boats sterndriveimprovement

Indeed, with the number of small inlets to reef-protected lagoons as high as it is and with the raging surf that continually boils at the mouths of these inlets and the fact that a channel can start out with 8 or 9 feet of water under the keel and suddenly end up with a foot or two maximum available. You didn't see it and Mother Nature certainly doesn't provide convenient signs to boaters that say Warning, Rapidly Decreasing Keel Depth! At least those signs aren't available this week and will likely never be available because Mom's printer is on the blink again.

This is a situation that proves life isn't always easy now, is it? Well, at least DBD Marine has taken some of the stress out of the situation for you and other stern-drive boat owners with the new CD300 Outdrive.

From the patent drawings that are available, as well as online schematics, the Outdrive is a replacement for the water-borne section of a standard fixed stern drive propulsion system. In stern drive systems, the engine, located near the stern of the craft in its own housing, feeds its power to a fixed drive system through an automatic transmission, similar to General Motors famed GM-200 automatic transmission.

Stern drives are usually fantastic because they give you power on demand and can handle huge amounts of torque so that your craft will plane quickly and speed along the surface. The only problem with the typical stern drive is that it is fixed. In other words, while the wheel either turns a rudder from side to side to change the small craft's direction, there's no absolute requirement that a rudder is needed as the entire stern drive assembly can be reoriented so your vessel can change direction quickly. Depending on the type of turn control you use, this can quickly turn into a mechanical nightmare.

This puzzle becomes more serious for you when you realize that typical stern-drive units operate at a fixed height so that you have to be very careful in watching the water available under your keel. Six inches too little and the metal-on-coral shrieking is something to be beheld.

This is the beauty of the simplified CD300 system. Yes, it's still meant to work with a standard stern drive system, but the beauty of he CD300 is that where the drive system exits the hull and picks up the driveshaft that turns the industry standard screw, the drive unit, itself, has become much less complicated to use and there's a hydraulic control arm attached to the hinged unit that allows you to adjust the line of your propeller so that it stays in line with the keel of your small boat and you have much more protection.

You also have a simpler system as the transmission gearing is non-existent. This means it operates like an automotive continuous vehicle transmission (CVT) system and the stern drive system remains in its optimum gearing at all times.

This unit, an add-on, fits to the transom of your boat at a 90-degree angle to the keel and thanks to the special hinging it swings upward as you need to move it.

Sometimes, there are instance where your transom is angled so you'll need a factory-supplied shim to keep things a the proper angle factory shims are 8 to 15 degrees. Normally, it is attached at an 8 degree angle to begin with, reflecting the fact that most transoms are already at an angle.

Made of marine grade stainless and bronze parts, this new drive add-on should last for years and protect your stern-drive system from damage.

It can handle diesel and gasoline engines up to 550 horsepower, providing 550 pounds feet of torque.