Anyone run without an exhaust bellow?
 

Call me what you want, but I absolutely love the sound of through hull exhaust. But I also know that not being able to hear the radio would make my wife not happy, which is not good.

Looking at my drive today, it looks like the exhaust comes out of the hull, through the bellow, 90 degree turn down, then another 90 degree out the prop.

I've heard of some people just leaving it off when replacing bellows, or installing a short tube that I think Merc sells.

Another thing that I'm thinking about is performance. It must free up some HP with less restriction, right? Those exhaust bellows aren't that big for a 350 V8. My Camaro uses 3" with as few bends as possible. This thing uses, what, 2"? With all sorts of restrictions.

Anyway, just looking for some opinions on people who have done this. Captain's call isn't an option.

Re: Anyone run without an exhaust bellow?
 

A portion of the exhaust comes out of the prop,most of it of it comes out near the bottom of the out drive gimbal(on both sides of it) through 2 ports. As far as modifying it, somebody else on here may have done it. As far as performance goes I am not sure, but I do know that an engine has to have a certain amout of backpressure or performance will be affected. Hope this helps
Happy Boating
Dan

Re: Anyone run without an exhaust bellow?
 

The short exhaust bellows replacements (only fastened at the gimble housing end) will let you hear a little more noise. I doubt that they offer much more in power. You will find that they let far more fumes into the boat at idle and your transom will be black with exhaust residue. At speed, your boat will sound louder to those around you.

Shabah 198SE

Re: Anyone run without an exhaust bellow?
 

Install a Captains Call exhaust system so you can have it thru hull or out the prop. Then you and the little lady will be happy :) Mamma ain't happy ....no buddy's happy :(
Those restrictions are there for a purpose , as DFZ mentioned. You want more power , put on some performance manifolds.

Larry

Re: Anyone run without an exhaust bellow?
 

If you are at the point that the bellows needs to be replaced you will find that installing the tube is far easier to do & doesn't require special tools like the bellows do. With the tube installed, it will sound a little bit louder but not a great deal and any increase in hp wont be noticed.