Alpha 1 sterndrive questions

[Markymark17]

Hi all, at the start of the summer I purchased a 2008 Tempest bowrider which has a 4.3L merc engine. Unfortunately I allowed a friend to operate the boat one day and he ran it into a shallow area causing damage to my outdrive which ultimately needed to be replaced.

I don’t know too much about boats as this is my first one…It had a 1.62 ratio alpha 1 drive however if I were to put a 1.84 ratio outdrive on it would it still work? The marina guy told me it should work fine but I might notice it accelerates out of the water a little slower. Is that correct?

Thanks ,
Mark

 

[Droid]

It will accelerate faster and you will over rev with the same prop.
Most likely going one prop pitch higher would work.

 

[Dieter]

It will accelerate faster and you will over rev with the same prop.
Most likely going one prop pitch higher would work.

exactly your lower gear ratio will get better holeshot and revs will climb faster and be higher at WOT rpm. Likely if it was propped correctly and it hit correct WOT rpm then going up with same prop 2" in pitch should work.

I did similar approach when I repowered a boat that came with a 4.3 to a 5.0. Drives ratios should have gone from 1.81 to 1.62 with the bigger engine. I kept the 1.81 drive and went up in pitch 2" and it works perfectly. Just depending on where it was with original drive you may have to try a few pros to dial it in.