any suggestions on mounting transom mounted water pick-ups

models/brands

location/heights

grooving transom

speed lose?

water pressure

Mactime, hope you don't mind if I add one more question-

Benefits or drawbacks of mounting the pickups through bottom of the hull instead of transom edge?

Thanks,
Rick

They're are lots of models out there. I think you ought to take a look at your boat from a rigging aspect. I assume that you have twins from your avatar. The cheapest are the 90 degree tubes and they will work fine but they have to be trimmed to get the right water pressure. Trial and Error, lots of time. If you groove the transome into the tube this will be a reduction in drag. You really don't need as much depth as you think to pick up a bunch of water. My intercooler pickups barely will stick below the running surface and pick up a ton of water.
I think for twin v's the rams horn looks the best, but is expensive. Now, water cut offs are required on water inlets by USCG. Its a good idea as well, I know first hand why......
You must look at the rigging of your boat first then choose the type of pick up so you won't have to rerig a bunch of stuff.
I know there are other dealers that do a good job, but I would call Teague Custom Marine and ask them. They will get you the right piece or they can customize anything to your needs and get it to you quick.
The cheapest pick up will be the style that works with your rigging.


Power quest. The thru hulls will require grooving. Often hard to install with engines in place. Could be issues finding correct placement on stepped hulls because of aereated water. Got to have room for the shutoffs. They work well though, my engines are this way.

Good thread, I'll be adding a thru transom p/u to a sea/sand strainer to force feed my intercooler. I had the intercooler in line with the raw water system and my overall water pressure is too low, picking up thru an Imco -2 lower, so I'm taking the intercooler out of that system and am going to force feed it in hopes of bringing up water pressure to the engine. I choose a 3/4" Stainless Marine model for my application, single engine set up, that they cut down the inlet pipe going thru the transom in order to clear the Y pipe. As stated there are several models to choose from, choose one that fits or have it modified for your rigging.

Power quest. The thru hulls will require grooving. Often hard to install with engines in place. Could be issues finding correct placement on stepped hulls because of aerated water. Got to have room for the shutoffs. They work well though, my engines are this way.[/QUOTE]

As a general statement, I think that transom mounted PU's will generally cost you 1-3 MPH. I agree that the thru-hull PU mounting location in a ventilated bottom hull is very important. We started with a scooped area (groove) in front of the thru-hull PU, but eventually ended up filling it in to lower the water pressure. You can easily make the 4-6" groove with a small round sanding disk and a hand drill. Today the hull bottom at our PU's are flat as the 2-vane sea water pump creates enough vacuum to hold 12+ lbs WP. You can also adjust the WP by controlling the exit flow.
Does this give us more MPH? I think it might but can't really confirm as we had a # of projects that winter that we are not sure what each change added to the MPH.

In a bravo setup, other than adding a drive shower and removing the water hose through the gimbal area, what do you do for drive cooling when going to transom water pickup?

How about a new style pickup for older Top Guns with TRS style drives and transom mounted pickups? The original that came with it lookes dated (an coroded). Is there a simple "swap" out?

Also, your point about controlling exit flow to regulate water pressure, I have one question. I would guess you are thinking of a flow control valve? Wouldn't that have a reverse effect on cooling and contribute to higher water temps (if you were to use this to increase water pressure)? I would think it's best to regulate intake vs. "choking" the system down to regulate pressure and also to maintain proper flow.

You want water circulating thru the drive. The water hose through the gimble should be routed to exit out the transom via transom dump over the top of the drive so water circulates through the drive for cooling.