is a supercharger or a turbo charger better and WHY?

Answer 1

DO NOT APPLY CAR LOGIC TO ANY WATER CRAFT, except slalom or river race boats. The point everyone is making is that to get to a stable state (set rpm) you will have lag either single point as in a turbo charger or reverse exponential as in a supercharger.

In 90% of boats you will not be altering the revs to an extent where this lag matters in fact some have suggested that you could use it in tune with Pitch and throw geometery.

Efficency, is far more important and to that extent most Penta's and Cats have both. The supercharger is used at low RPM to aid torque and the turbo charger at high RPM for efficency.
Packaging is the next consideration in most boats the space available will rule out firstly Air/ Air intercoolers then Water/ Air (charge coolers) intercoolers. So dependant on your prime rpm range you can decide which you require dependant on heat build up in the charge air.

Answer 2

they basically do the same thing ( pressurize the intake air charge) but they both have advantages and disadvantages. first what they do is put more air in the engine so you can burn more fuel. now the difference is that a supercharger is driven with a belt from your motor while a turbo is powered by exhaust gas. some advantages of super chargers is that from a stop to red line they give power while a turbo has to build exhaust pressure and spool up. and also they run a little cooler than turbos. some advantages about turbos is that they are easier to fine room for because it doesn't have to be in a position to run a belt to the engine but you do have to work with the exhaust to get it to work. turbos are also easier to do cheaply if you know enough about them because there are a lot of turbos in junk yards from diesel trucks that you can make work. also turbos don't rob your engine of power to make them run where as a supercharger takes alot of power to run, sometimes they take as much as 40% horse power to run but then add another 100%. turbos don't take any power to run. the bad thing about turbos is that because they are run by exaust they get hot and they make the air going through them hotter so you need to run an intercooler. i myself would go for a twin turbo set up that had one turbo make boost at lower rpm while another that is better for higher rpm. either way you go you will get alot more power but you will probably need to upgrade your fuel system and it would be wise to reprogram your computer. hope this answered your question.

Answer 3

A supercharger is belt driven,boost is sooner as spins quicker but hp is lost to the belt residence , there is a lot of pressure on the crankshaft? Turbo is exhaust driven so rpm has to be higher to get boost. But both deliver the same out come more HP.Depends on the application as which one is best? $$$

Answer 4

Super charger has no lag because it is driven by the engine directly. ~
A turbo charger has to be brought up to speed first with the exhaust gas flow.

Answer 5

A super-charger (in my opinion) is better because you always have power available, whereas a turbo-charger has to "recharge" and your power is temporarily lost.