Drive Showers???

[txtaz]

Can someone explain what a drive shower is used for and if I might need or benifit from one.
Thank you.
Wes

[slick]

Hey Wes, the drive shower is basically a way to reduce the temperature in the drive by dumping water on the top of the drive housing. You could benifit from a shower if you run for extended periods of time at high RPM however the shower is usually associated with high performance modification in the engine running alot of HP.

[marcdups]

do they make one for an alpha gen II, if yes who??, not that I run mine hard or anything :yes: :yes:

[Digger]

take a surf thru

here (http://www.driveshowers.com)

to see what drive showers do. I have the simrek setup. There was a discussion here a while back about guys losing a couple mph on top end, not sure if that was ever really decided or not. I believe the showers are a good idea, particularly because of the simplicity of them. They have no moving parts. They cost nothing to operate. They significantly reduce temps on the uppers, to me its a no brainer.

You should be able to get a size for whatever drive you have.

[Mr X]

Wes,
you do not need one with your Engine/Drive config.
It will also slow your boat down.
Right Todd....... ;)

[MOP]

There are rip off Simrek showers on Ebay for $50, a few members have them. In the long run I think they have to add reliability, good oil is also important. I like the synthetics but there are several good ones available.

Phil

[Speed-Racer]

Oooo....a driveshower debate...where's the pop-corn? :bonk:

[txtaz]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm glad I don't need one but it's nice to have the information.
Thanks,
Wes

[roadtrip se]

Wes,

Ted and I agree on the slow down factor with shortie drives and high HP, I lose 3-5, but every boat is different on how they will respond to a shower. I bolt mine on or take it off depending on the kind of running I plan on doing that day.
The benefits are no chalking, cooler temps, and longer drive life; and chances are you won't experience the dramatic top end change with your set up.

Todd
"Owner of the Simrek drive shower with the built in bridle feature!"

[Richard McCoy]

Imco makes a drive shower for Alpha drive a little more than $100 Phone no. 702 294 3030 e mail sales@imcomarine.com website imcomarine.com they have pictures of showers on their web site. These showers look good.

[gcarter]

The $50.00 showers on eBay are very well built. For the price I was impressed. If eBay is they're whole marketing plan, they're saving a lot of money and passing it on to the purchaser. :lookaroun

George

[MOP]

Another thought that will not cost speed is to do what Bad Tat did, he took I believe a 3/8 line off the pressure side of his sea water pump and ran it to a cap on his drive. A very slick idea, hopefully he will post a pic, we can argue this upside down and back wards. To me if you have less drive in the water as with a BH or shorty setup you get less heat drawn out and feeding water to it is even more important.

[Ranman]

The $50.00 showers on eBay are very well built. For the price I was impressed. If eBay is they're whole marketing plan, they're saving a lot of money and passing it on to the purchaser.

Ah, capitalism and the American black market. I know Paul is aware of the illegal knock offs, but am surprised he hasn't done anythjing about it to date.

I personally recommend supporting Simrek by buying the real deal, mostly because his service and support is impeccable.

Oh yeah, you need a drive shower to keep your drive clean and pretty all the time. Even without considering any other "potential benefits", using a shower cuts down on the maintenance of having to clean the mineral deposits from your drive. Thai in and of itself is worth the $$$ for one.

Lastly, on my 18 Classic 350 MAG Bravo, I noticed zero loss in top speed. I would be hard pressed to see a 3-5MPH loss in speed resulting from a drive shower install on an 18 Classic.


Now where did I save those MP3's...

[blackhawk]

Todd, are you saying you lose 3-5 mph with a drive shower installed?

[roadtrip se]

MOP, water pressure is just fine thank you. There is plenty of drive still in the water with a shortie versus a stock bravo.

Ranman is right on, support Paul Kermis at Simrek and get A-1 product and service.

Blackhawk, yep! I've tested with and without in identical conditions and the thing scavenges top end. I think my case is very atypical.

I would run a Simrek on a stock boat all of the time, the pluses are well proven.

Todd

[blackhawk]

Wow, that blows me away! Is it literally the drag of the pick ups on the shower that slows you down or some affect on the prop?

[gcarter]

Ah, capitalism and the American black market. I know Paul is aware of the illegal knock offs, but am surprised he hasn't done anythjing about it to date.

