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Which drive is better

T

triniman

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"I am new to outdrives, lived

"I am new to outdrives, lived with my engine hanging in the transom all my life.
I am looking to buy a bigger boat and I seem to be seeing a lot of boats in my price range with alpha 1 gen 1 drives, then some with volvo duo prop drives.
friends tell me that the aplha1gen1 are problematic, so i should look for the volvo. please advise. how reliable are the alpha1gen1 drives. I cant afford to get a boat and then have to buy 2 new otdrives. and i only seem to be seeing alpha1 gen 1 on these older boats. looking at boats around 27-29' twin engine."
 
"Alpha Ones were offered up ti

"Alpha Ones were offered up til 1990. Then the Alpha Gen II came along in 1991 and is still being manufactured.
The Gen II is actually just an update of the Alpha One; many parts are similar if not identical. They are not interchangeable however.

The Alpha One traces its roots back to the old model 1, R, and MR drives dating from the late 60's, so the basic design has been around a long time.
The reason you may be hearing Alpha Ones are problematic is that they are all getting to be 20 years + old now. Many need to be resealed, etc.
The good news is a company called SEI sells an exact copy bolt in replacement for about 1300 bucks if you have any trouble with them.

Before buying any outdrive boat drain a small amount of lube oil from the lower drain screw and look carefully at it and the magnet on the drain screw. Any large metal grindings means gear trouble; run like H3LL!

The lube oil should be a dark blueish green color and should not smell burnt. If it is milky colored at all this means water is leaking into the oil. Again this will need resealing, and may have already caused ger and bearing imminent failure. If it is gray and mushy looking, this means the gears are shot. See the paragraph just above for what to do.

Rod

Rod"
 
"Thanks Much Rod and Guy. actu

"Thanks Much Rod and Guy. actually I am looking to buy a boat in that age range 20 to 25years old as that is probably the only way i could afford a boat of that size, I plan to do updates eventually but dont want to be forced to upgrade, before i have an idea of how what i have works and have a little fun with it. I think i came across SEI while i was looking at outdrives earlier. The SEI units for $1300, (Remember out board guy so question might sound stupid) is just the piece with the drive shaft and then the part down to the leg with the prop shaft right?
Is the gimbal bearing a part of this assembly, it seems to be the part i hear give the most problems on outdrives.
also with the parts that remain unchanged with this drive change out, transom bracket etc. are there any other parts that i should expect to have to change to have high reliability at 20yrs+. I will be shipping the boat to trinidad in the caribbean and it will cost quite a bit to ship additional heavy parts later, so i will have to consider shipping with the boat.
hope to put another 20 ontop of yours Guy. love boats but not born into millions and as such, working to make sure i could stay on the sea.

Pernell :)"
 
"Correct, the leg is the part

"Correct, the leg is the part that bolts onto the gimbal housing and contains all the gears, shafts, and clutches. Also the water pump.

Before shipping it down there I would have someone check and possibly replace as necessary:
-gimbal bearings
-U joints
-bellows
-lower shift cables
-water pump impellers

A thorough inspection by a marine inspector would be wise on any boat 20-25 years old.
It would be nice to get your hands on one that has not been in salt water, or at least has not been moored in salt water for long periods. This may not be possible though.

Rod"
 
"If the trim limit switches an

"If the trim limit switches and trim position senders have brittle wires, get them replaced along w/what Rod suggest. Not cheap here but wait until you move it!"
 
"ok this all seems like a whol

"ok this all seems like a whole lot, I know i could look up each of these items individually but is there anyone who could give me an idea of the cost of these items, I am wondering how close to the cost of a complete SEI drive with all the gimbals, brackets etc. this would come.

Pernell :)"
 
All the stuff Guy and I listed

All the stuff Guy and I listed except the water pump impellers is extra to the drive legs themselves. They are all part of the transom assembly which is the part that goes thru the transom.
In other words there is a lot of stuff that needs to be checked out before you lay your cash on the line.

Rod
 
"Jeff:

Nothing if they work

"Jeff:

Nothing if they work. But, he's sending a 20-25 yr old cruiser to Trinidad and having OD work here and a few dollars here will save him mucho dollars there; just a suggestion to him.
thumbs_up.gif
"
 
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