Duo prop ??

[boatsntoys]

Saw a couple year old Essex with one. These any good?

[Trailer Park Casanova]

Depends on the boat.
Ya see them on Pontoons, deep V's, multis ect.
They help alot with straighter backing in most applications.
A BFD to this kid.
Supposed to give some other benies too. A bit more prop bite in the water.
I'd order that system.
The Volvos are know to grenade deluxe, and in that case the owners wish they never heard of them.
I think Danny (Badblown) was the last to experience grief with them, but don't hold me to it. I mighta been on the rumside when I got that info.

[Dribble]

Essex did alot of those and used Bravo III drives, not Duo Props.

[Not So Fast]

Usually tring to make up for lack of horepower:( NSF

[AZJD]

Holy crap boatsntoys! 30 post per day average.
You will catch killer by next week if you keep this up!:D :D :D

[boatsntoys]

Essex did alot of those and used Bravo III drives, not Duo Props.
I'm still a little uneducated in the boat world. It was a merc. on the back of that essex. Just saw the two props. I thought they were all called Duo prop.

[boatsntoys]

If they are for pontoons,deep v's and the like, and they are for making up for a lack of HP. Why would they put one on an essex 23' with a 6.2
I haven't ween any other Mfg. do it. Is there some kind of problem with this boat?

[boatsntoys]

If they are for pontoons,deep v's and the like, and they are for making up for a lack of HP. Why would they put one on an essex 23' with a 6.2
I haven't seen any on other Mfg's. boats. Is there some kind of problem with this boat?

[Mandelon]

The second prop helps to get a heavy boat out of the water, or an under powered boat up on plane faster. Seems a bit odd on a 23, but as we know from previous experience....the factory builds them the way the customer orders them....yellow or not. :rolleyes: :D
The Duoprop or Bravo III will cost you in top end speed, and be a bit heavier. And I would imagine more in maintenance and if it happens...two dinged props would cost more than one.... :idea:
Its a matter of your priorities.

[Havasu Hangin']

If they are for pontoons,deep v's and the like, and they are for making up for a lack of HP. Why would they put one on an essex 23' with a 6.2
I haven't seen any on other Mfg's. boats. Is there some kind of problem with this boat?
Counter-rotating props do not "make up for a lack of horsepower"...lol. The purpose of a counter-rotating prop drive is to give more bite (two props) and eliminate torque-steer (since they rotate in opposite directions).
Volvo invented the duo-prop, and just like the Bravo, Merc made a copy- the Bravo III.
Since there is more prop in the water, they handle better than a single prop outdrive (less "blowout" getting on plane or in tight turns). However, since they have a little more drag than a single prop drive, there is a little performance trade-off for having the great handling.
Merc tried to have the best of both worlds (performance and handling) with the Blackhawk drive (which was essentially a surfacing Bravo III), but had some issues. Since they bite so well, they need to be shifted at a low RPM, but high-performance engines tend to idle higher.
The reason you don't see big horsepower in front of them is that since they have so much bite, they will stress upper and lower gears more. However, for a family boat, they are a great drive.

[duffster]

Dose anyone know anyone running the new B3X that runs a four blade and a smaller three blade on the end. I know Mercruiser was packaging them with the HP power plants and said that the new prop setup had more top end speed than traditional the three an three blade setup.
We have B3 on our Essex 21 and it’s extremely quick out of the hole that tops out at 70. I know I know I would get more top end with a B1. But to tell you the truth I don’t know if I could go back to a single prop I like the handling way to much no prop-slip.

[bigq]

If you want Duo Prop go with the Volvo drive. I had the DPX drive and was very happy with it, but like was said it cost a bit more when i dinged it.
I have seen performance test with small and big blocks and it is negligible. Better planning speed though.

[Havasu_Dreamin]

Had a 21 Essex with a 350 Mag and a Bravo III, boat flat jumped out of the hole.....

[HPBoats83]

I will be running my boat in elsinore this weekend which has the volvo Duo Prop if you want to check it out.

[Keith E. Sayre]

Volvos Duo Prop or Mercs Bravo III are as Havasu Hangin said.
Another reason that you can't put HP in front of them is because one of the
2 shafts is hollow with the other one counterrotating inside of it. The hollow
one is the weak link if there is one.
As for purpose, Essex years ago had a good bottom but if I remember right
did have a slow planing time in their HB report. Rather than retool their boat
and risk screwing it up some other way, they bolted on a BIII and it solved
their problem. At least that is what I heard. They're the only ones with the
cajones to try it!
The original intent was to find a way to get big cruisers better performance.
Let's say you have a boat that is heavy and with a "long" front end. When you hit your trim "up" button, let's assume that instead of the boat lifting
in the front, it finds that it's easier to simply blow the prop and cavitate.
If you can't lift the boat up with the trim, you can't perform well. So put
twice props back there, kind of like adding studs to a snow tire and you'll
get better traction in the water. Now with better traction, you hit the
trim "up" button and the better traction allows the props to dig in and the
front end of the boat lifts giving you better performance.
Let's carry it one step further. If you have a boat that properly carries the
bow already with a single prop and you put on 2X props, you'll probably lose
top end but gain in the planing and the midrange. If it doesn't carry the bow
already with a single prop, give the 2X props a try.
Keith Sayre

[Mardonzi]

We had the Volvo Duo Props on our 31 Carver. One detriment to the Duo Prop that we ran into was cavitation burns on the props (aluminum). Probably not an issue on a stainless set.