Audio - Yeah, It's been a battle. I've modified the existing pick-up so that now the only time it's not pulling enough is when I run for awhile at 90+. It's pulling some water, but the temp slowly rises.

Shifter - I thought about the same problem with tab pick-ups. But it may get cleaner water than right off the transom.

shifter.

tabs are always in the water on a cat. v hull i would agree. bottom line i said was you have to test it becaus each boat is diffrent. the ideal place would be before the steps then it's 100% clean water.

Treadwell

I agree with the testing 100% also taking good notes.
I was thinking vee on the tab pick-up. Some of the cats we have played with had no tabs.
Fluids do not like making 90 deg turns. Every 90 is worth 3 feet of hose. Thats why I like bottom pick-ups. It is the hardest to do right and should be done when the boat is manufactured. There are some really good transom pick-ups that I have seen but I don't know who makes them. Yet. I'll check at the next race.
pat W

A good way to test locations for the water pickup is to temporarily mount a basic speedo pickup and read the speedo in different water conditions, if the reading is stable then that location will probably be ok if it is not stable then try another location. Good luck The Ironman.

Water pickups thru the bottom are harder to place, Clutter the bilge, but can be made to work well after using the first running boat for feedback! For me I personally like the Transom mounted pickups, Also a properly designed Catamaran has a tendency of carrying or floating its front step at times.:)
Best Regards

Pat thought that we needed spacers because of the slip. Pat told me the x is in the same spot as all of the other 37's. The largest power that was in a 37 was 600sc, and that boat ran 96 on gps.

We are going to look at the hydrodynamics of the lower gearcase, because something is not adding up.

I am getting very, very frustrated. :(

We WILL have it dialed in tomorrow. We are going to the famous LAKE X to finalize our testing tomorrow. I will keep you posted with the results.

The Skinney! On the new Sportmaster lower
 

FYI

I was just advised the Mercury Racing does not offer the new "Sportmaster" lowers without low water pickups. The pickups serve a dual purpose. Drive cooling and clean water pickup for raw water engine cooling (obviously).

I am curious to learn Mercury Racing's thoughts on drive coolers. If they were that effective wouldnt they incoporate a design into the drive itself???

Maximus

Merc Racing response- drive coolers
 

I asked them that very question about a year ago....

They claim you don't need them- their oil is great, change it every 20 hrs, proper drive for the application etc. etc.

It's no mystery that water cools better than air and that cooler temps= happier oil, less thermal expansion differences between aluminum and steel parts and the related effects on clearances etc.

It's probably fair to say that good drive showers hurt their spare parts biz.

We are looking at trying the sportmaster drives. I also called merc racing to find out about the water pickups and they told me the drives did have low water pick ups.