Flex Tubes

[J Tracey]

Can anyone help? Which is the best for flex tubes; brass or alum.? Alum. is lighter, but I have seen it go to he__ wheh a cable lets go. Brass is heavier but it is much stronger. Which should be used with 700 motors?

[Jeff Wohlt]

Brass...I would still use brass. Alum is okay but if it is bent from hitting just any small object in the water, you can create drag on the driveline without even knowing it. Brass stands up to impacts better...especailly running a 700 motor which will be fast on 12 cells.

One version I did on my hydro is if you run 9/32 O.D. brass in the hull only an inch from the motor and about 1.5 or 2" out the hull bottom--- you can then insert either 3/16 O.D brass in it or the 3/16 O.D teflon in it. So it can work for both. I did this on my hydro so I could swap it out if needed. I have exposed teflon about 6" from the strut in my hydro and no problems. I then went to brass only and really like that on all my boats.

Many posts on Teflon vs Brass. Teflon is great stuff when you need to adjust the strut alot...it does get rough inside and wears out.

The brass runs more free but at times you can get some noise if your lube is not up to par. Brass is a bit more labor to adjust but not bad since it should be close just by eyeballing the hull and prop height and angle.