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V drive newbie needs education

JlG

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I’m currently searching for a Spectra 20 v drive and have noticed quite a bit of different rigging. So what is a good v-drive box to look for and what to stay away from? I’ve noticed some boats just have a velvet drive and some have 2 or three speed tranny’s. I’m assuming the two and three speeds are for more power to help with a aggressive prop? Break it down for me guys on what to look for and why
Thanks
 

74 spectra20 v-drive

74 spectra20 v-drive
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Spectra’s came for the most part with a Champion gear box, it was a Nicson marine product, very good box and very quiet. Box is direct drive only no ability to take out of gear similar to a Casale C500. Casale split case has the ability to drop out of gear. With a transmission it doesn’t matter if you can pull you box out of gear as your trans will take care of that. The Borg Warner Velvet drive is a great compact unit, forward-neutral-reverse only will handle horsepower but they do not like rpms, same unit that many tournament boats are running. If you run a big nasty motor that idles high you need a trans to help slow the boat when in no wake zones. I run the velvet drive in my flat and my Spectra. I grew up with a velvet drive in a 69 Sanger with a Boss 429 and we skied the heck out of that boat 40 plus gallons of fuel a day and never had a trans issue.
 
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wettrthebettr

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I have a Campbell With a Champion V-drive very Quiet with no whining like a Casale.
My Campbell has a Turbo 400, 3rd is 1 to 1, second works well in the no wake zones, And 1st gear, well lets say it is great for Trolling around for Trout.
If I was to build the cruiser over again I would use a Velvet Drive instead of the T-400.
The turbo 400 would come in to play with a very High performance Engine, in my opinion.
 

sintax

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I have a Campbell With a Champion V-drive very Quiet with no whining like a Casale.
My Campbell has a Turbo 400, 3rd is 1 to 1, second works well in the no wake zones, And 1st gear, well lets say it is great for Trolling around for Trout.
If I was to build the cruiser over again I would use a Velvet Drive instead of the T-400.
The turbo 400 would come in to play with a very High performance Engine, in my opinion.

Also important to note, you CAN build a velvet drive to handle a good amount of HP. I went back and forth regarding up grades, but i've heard they'll handle more than advertised. the BAM units claim they'll handle 1500+ HP. I'll only have 600 so we'll see how long it lasts before it gets upgraded.
 

wettrthebettr

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Hey Jig are you still searching for a Spectra 20 v drive?
If you would like to Check out a 1971 20ft Campbell, Champion V-drive, T400 totally Restored ready for the water.
That t-400 1st gear came in nice for trolling for kokanee salmon at 1 1/2 mph, 30ft deep
I have mine for sale, $12K.
lake.jpg sell8.jpg sell10.jpg stearn1.jpg sell7.jpg
 

beaverfab

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Champion are hard to find parts for , Casale 500 not a problem finding parts for but gears are very pricey Casale split case v drive not as quite as the above v drives but easy to work on new and used parts are easy to find. Depends on what you want the boat for family and cruise all the above will do that, hotboating I would go with the split case Casale. Just my .02 JJ
 

Bb588

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Is there under drive gears available for the split case model?
 

74 spectra20 v-drive

74 spectra20 v-drive
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My nephew has a Dana Vdrive with an under driven c500. Why would you want to go under driven? We have no issues pulling multiple skiers up with 19’s in our flats, my Spectra pulls skiers very nice with 10’s as well
 

wettrthebettr

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My nephew has a Dana Vdrive with an under driven c500. Why would you want to go under driven? We have no issues pulling multiple skiers up with 19’s in our flats, my Spectra pulls skiers very nice with 10’s as well
I spoke too soon, Cliff, Thanks thats news to me i never heard of a Dana Box
Velvet drive Gear reduction is used on Ski/Wakeboard boats, Mastercraft used a power slot Velvet drive Gear reduction. I had two of them 1980 and a 1984 Stars and stripes
 
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