Keeping a bravo drive cool or cooler
 

If you are running through hull pickups and have stopped the water coming in through the drives what is the best way to keep them cool. I have a drive shower and have not plugged off the water pickup holes on the drives. Do I need to create a path for the water to be able to circulate through the drive? Drilling and tapping and adding that line to the drive shower. I did the through hull fitting because I like the way it picks up vs coming through the drive.

I can only say. Why?

On our Parasail boats , we remove a section of the hose and secure it in order to maintain full water flow through the drive. This is in addition to a 1500gph dedicated drive sh
ower ( commercial baitwell pump w/ 1.25" discharge). This has added to the life of our drives x5 , plus keeps us from burning the paint off the upper .Good luck!!! We have to use a dedicated pump because sometimes we are getting pulled backwards even though we are in forward gear.

one of the supercat lights I built used thru hull pickups so we took the drive hose and ran it up to a thru hull above the drive with a hose to the top of the cooler plate and just let the drive water run thru the drive and dump on top of the drive. we also tee'd off it with a valve to fill the ballast tank with the drive water.

I remember seeing a race boat that had a thru-hull pickup mounted on the tabs to fill ballast tanks....thought it would be a wicked drive shower to just divert it over and on top to the outdrive :)

Leaning towards this option and routing the drive hose to top and let it do two things for me. I don't see it doing any good closed off completely.

Did this about 6 months ago to a Checkmate with a Bravo XR. Installed an adjustable transom mount water pick up - then in the engine compartment - unhooked the inlet water hose - cut it to fit - mounted on a outlet thru transom fitting so all of that water can dump on top of the drive.

IMO this is the best drive shower to fab and even cheap to do.

My AT and Pantera both had/have through hull pick ups for engine cooling water.
Both boats dump the water going through the drive out a water dump.
On my Pantera, I also tapped the upper drive water jacket to feed the drive shower as well.
Even with feeding the drive shower, quite a bit of water still came out the side water dump at speed.

+1 We use all the water from the drive and dump it back on the drive top cap thru a 3/4" hose.

[QUOTE=Griff;4410118]My AT and Pantera both had/have through hull pick ups for engine cooling water.
Both boats dump the water going through the drive out a water dump.
On my Pantera, I also tapped the upper drive water jacket to feed the drive shower as well.
Even with feeding the drive shower, quite a bit of water still came out the side water dump at speed.[/Q

I am not opposed to drilling and tapping. Where is the issue. I might go to my mechanics shop and do some locking at the upper drive to see for myself and take some measurements before drilling. I know he has wasted drives in a pile. How large of pipe threads? 1/4, 3/8"?

Why not just install the oil coolers and drop the oil temp which is the main goal. Water wont come close to what the coolers will do temp wise. 1000 per side. Done

I've got oil coolers already. Through hull water pickups and blocked off the through transom fitting where the bravo picks up water. I am interested in using the pickup water to recycle through the drive and out my drive shower. Not sure what you are suggesting pertaining to my situation?

I believe he is talking about the Drew Marine drive lube cooler system.

Here is a pic of what I had on my Pantera

Plumbers was speaking of an external outdrive shower cooler. I install fittings on the drive for the oil to be removed with a pump and returned through a filter and 12" oil cooler. Gives extra lube capacity and allows you to change a filter and check for metal. The system is pricey. Lots of parts to get it all setup. But it does the best job of cooling and cleaning the lube oil.
Dick

Easy way would be to drill and tap the upper water passage and install a side water dump like this from Teague. Routing the water inlet to a dump would work too, but make sure the dump has a 90* turn down on it to aim towards the drive, if the dump just shoots straight out, it will probably never touch the drive especially at speed. The old Phantom race boats had water dumps like this.

http://teaguecustommarine.com/em0011...de-shower.html

Edit: Here's what you want for the water dump idea. Uses 1-1/4" hose which is what comes out of the transom assembly already anyway...
http://www.cpperformance.com/p-14425...ater-dump.aspx

[QUOTE=ToMorrow44;4412556]Easy way would be to drill and tap the upper water passage and install a side water dump like this from Teague. Routing the water inlet to a dump would work too, but make sure the dump has a 90* turn down on it to aim towards the drive, if the dump just shoots straight out, it will probably never touch the drive especially at speed. The old Phantom race boats had water dumps like this.

http://teaguecustommarine.com/em0011...de-shower.html

This is what I was looking for. I have a drive shower already on both drives. Would it be better to do like the Teague or to plumb it into the drive show I've already got? or just have both?

I would do the Teague side shower myself. Then just put a block off plate on the inner transom assembly (also available from Teague). Seems easier to me than drilling a hole in the transom for the water dump and plumbing the 1-1/4 hose from the inner transom assembly to the dump (a lot of bends, wouldn't look as clean). I would think it would be more effective too since its dumping directly on the side of the case...

Sorry I just re-read your question. I would do the side dump in addition to the drive shower. The drive shower is good at dumping water on the top cap where that bearing is, but the water may or may not run down the sides of the case, so the side dump would be effective there. I suppose you could plumb the side tap to the drive shower and reduce some drag by eliminating the drive shower pickup if you're looking for the last 1mph. But since you already own the drive shower, I'd just do both.

Mr. Gadgets, what kind of filter are you using for the drive cooler?

Short Fuse, I use a remote oil filter pad and a SBC screw on oil filter. I plumbed it with the filter after the cooler, but one gent destroyed a lower gear set and it damaged the pump. He found a filter with -6an fittings on each end and installed that before the pump to catch any gear parts that head that way.
Hope that helps.
Dick

Ty Mr Gadgets. That does help. I installed a the cool swirl cooler from drew marine. The kit doesn't come with any filter and having one sounds like a great idea. I have a spare oil filter housing from Teague that I can plumb in before the pump. I was thinking of re-plumbing the hole set up and using a clear hose to actually see the flow. What's your opinion on using a clear hose. Any recommendations on what kind of hose? What kinda ms of drive work do you do? I'm thinking I may get be ready for a rebuild.

You could put a quick disconnect on the tops of those braided lines, and masquerade as a pair of Yamaha lake-lice going down the lake. :D