil, or new sounds like ticks, rattles, growling, etc. All of those things are usually minor and easy to repair. But if you wait... well, that is a good way to grenade a drive. But a BIII will almost always tell you very early if something is amiss if you know what to watch.

In my opinion, v-drives advantages in 30ish cruisers are less maintenance, lower likelihood of repair if you ignore maintenance, and a v_drive will most likely outlast an outdrive in total hours provided (but 1500+ hours is totally attainable on a BIII without major repairs).

Ultimately, a boat kept in saltwater with v-drives will leave you alone a lot better than a BIII, which kept in salt will be bugging you a lot.

If I was keeping a boat in salt, I would own a V-drive without question over a BIII. But trailered, or racked, I would own the BIII's because every aspect of performance is a lot better.

Kept in freshwater, it's closer. The nod would go to the BIII's if I had a trailer and could do my own regular maintenance. If not, I'd probably go with the V-drives.

Hope that helps.
 
Vectored thrust is nothing to take lightly. It opens options to I/O and outboard owners that inboard owners don't have, but those same options also complicate close-quarter maneuvers. I can't be the only person who has had to maneuver a double s-turn in reverse using vectored thrust only to find a need somewhere along the line to leverage a pivot and do so while the drives are turned and the boat does nothing that I expected it to and now there's current and wind and my stbd bow is fast approaching the anchor on that Viking... If that's confusing to read, imagine being at the helm! It's one of those, "be careful of what you wish for" things.

In simpler scenarios (real): stbd-to on a restaurant pier with twin I/O's and a 25-30 knot wind pushing me against it. When it came time to leave, half the restaurant patrons came to help. I said, "no thanks - I just need 1 passenger on the bow, ready to release that line when I say so. Enjoy your meals. thanks anyway." Wheel hard to port, engage both in reverse. The stern swung smartly out to a comfortable angle, I ask to release the bowline and we're out. I looked like a master, but all I did was turn the wheel and shift once.

Last wkd in my inboard stbd-to on a pier with rafts fore and aft of me. 10 knot wind pushing me against it. Half the club members came to help and I said, "heck yes!". I needed to pivot from the bow against a rickety pier to get the stern WAY out, which meant I needed fenders all along the stb front qtr. as the pivot-point against the dock moved fwd. I also had a guy hold an emergency fender in case something unexpected happened. (gust, stalled engine, wrap a line on a prop etc) It worked fine, but shows how I/O's can be more maneuverable.

I personally think it's insane to keep I/O's in saltwater, but I only say that because I have an salty I/O boat in my driveway with seemingly endless I/O maintenance nightmares. Her two latest tricks: a stainless trim hose that rusted through, and a leaky lower unit that has allowed all the drive oil to seep from the port drive onto my driveway.
 
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