Drive Showers
 

New to forum, I have been boating for years. Somewhat new to performance boats. I have a bravo 3 drive. I was wondering what the advantage / disadvantages of installing a drive shower. Sorry if the question is lame. I feel, if anyone to ask, it's you guys. Thanks

Welcome!

No disadvantage.

Advantage is cooler gear oil. Take a look at Simrek's. Nice units.

Simrek, bolt on and go, no drilling. It's been debated many times on here. On my first boats with standard bravo drives the cases were much cooler at the end of a run. Also my drive oil didn't get smoked as quickly.

Get the shower on as soon as possible.

We have a 7.4 mpi Bravo 3. I put a shower on ours and I couldn't believe how much cooling it provides. A number of times I ran the boat hard - (we have the boat on a lift - inland lake). Just for the heck of it after running it WOT for a while - with the boat on the lift I got in the water and felt the drive -- Even with the shower the drive was warm. These boys generate some heat and this shower cools it and hopefully preserves the oil and the gears.

As an added benefit there isn't any scale on the outdrive - you probably know this - the top portion of your outdrive is out of the water when the boat is on plane. Any water that splashes on there will evaporate - leaving the minerals coated to the drive. Then when the boat comes off plane you have the thermal shock of a hot outdrive getting put into the cooler water. The drive shower substantially reduces this.

I have one that I had to drill into the plate -- If I had to do it all over again I would have selected the model that is a simple bolt on. I don't know if there is much difference in the efficiency but I personally think the bolt on looks a little neater than what I have.

All the best and safe boating-- and oh there is no stupid question -- we are all learning this boating stuff

3pointstar

The only down side can be a bit of reduction in top speed of course this is probably dependent on power to weight ratio vs hull design

If nothing else, read all the quality information at Drive Shower.com
You will learn a lot about different shower types and just how hot the Bravo3's run. I also use the Simrek drive shower and have had great success. As stated above, no more scaling. No more burnt smelling oil during drive service. After using this cooler for 2 seasons, I can say the oil looks, feels and smells as if it was just installed.

Simreks are factory installed on Formulas.

Jeff

Just an FYI the Bravo III is one of the hottest temp outdrives running. I would use very good gear oil and a good drive shower for these apps even though they are not considered a performance application.

There is not a bravo drive of any style that wont benefit from a drive shower, unless its on a houseboat that will never have the top of the drive come out of the water.

I need to get me one (B3 XR) for next season. The builder said to use the one with a cap but looking all over OSO most still go with the no drill Simreks, but there is another which is no drill and bolts to the top of the XR cap.

If you don't know your boat intimately, make sure you know your boats mph at most every rpm point before you install the shower. Reason why is sometimes the the pick up tube makes the props cavitate. If this happens, trimming back the pick up point will need to happen. Just a heads up.

I sure don't need anything like that going on, having enough trouble now with some of that

I built a simrek style, pretty easy fabrication. It lowered to speed on my BIII application by a few mph. I talked to a knowledgable friend who recommended cutting the tubes so the bottom was just even with the top of the cav plate. Got the mph back, and no difference in water on the drive that i can see on a video.

and with Bravo III it is important to make sure your trim limit is set correctly. 21.75 inches center pin to pin. This is the same measurement for all Bravo outdrives. Alpaha one GEN II is 20.75 inches FYI

Cutting the tubes down sounds like an option, or get the drill type

Agree it's important to have the limit set (21.75 or less) so you don't trim past where the drive has no support laterally. Only time I get even close to the limit is putting the boat in or out of the water.

Proper trim limit for Bravo III its so the outer prop still grabs water instead of air if trimmed to high especially laying the hull over hard in a corner and giving it throttles.

Volvo Penta DP with no trim limited and trimmed too high - I have seen this break away the coupler (the one that saves the drive from prop impact - its there to break away taking the shock load from impact).

Also to high of trim while running & steering is very hard on the U-Joints and the yoke as trim limit plays a role in this as well.

Just to stir the pot not everyone is sold on drive showers. I do not run one. I have never seen actual proof with temperature gauges that they significantly lower oil temperature and I believe that if they were that effective that Mercury would incorporate some kind of built in shower. I have had people report speed losses of 2-3 mph. Without mounting a go-pro back there you can't even be sure it is pumping water at speed. There is a lot of water spray back there and I doubt the upper stays high and dry and as mentioned the pickup can disrupt water flow to the prop. All just my minority opinion and experience!

