kaama surface drives

[IMP-ish]

Would you buy a boat with kama surface drives now?
I looked at a formula today that is a real steal, transom is solid. But what about parts and maintenance on the kama surface drives? Will they break my bank to maintain if anything breaks?

[IMP-ish]

Sorry... Kaama surface drives.

[kaamaman]

Yes I would,I have one now..302sr1.
Low maintenance, all the internal parts are still available. Used drives are available if you break one, which would be a rarity. The rubber boots are hard to find but you can repair them or make one up with a little ingenuity.And they run about 10mph faster than a conventional stern drive with a great rooster tail..wow factor..

[IMP-ish]

Hey thanks kaamaman!

I've always wanted to go surface drives since I saw the first boat at the dock with em. I like the performance gain - was thinking it would be 7-8 mph over trs. I'll take 10! I like not dragging drives under the boat. Yes I like the rooster tail!

Now I'm seeing some amazing deals coming up regularly. Tempted. Very tempted.

The one drawback I hear is that if the rubber boot lets go you get water in the boat. Any idea how much compared to if a sterndrive bellows lets go?
That aspect of an arneson appeals to me. That you don't need the rubber boot on an arneson at all. If you don't have it you don't get any water in at all. It's only to keep crap from building up on the ball joint.

But other than concern about the boots, it sounds like they're way more robust than a bravo or trs drive.

What power do you have in your 302?

Any other tips on what to look or watch out for?

[kaamaman]

I'm running about 400hp per engine..twin 454's. There was a fellow on OSO that was running in the low 90's with blowers and higher props. You can find more information over on that web site..OSO. Not sure on the water in the boat thing, have not experienced that. There was a guy on the west coast that made a mold for the boots and was still experimenting with rubber compounds. You can repair damaged ones with tire patch kits or some have used rubber inner tubes to cover them.

[IMP-ish]

Thanks again kaamaman!

Also thinking of 454s not far from stock. Looking for rock solid. I don't know how many kaamas are out there so not sure if a normal survey and mechanic will pickup anything peculiar to these drives that I should be watching for (think not.) Will check all fluids and such.

Someone said the tiebar attachments are weaker. It always bugs the heck out of me when people leave their sterndrives with one drive way out of wack on the trailer anyway. I don't see stressing that point like the one that apparently failed from being way out of alignment with the other. And the HP and speed I'm looking at will be way under what others are putting on them.

Someone said with the kaama unlike the arneson, if the old boot goes your boat will sink. I was curious if it would be a trickle or a flood. I always open the engine hatch at the end of each run so a trickle I'd notice before a problem. But if a ripped boot would overwhelm my pumps while I was at the gas dock filling the cooler, that would make me always worry about it more. Don't know if I'd ever trust a patch kit repaired one. I guess it depends on how much water could flood in and what damage any potential dribble or drips would do to the drive itself through the boot.

[kaamaman]

As far as 302's go I've only seen 10 boats for sale in the last 9yrs. Formula put the drives on the 302,311,357 and the 402 between 1983-1986. So they are a rare boat.


The engine hp was more on the kaama package than the standard merc package.

After looking at the drive diagrams again I don't see how any water can leak into the boat. The gimbal portion of the drive has seals on it to protect the bearings and the oil bath that they are in. The boots are used to protect the u-joints in that section of the drive so the water doesn't wash away the grease in the joint.


Don't worry about the tie bar attachments these are not merc stern drives and the trim adjustments are very minimal. The attachment points are quite strong and the drives are always just about parallel with each other.

Is the boat your looking at a 302?

[IMP-ish]

Is the boat your looking at a 302?

I'm looking at a 311. I like the 302 also but I like the line of the windshield on the 311 a bit better. A friend had a 311 on the same dock as me for 4 or 5 years and I always envied the look of his boat

I did see this 302 on craig's list that the guy is practically giving away for only 16,5 but I don't know anything about this one, only that it's for sale now too gave me the impression there were more of them.

http://rochester.craigslist.org/boa/2380955073.html

[IMP-ish]

Originally Posted by kaamaman

After looking at the drive diagrams again I don't see how any water can leak into the boat. The gimbal portion of the drive has seals on it to protect the bearings and the oil bath that they are in. The boots are used to protect the u-joints in that section of the drive so the water doesn't wash away the grease in the joint.

Excellent that you have the drive diagrams. I haven't been able to find a schematic for a kaama yet. Thanks for setting my mind at ease.

Does your having the schematics mean you've had to rebuild yours? The one I'm looking at has higher hours on the kaama drives. Not sure how often most have to be gone thru.

Also was it all the same model kaama in that 4-year span? Or were there parts and model changes to look for?

[kaamaman]

That's a great looking boat..302! Probably because it's mine..lol

Always looking for kaama information, never know when you will have to do repairs and having a schematic helps. If you buy one let me know and I'll send you what I have.
Have not had to do mine yet,just keep the oil changed and greased.
All the drives are the same except for the gearing ratio,which are changeable. The gears come from Casale..http://www.casalev-drive.com/
The gimbal mount had a bigger plate added on later model boats.
I probably have that many hours on mine and there still good. But then again I don't pound on my boat like some cowboys I've seen.

There is 2-4 guys on offshoreonly.com that have 311's w/kaamas..best place to find information on the kaamas..and a lot of disinformation from people that have never owned one.

jim