Kaama drives are tough. Very basic. Problem is getting the rubber boots for them. They used a twin disc transmission. Which reversed the rotation of the drives. Unlike the old arneson drives of that era, which used a counter rotating engine to get the drive to spin the opposite way. Twin disc is still in business, they are up in wisconsin i believe. KVOGT on the board here worked with them modifying that transmission to handle big HP.
Archer marine in costa mesa used to have the rubber boots in stock. Not sure if they still do. (949) 646-9778
They make for a great rooster tail and faster than the same boat say with trs or bravo. I would take them over a bravo or TRS drive for HP.
A friend had a Scarab with them.. He had some 800ish HP blower motors.. He had repeated problems with a bearing in the Kaamas that could not handle the load. From what I learned from his they are not much tougher than a TRS and probably about the same as a Bravo durability wise.
I would not agree at all with this. I have them on my Formula WAY tougher than a Bravo. BOATMAN302 has 600 HP Blower motors on a 302 and has had no problems. I have relativly small power (453 hp) BUT it has run 74 GPS with a pair of 17.75 x 31's. Part are easy to get. The boot is the only bad thing. With that being said some people have put tire tubes aroud the boot with success to keep water out of the u joints. I LOVE EM
He loved his with the 500's they came with.. It was the twin carb inter-cooled blower motors that put them to the test.. It was about ten years ago. I forget the details. From what I recall there was a thrust bearing that he was having trouble with.. It ran about 94 MPH. He was searching for 100 but, never got there.
I am not knocking them just sharing my experience.
He loved his with the 500's they came with.. It was the twin carb inter-cooled blower motors that put them to the test.. It was about ten years ago. I forget the details. From what I recall there was a thrust bearing that he was having trouble with.. It ran about 94 MPH. He was searching for 100 but, never got there.
I am not knocking them just sharing my experience.
I would not agree at all with this. I have them on my Formula WAY tougher than a Bravo. BOATMAN302 has 600 HP Blower motors on a 302 and has had no problems. I have relativly small power (453 hp) BUT it has run 74 GPS with a pair of 17.75 x 31's. Part are easy to get. The boot is the only bad thing. With that being said some people have put tire tubes aroud the boot with success to keep water out of the u joints. I LOVE EM
I agree. And your boat would do what with 450HP motors and TRS? Maybe 65-68? So to do 74 with TRS, you'd probably need 525HP, and a more unreliable setup.
Overall, i'd still rather have a old set of arnesons, but wouldnt pass on some kaama's either. I know of a few people who have run 800-1000HP thru the old arneson 1600 series and they have been great.
As for TRS, i think they are a more durable drive than a bravo when you dont overpower them. My buddies 34FT scarab has TRS drives on his boat. Hull has 1400 hours on it. Drives were gone thru once in the boats life when the motors were freshened. Twin 420HP mercs in front of them. And its a heavy boat too in rough water.
The studs are like 3/8" on the drives that mount the tie bar. It's possible to damage it by trimming one drive up wrong. Break the tie bar and the props hit. That was the damage on a scarab 38 w/those drives.
The studs are like 3/8" on the drives that mount the tie bar. It's possible to damage it by trimming one drive up wrong. Break the tie bar and the props hit. That was the damage on a scarab 38 w/those drives.