Do Mercruisers turn smoother than Volvo's

[Robertpel9]

I was floating behind a friends boat and ours and i noticed when i turned his prop by hand it was so smooth you would not think there was even a gearcase attached to it. I have a volvo penta sx drive and it was just fully serviced by an authorized marina and given a like new bill of health and i noticed on mine is still turns uniformly and freely but not as smooth - i can tell there are gears inside the drive so to speak, i had an SX on my old boat as well and it felt the same as mine does now- the merc just seems more effortless

Why does the merc feel so much smoother - just wondering

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Do Mercruisers turn smoother than Volvo's

If the mercruiser is an Alpha drive, you are not turning much when you turn the prop since the gear change form forward/neutral/reverse is done i the lower drive. Since the volvo has a cone clutch you are turning the gears in the lower unit.

 

[Robertpel9]

Re: Do Mercruisers turn smoother than Volvo's

That makes perfect sense and yes it was an alpha

btw i love your quote on common sense, i use that all the time myself