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2003 - Bravo III - 25 ft Crownline Cruiser

3

3-legged-dog

Contributing Member
the boat, single screw bravo iii, v-hull, w/trim tabs.

when driving at speeds 15 mph and up, the boat handles well and holds its line. at lower speed 1-10 mph the boat drifts off course requiring constant attention on the steering wheel. I have read this is normal and I have read that bravo's are suppose to be the best handling drive. so I just don't know.
Steering wheel sometimes feels sluggish and resistant but only sometimes.
I believe I have an issue, now were to look.
test:
boat on trailer, should i be able to swing the outdrive by hand from side to side manually. with resistance or smoothly or not at all.

is it a lubricate issue, Steering cable, or something else...NORMAL.

thanks.
 
Chris,

So before I pulled the drive, tried to straighten the drive by hand from behind the boat. I initial moved the drive maybe 3" to 4" from off-center/right to center on my first pull and then heavy resistance in both directions, I could not put the drive back in the initial position.

steering cable or steering bolt at the gimbal ring? Thoughts?

boat is a 2003 24.4 crownline cruiser, 350 mag. Bravo iii.

john
 
The initial movement was the hydraulics. After the hydraulic steering assist locked from fluid moving, were you able to move the drive at all by hand? How about with the wheel.
 
I pulled the drive before I wrote the initial post. i will not know the answer until spring. But in the past I could always turn the steering wheel to move the drive.
once the hydraulic fluid kicked in assume no movement in the drive.
if I am trolling at 3 to 5 knts. and I have a set bearing the boat will drift off course in a short distance. the steering requires constant attention at low speeds only.
with trim tabs up or down. thoughts? were and what should I be looking for or at?
 
With the merc outdrive of any type it is typical for some drift from side to side at low speeds......

That said, what amplifies this condition would be any loose steering connection point, (steering rack and pionion/radial type ) at helm, where the steering cable connects at transom (look for worn clevis pins between cable and linkage leading to the steering pin (steering pin not visable from inside of boat) and finally with the drive on or off look very closely at the gimbal ring. The gimbal ring turns left to right in a radial way. This is what turns the outdrive.

The steering pin is what turns the gimbal ring. where the gimbal ring and steering pin are connected (large square opening in gimbal ring to a large square of the steering pin).

Also look at side to side slop between the gimbal housing and gimbal ring (the pivot points for up and down movement of the outdrive)

This gimbal ring has two large vertical slots near the top of the ring where the square pin resides.

If there is any slop between the gimbal ring and the square pin this will amplify the drift condition.

There are two 3/8-16 stainless steel shoulder screws used to tighten the gimbal ring to the steering pin. These screws can only be tightened so much due to design (shoulder screw). This will pinch the gimbal ring to the steering pin.

If slop exists at this location try to tighten the screws (9/16" wrenches).

If this is all good, and all steering linkages are good then it is the nature of the beast.

My boat drifts like crazy at put put speeds as I can assure you so does almost everyone elses.........

Any craft in the water needs a certain amount of speed to overcome the frictional issues with water....

The outdrive is a rudder and if you trim it up high this drifting amplifies even more........


Hope this helps....
 
Steering drift at low speeds is a function of hull design. My Brother and I have different boats and outdrives but the same experience. He has a 24' Searay Cuddy Cabin and deep vee hull and I have a 24' Bayliner Cierra Express Hard Top with a deep vee and sequential lift hull. We compared notes and found that dropping our trim tabs helps control the tendency to wander at low speeds by adding a little drag on the boat. He has an OMC drive and I have a Bravo III. I used to have an Alpha I Gen II and had the same issue. Nothing wrong with the system mechanically. I also found that initially I could move the outdrive manually when on the trailer but not twice.
 
Extreme Steering drift is caused by a worn or broken gimbal ring. Reinstall the drive in the spring, then move the drive back and forth until the hydraulics lock up, if you can still move the drive a few inches, first check the steering clevis pin for wear, if no wear is found, check the drive movement compared to the steering arm movement.

My feeling are that you will find a worn gimbal ring. Common issue with the bravo and alpha gen 2 transom assemblies.

BTW, The torque setting on the 7/16 U-bolt(5/8 socket wrench) is 70LBS. If by chance you have a 3/8 U-bolt(9/16 socket wrench) the torque setting is 53LBS. You can only bring these up to the torque yield, you cannot tighten them until the play is removed, you will damage or break the gimbal ring making it unrepairable.


24903_378577739238_1961144_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
Docksidemarineservices said:
Extreme Steering drift is caused by a worn or broken gimbal ring. Reinstall the drive in the spring, then move the drive back and forth until the hydraulics lock up, if you can still move the drive a few inches, first check the steering clevis pin for wear, if no wear is found, check the drive movement compared to the steering arm movement.

My feeling are that you will find a worn gimbal ring. Common issue with the bravo and alpha gen 2 transom assemblies.

BTW, The torque setting on the 7/16 U-bolt(5/8 socket wrench) is 70LBS. If by chance you have a 3/8 U-bolt(9/16 socket wrench) the torque setting is 53LBS. You can only bring these up to the torque yield, you cannot tighten them until the play is removed, you will damage or break the gimbal ring making it unrepairable.


View attachment 8402
Click to expand...

Chris, Is this wear due to lack of lubrication and/or corrosion?
 
The wear we are talking about is just that, wear, on most. Other contributing conditions are improperly torques u-bolt or docking the boat in a shallow slip where the drive will come into contact with the bottom. When this happens(drive contacts bottom) The boat is rocking and moving in the water and the drive is static, fixed in the sand, mud or rocks. All the weight of the boat moving and the drive not moving puts much stress on the gimbal ring at the steering pin connection. Once you get a little movement in this connection point, normal operation of the boat will increase this wear as the drive bangs back and forth until the boat experiences extreme drift in a straight line or failure of the gimbal ring.

This past season I condemned a vessel for use due to eight inches of swing in the drive. Totally uncontrollable.

The picture I posted above is of a Chaparral. He was docked in shallow water and also suffered a swivel shaft seal failure. This transom assembly was repairable as was the gimbal ring.
 
Bringing this up again, sorry, I cannot give into the fact that I am steering like a madman at slow speeds, back and forth in what feels like 20 to 30 foot of forward movement at less than 6 knots. I accept the V hull issues.

what else can i do? Would a Hydrofoil type stabilizer on the lower outdrive improve low speeds control? any solutions to better control single screw bravo iii, deep v hull.
 
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