Randy, I'm not a patent attorny, but one of the easiest mistakes to make in applying for a patent is to be too specific in your description and drawings. It makes it very easy to side step the patent.
If you look at the Simrek patent drawings,
go to; http://www.uspto.gov/ and search for #6,241,566 and then click on "drawings", look at the pick-ups.
you will see there are significant differences in the two items.
This may be why no action has been taken.

George....just observing

[Ranman]

Randy, I'm not a patent attorny, but one of the easiest mistakes to make in applying for a patent is to be too specific in your description and drawings. It makes it very easy to side step the patent.
If you look at the Simrek patent drawings,
http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=US006241566&SectionNum=2&IDKey=AFEF8752A7F8&HomeUrl=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1%2526Sect2=HITOFF%2526d=PALL%2526 p=1%2526u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm%2526r=1%2526f=G%2526l=50%2526s1=624156 6.WKU.%2526OS=PN/6241566%2526RS=PN/6241566
you will see there are significant differences in the two items.
This may be why no action has been taken.

George....just observing

George,

I can't get the pics to come up, so I can't see what you're talking about, however, you may very well be correct. I have no idea.

Regardless of whether the kockoffs are legal or not, I still believe in supporting the SImrek units.

[gcarter]

"Regardless of whether the kockoffs are legal or not, I still believe in supporting the SImrek units.''

Randy, this statement I can support!

George :beer:

[Bad-Tat]

Rich's innovative marine made mine. You can also feed it with a hull pickup instead of the raw water pump outlet. Not enough water at the cavitation plate on a Blackhawk to feed these things. No pix on this puter will have to wait until I get home on the weekend.
Does it help?? Who knows but haven't blown the drive yet.
http://www.innovativemarine.net/

[DoTheMath]

I agree, support Paul (Simrek) and the real deal. I called there a couple of weeks ago to order my new drive shower and HE answered the phone, (I had to chuckle). You don't get the owner to answer every day, and it showed up a day earlier than he said it would. Buy a shower and buy the real deal:shades:

[blackhawk]

Bad-Tat, I also have the innovative marine unit. Very nice piece. I'm actually running both since I already had the pick-up style. Here's a pic. Not the greatest but it's all I have on this computer. You guys that are losing speed may want to check them out.

[gero1]

i have a new shower here, did not put it on the new drive as it won"t work on a b/h drive, you pay for shipping.black hawk: nice job on prop timeing

[txtaz]

Thanks every one for the input. Since we don't run the boat that hard, I think we will forgo the shower but the knowlledge is useful. Also, we have a Bravo 1 which is rated for much more power than the 350 puts out.
Thanks again,
Wes

[rayjay]

Thanks every one for the input. Since we don't run the boat that hard, I think we will forgo the shower... -
Wes

Wes, If you start seeing any spots on the drive that do not just wash off completely when just sprayed with water, especially around any bearings or gears, then get a shower. You're causing enough heat to bond the minerals in the water to the drive, which means the drive will last longer if it is cooler.

The SIMREK's are designed to pull water in even when the drive is trimed way up, like when you are going fast, spinning the ****e out of the drive and generating the most heat. This is an important part of the design. You make your choice and you pay your money.

rayjay

[blackhawk]

It's my opinion that it's not just running your drive hard. Something else to consider is if you run your boat for long periods of time on plane. When your boat is on plane that is when the bearings get no water to cool them down. Even if you're not running your boat "hard" it can still get hot at the top of the drive. Just my $.02.

[MOP]

It's my opinion that it's not just running your drive hard. Something else to consider is if you run your boat for long periods of time on plane. When your boat is on plane that is when the bearings get no water to cool them down. Even if you're not running your boat "hard" it can still get hot at the top of the drive. Just my $.02.

I agree having run a fairly decent sized shop that had mostly fishermen that went fairly long distance, the biggest majority did show of deposits indicating cooked on salt.
Back in 63-4 I bought a new Owens XL20 165 Merc, it was a really good ski boat not fast but could pull a few at a time. One night a bunch of us went to Fire Island for a drunk witch hunt maybe a 12 mile ride I burned the upper and it looked like a frosty. The old German mechanic Klaus said you got it to hot, it was full of oil and only had slightly over 40 hours. OK OK now you all know I did go Black once before!

Phil

[gcarter]

Good news for everyone, including Ranman!!LOL.
Simrek is competing!! :yes:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2484337507&category=50442

This should make everyone happy!
I love competition! :propeller ;) :cool:

George