Volvo Vs. Bravo

[Powerquestboy]

I was looking for some insight about the volvo set-ups. I currently have a 22 Powerquest with a merc 454 and a Bravo 1 drive and love it. I'm looking at buying a 26 Powerquest with 7.4 GSI Volvo Penta with Duo-prop drive. I was wondering how the 2 compare? Also If I want to put a small supercharger on it will the drive handle the extra power. I have heard the volvos wont and the Bravo will. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[John Cobalt]

I think the Volvo's are excellent drives, I have one on a 21ft Cobalt with 5.7GSI 280hp. I know the same drive is used behind the new 496 with 425hp. I like quick hole shot regardless of the amount of people in the boat it is still a lot better with the two props.. Top end on my boat is somewhere around 60mph I have seen 63mph on the speedo. I think that speaks volumes about the drives efficiency coupled to a boat that isn't known for SPEED. The horsepower the drive will take is a good question. I'm thinking you would be
pushing it above 550hp. They are supposed to be extremely strong but how strong I don't know.

[Powerquestboy]

Thanks for the info, anymore thoughts would be greatly appreciated. It seems like a Chevy vs. Ford thing. Some people love them and some people hate them. I personally only have experience with the Bravos but one of the boats I'm looking at buying a boat with the Duo-prop volvo outdrive.

[John Cobalt]

My previous boats had Mercs. I changed because I heard so many good things about the reliability of the Engine and Drive. I spoke to Marine Mechanics and sales people a like. The Cobalt Dealer my boat came from wouldn't even order a boat with Merc unless the owner special orders it.
Let me say this if your in it for High Performance there is limited Hi Po stuff for Volvo's specifically. I would like to had different manifolds and a mild procharger but I haven't seen any info on any website specific to Volvo Engines. The ECM's would have to be reprogrammed for the super charger too. Secondly on my application the water impeller is on the front of the crank pulley this is usually where they add a second pullye for a super charger. This could be an issue as well. I'm at a dead end myself on that.

[gnarley]

I've heard that the faster you go the more drag the dual props present & become less efficient as speed increases. Maybe someone will post what their top speeds are with dual props but I don't think they are in the 80's.

[John Cobalt]

Gnarley,
I think you are right the dual props would have more drag. The fastest speed I know of without researching this is around 70mph with the Volvo DP in a Cobalt 226 running a 496. I am pretty sure the Volvo DP is more efficient than the Bravo 3 but at the same time for top speed they the Bravo 1's or that new Bravo Single prop drives are hard to beat because their design was specifically for high speed applications and research was done by Merc at lake X to keep the Prop from blowing out at speeds above i think 80mph

[SchellSchock]

I have a 2000 Glastron 205SF. Not a boat known for speed. I insisted on the Volvo 5.7GSi with the DuoProp drive after much investigation. The dealer tried to talk me out of it cuz' it was a special order item from the factory. The first sign that I made the right choice was the Speedo. The single prop boat comes with a 60 mph and my had a 70mph installed. Running a half tank of gas 3 people in the boat (around 3100lbs total) and air temps in the mid 70s at 500 ft above sea level the boat did multiple passes at 68mph on a GPS. The props pull skiers out no problem and with 3 weight sacks (1050lbs) added it will hold plane as low as 15 mph for wakeboarding. I have read the drive will handle 500 hp no problem. The only down side is prop selection. They are sold as pairs and run about $1,000.00 in the stainles versions. All and all I am totally happy with the package.
P.S. I ran against an Identical boat this summer except he was running the single prop drive. He had 1 passenger, I had 4 and weight sacks filled I still beat him out of the hole and on top end (62 mph on speedo). So draw your own conclusions about the DP as opposed to the SX

[John Cobalt]

Schellshock what propset are you running F7 or F8, you are smoking with the GSi smoking. 68 on GPS. I wish I could get the cobalt to run like that but Imagine I'm out weighing you cause I've got a big old Stainless wake board tower.

[bignblown]

the volvo will shift with horsepower in front of it. if you are looking to go a 100mph get a single prop. If you want to ski and have fun duoprop is awsome. I have a buddy that has a 24ft wellcraft W/ 454 runs reall close to 70

[RP2]

I have ran 74 on GPS @4900 rpm with 7.4 Volvo DP in a 24' boat. Very efficient drive, very expensive props... two sets=$2,000.