I've done back to back comparisons on our first boat a 223 Powerquest 454 MPI/Bravo 1 and the next boat 95 Baja 272 454 Carb/Bravo 1. Both boats when I checked the drive after running with a bolt on Simrek the case was much cooler and not white scaled over. Also the drive oil did not go to hell as fast when I had the drive showers on. First hand experience. The boats barely broke 60MPH so didn't notice a speed difference with/without.

Here's a video of an install ( not mine) and running the drive shower, found it on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPOqoLWLwPg

What's a good source of the Semrek's?

BUP, thank you and confirming some of my suspicions. . In our old boat - Alpha drive - the outdrive would get warm but no anywhere as warm of what I've experienced with the Bravo 3. Of course I was only running 165hp -thru it. Another item that I forgot to mention is the quality of the oil - at least in my world- is very consistent from the start of the season to the end. Being the anal retentive person I am - I do a oil drain every year-- and to be honest the stuff going out looks as good as the stuff going in. As a side bar I thought I had a major leak when the oil reservoir in the spring was almost empty - only realizing that there was air in the system that needed to be bled out. Once filled and the boat run the air bleeds and I might have to had an ounce or two.


thank you

3pointstar

Bravo III's leak gear oil at the propshaft seal - huge problem while running down the lake for the missing gear oil. You can even pressure test the drive and it will show good to go. You will not even see gear oil on the ground when your boat is stored - most of the time under normal use will not leak like that.

Spinning props - The pressure / vacuum behind the props helps pull the gear out while running down the lake - the faster they spin, the more it seeps out. I am not talking about large amounts but enough over time to see your gear oil in the bottle is going down or if not watched, the bottle almost empty. Some quicker than other's

Want to say in 2010 Merc came out with a service bulletin about a new improved propshaft seal to help against this. It helped out alot but did not cure it 100 %. The SB came out on the Bravo III diesel side first then later over to the gas side.

Good point BUP, rebuilt my 2000 model drive (busted gears) and it never leaked, had the two seals back to back. Replaced with new one piece double seal, and ran it for one season and no leaks. Also had a Y pipe and exhaust boot, not the tube.

During my rebuild bought a new B3XR drive, with new Merc HP transom assembly (exhaust blocked off and no boot or tube) and before the drive was put in the water the inner shaft was leaking. Merc paid to have drive repaired, and two days after install it stated to leak a bit. Called the dealer and he said to just run it, it should stop. Also a note: after filling the drive I tilted it on it side a bit to fill the drive from top hole completely. Every two outings, the drive needed a few ounces of lube to fill the bottle.

Maybe I should call the dealer back, but I drained and replaced lube, and it has not leaked a drop

Order direct http://www.driveshowers.com/

Thanks for the info.!

What's the general consensus for their need on Bravo 1's when pushed by 330hp 7.4lx motors?

Buy 1, it worked well on both of our Bravo boats with 310 and 330hp.

Just added a Simrek Halo to my setup. Nice piece and works perfectly with my Zieger hyd steering. Not having to drill the cavitation plate and cooling the case sides vs top cap sold me vs other brands.

We have them in stock http://www.diamondperformanceparts.c...cat=315&page=1

Ryan, do you have dual ram steering? I was wondering if/what Simrek worked with the XR and Zeigler steering.

Padraig

I have the single ram setup on mine. Might want to contact Simrek for sure on fitment with the dual ram. From "eyeballing" it, still should work with dual ram. I'll put some pics up.

Thanks!

WR,
Welcome to the madness! You found a great place for info, as you've already seen.
Concerning the Simrec drive shower, we installed one on the Factory-1 Active Thunder. Ours was the model that required two small holes at the tail of the cavitation plate and ran under the wing-plates, (dual-ram hydraulic steering). I would love to tell you I never abused my drive.
too many people know better.
I CAN tell you, After a number of races ant LOTS of time at speed, we never experienced a drive failure.
Hope this helps.

The ONLY Bravo the Simrek Halo Max will not fit on is the Bravo XR SpeedMaster and the Bravo XR SportDrive.

There is a very good demo video on how to install a Halo on a Bravo and a very good underwater video with the Halo Max in operation. Check it out.

Was planning on ordering one, good thing I didn't, have the XR drive

Will fit on the XR drive as long as it's not a SpeedMaster or SportDrive.

Including Bravo 3 XR?

I spoke with the designer of the Halo Max and the Summit Max Drive Shower, He said they will fit on the Bravo III XR. As long as your outdrive in not silver or SpeedMaster or SportDrive.

Cool thanks

Wags Engineering makes a nice shower/billet top cap kit. Little pricey, but a nice product. And im not implying Simrek isnt, just another option.