I was told .5 to 3/8" is the max length your pickup should be.

There are some test results here, look under testimonials.

http://www.driveshowers.com/

Seems like a 50* diff is the norm.

Good stuff. Thanks.

Wonder if it would make any difference if the shower pickups were mounted on the bottom of the transom like the pickups on the race boats?

When I first got my boat ran about 1/2 hour at about 65 only stopped once for a bridge. When I got there the drive bottles had overflowed. Installed showers the next weekend and it never did that again. Would not have a boat without them.

What's the consensus on cap vs tubular style?

Wanna know if drive showers get rid of the heat that always shortens the life of drive gear oil and drive gears?

Run your boat without a drive shower on a nice day at lets say for 15 minutes at 4000rpms, quickly stop the boat a go to the back over the drive (Don't Really Do This!) and put your flat palm on the top of the drive cap. I guaranty you will either leave some palm skin there or blister the liv'in hell out of your palm! Thats how hot they get without showers! I would never run a Bravo equipped high performance boat without a GOOD shower period! I would also never go out in public or around friends without a good dailey shower also! Showers are good!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

So why in the hell doesn't Merc have a stock shower on all their drives?

$$$$$$$$$$. It's all about the greenback. Mercury doesn't want these parts to last. They want you to buy more parts. Also your speedo water pickup ( pre gps) will cost you a mph or two.

I've had both on different boats, and the tubular seems to work better, Halo design covers the whole upper of the drive with cooling water, just not the top. I might add, I've had drive showers on the last 3 bravo boats, and no drive failures either...

Another thing to consider when talking about speed drops and Mercury greenbacks. The speed drops are not all cause from the drag of the tube. That gear oil is thick and has it heats up it becomes easier to flow which equals less HP drops in the drive which equals more speed for you and Merc. "The race never ends" Speed is big to Mercury. Davis Woods taught me that...makes sense, he should know...he raced a long time.