Mercruiser Alpha 260 or Bravo 3 260

[luskin8]

What are the advantages of Bravo and is it worth the extra expense ?

 

[denniz]

Re: Mercruiser Alpha 260 or Bravo 3 260

Bravo three of course has counterotating props, biggest advantage ive found is it doesnt walk thru the water at low speeds, you can let go of the wheel and it maintains its course. Holeshots a little better. Your comparing a alpha (shifhting done in the lower) to a bravo( shifting done in the upper) Any bravo 1 2 or3 will have a much smoother shift into gear, because its a cone clutch drive. Are you buying a new boat and have these options? The $$$$$ is not worth trying to upgrade a existing unit. Give more info and we'll try to help.

 

[luskin8]

Re: Mercruiser Alpha 260 or Bravo 3 260

thanks for the info so far...<br />I'm trying to decide between 2 new boats (chapparal 230 SSi w/ bravo or chapparal 220 ssi w/alpha - I could live with either one but would rather have the 230 ssi (beacuse of other added features and overall design). There is about a $5000 difference in price. Overall price doesn't really matter (they are both year end closeouts and decent prices and I can afford either) but I don't want to pay extra $$$ for an engine that isn't significantly better.It's tough to compare apples and oranges, but near as I can figure, when you back out the extras in the 230ssi and give it a premium for being bigger - I think I would be paying about $1500 - 2000 more for the bravo engine. This is my first boat although I have spent a lot of time on friends boats - they have always had outboards and are useless in helping learn about inboards.

 

[denniz]

Re: Mercruiser Alpha 260 or Bravo 3 260

Test drive them both but the one that performs better.

 

[luskin8]

Re: Mercruiser Alpha 260 or Bravo 3 260

thanks rod, I looked at some Sea Rays today and got to learn a lot more about the engines. Was able to nail my decision down to the bravo III engine Chapparal because I like the boat better overall, not necessarily because of the engine differences (pending test drive next Thursday) - still gonna make them put both boats in the water. Had a good discussion with a buddy - net results of discussion - if your gonna spend 30k+ for a boat, dont let a few k's let you opt for a boat you're not sure you want, especially if you can afford it.<br />test drove a sea ray today with bravo III, seemed like a nice performing engine - just crossing my fingers that the test drive goes well on thursday<br />thanks again rod

 

[denniz]

Re: Mercruiser Alpha 260 or Bravo 3 260

Goodluck, Searay builds nice boats, good quality. Its just like when i bought my truck.. should I get the f150 4x4 or the f350 4x4 its only a few grand difference when you get down to it. If you finance its only a few dollars difference between nice and REALLY NICE.

 

[clanton]

Re: Mercruiser Alpha 260 or Bravo 3 260

Aks about the Bravo111 on www.boatered.com, there were some problems, not sure what.

 

[denniz]

Re: Mercruiser Alpha 260 or Bravo 3 260

corrosion at the bearing carrier is all ive heaerd of. Boat in the water all the time with shorepower, you should double your mercathode.