Drive Showers ??
 

I have a 382 Fastech with just the 502's and was wondering what guys thoughts were on drive showers ?? Do they really help and which seem to look or work best ?? Thanks for your input.. Thanks, SJ

Personal opinion is they all work about the same, and I believe they do help keep the drive cooler.

Oh and current boat has Teague showers

I can't overstate the importance and benefits of an outdrive shower. I don't have a performance boat - Cobalt 226 with a 7.4 MPI Bravo 3. I put a shower on the second season we had the boat but I have experienced the following:

We have our boat lift so getting the outdrive out of the water is not an issue. After a rather hard run we put the boat lift. I jumped in the water and felt the outdrive and it was rather warm. I do know that the Bravo 3 outdrive does put out a little bit more heat than others. The following year after we put the outdrive shower on I repeated the same scenario e.g. hard run. Utilizing the drive shower there was a noticeable difference in the temperature of the outdrive. Of course this wasn't a scientific study or anything close to that but it was very obvious that this constant flushing of water over the drive is keeping things cooler which can only translate to cooler oil temperatures which has got to have some impact on the longevity of the gears etc.

The other benefit is that the outdrive has absolutely no scale on it from the water is evaporating while the boat is underway. At the end of the year/season the outdrive cleaning is soapy water a good rinse and I put a coat of wax on it- The outdrive looks like it came out of the box.

The type of shower that I purchased from All American Drive Service (I'm not related to them in anyway). If you go to their website you'll see a picture on the type that I have. If I had to do it all over again I would have used a system that bolts directly on the trim tabs with no drilling through the outdrive plate for the water pickup. Aesthetically I think the later looks a little neater - but that is just an opinion.

With the amount of horsepower that you are putting through your out drives- I wouldn't even think twice about not putting a shower on- it is a good thing.

3pointstar

I run the amco showers and seem to work good. I like the look of the full caps over the tube ones that are out there.

B3's are known to generate a lot of heat and have know several people with them to have been plagued by outdrive issues. In the drives defense, moving a 31+ foot cruiser is asking a lot, there is a reason why Formula started adding them on at the factory. I would definitely invest in a set if I had B3s. As for my B1s I've seen no signs that they are overheating at all so for me to install them would be simply for cosmetics or peace of mind.

Get Simreks. No drilling and they work as well or better than most others.

For your set-up get Simreks like Mental Pause suggested. No need to go real high dollar and the Simreks will not affect your particular performance. Another benefit is easy on and of with no alteration to your drive. I used them in the past on other boats and the drive was cooler and oil didnt seem to burn out like it was before adding the drive showers.

Must haves for your set up...Little money now or a lot of money later.....:hitfan:

Thank guys for the input. I guess it's time to break out the wallet again. Lol. Thanks.