What's a drive shower?

[Jimmy Norman]

I hate to admit I'm so ignorant, but I am. What's a drive shower? Thanks

[MOP]

They come in several forms but basicly they spray water on the drive to keep it cool.

[blackhawk]

When you have your boat on plane the drive is no longer under water. If you drive it hard for long periods of time the drive can heat up, which is a bad thing. A drive shower either picks up water through a hole in the anti-ventilation plate(most common) or it's plumbed into the sea water pump and dumps cool water on the drive.

[McGary911]

The Simrek site goes into quite a bit of detail. Of course they are pushing their product......but they give a pretty good explanation of drive showers in the process.

http://www.driveshowers.com/

[Magicallbill]

Blackhawk,MOP;or whoever;
How hard do you have to run the drives for extended periods before a drive shower becomes necessary? My BravoXZ sees 3000-3500 in smooth water; 2500-3000 in chop/boat wakes; and the occasional bursts above 4000 when conditions warrant.
Do I need one?

MB

[Brian Hamilton]

If you keep topping off drive oil, have a white chalk-like film on the top of your drive you're running hot. When you come of plane do you see a lot of steam? That may be from your drive running hot (if you have through hull pipes make sure they steam a bit, don't worry about that). B

[blackhawk]

Blackhawk,MOP;or whoever;
How hard do you have to run the drives for extended periods before a drive shower becomes necessary? My BravoXZ sees 3000-3500 in smooth water; 2500-3000 in chop/boat wakes; and the occasional bursts above 4000 when conditions warrant.
Do I need one?
MB

Honestly this is subjective so you'll get a few opinions on this. IMO it is cheap insurance.

Now get out there, quit babying that boat and clean the cobwebs out! :D

[Magicallbill]

Blackhawk;
Funny you should bring that up, I'm goin' out tomorrow for a bit before I come back and wash/wax the Scorp.
I'll chine-walk the thing across the lake in your honor.

[LKSD]

The guys here are pretty right on with what they are & how they work..

We can sell you one if you need one.. They start out at about a hundred bucks or so & can go up from there... :)

& Yes very cheap insurance!!.. We pu them on all of our personal boats.. I put one on my latest new Donzi before I even put it in the water.. Thats how much I think of them.. :) Jamie / Lakeside

[showtime]

:confused: Did I read a comment somewhere that a King Cobra doesn't need a shower because virtually the whole lower unit is water jacketed

[MOP]

:confused: Did I read a comment somewhere that a King Cobra doesn't need a shower because virtually the whole lower unit is water jacketed

The Volvo's also have no problems with their built in oil pump, you can run an OMC or Volvo hard for a mile and the are just warm to the touch.

Phil

[joel3078]

The king cobra and possibly volvo sx have a lot more oil in them. Don't think they are water jacketed but never looked a the drawings for that. Anyway, during a lower unit oil change, the king cobra takes about 3 quarts (yes quarts not pints) of oil. The oil is in the lower and upper unit and the mass quanity compared to the merc drives keeps the king cobra drive cool. No need for a drive shower on them.

[Last Tango]

JW,
I have the new style Bravo One drive on my '06 22ZX (350 Mag MPI). Do you have a drive shower to fit that (that you recommend...and sell)? I have seen plenty of drive shower ads, but they seem to be designed specifically to fit the previous generation Bravo's and Alpha's.
I put drive showers on all my previous Donzi's. Very cheap insurance.

[BaldEagle]

I put a Simrek HALO on a Bravo 1 last year and Just put another on a BravoX and it fit fine. Just need to specify the drive so they provide you with the correct spacer and mounting bolt length. The bold/spacer provided replaces one of the factory bolts. Use the templete to locate the hole location, drill two 1/8" pilot holes, then 1/2" mounting holes and bolt it on.

[Last Tango]

Bald Eagle,
I was just on the Simrek site, and I agree they are the best. I also have had two of them on prior Donzi's. I was just a wee bit confused with their directions on the site. I realize that I will be drilling two holes in the cavitation plate for the base connections, but somehow the dirctions and drawing seem to indicate these holes are drilled in the top cap. I can see from your picture that is not the case, and, as before, one simply unscrews a cap bolt and retightens it. But I did panic for a minute. Your pick clarified that for me. Thanks,

Now if JW responds, I can order one. (I was leading in to getting him to respond to "encourage" others to do so.)

[BUIZILLA]

Mark, the last 2 Simrek's I bought came from an ebay sight, cheaper than Simrek driectly, or anywhere else.

JH

[BaldEagle]

Yes L T, Simrek sends the mounting bolt and any required spacer with the drive shower. The Simrek bolt replaces the factory cap bolt. It was just longer to accommadtee the spacer needed to index the drive shower correctly on the drive.

[LKSD]

I used to use the simrek designed ones. I dont anymore.. Not that they are a bad unit. I do have ones that start out at just under 110.00 + s&h that I use personally on my Donzi with a B1 X.... Below is a picture of it.. Call me if you want any.. They also are avail in polish & powdercoated colors. I like them because there are 2 pick up ports that are adjustable & they spray cooling fans of water on both sides of the upper housing and 1 on top of the cap for complete 3 way coverage, not just the top cap!! :) There are more pics of them on our accessory page on my web site.. Thanks guys.. :) Im here if you need me.. :) Jamie

Jamie / Lakeside 570-639-2628

[Carl C]

Is there any measurable loss of speed from dragging the pick-up through the water?

[LKSD]

Is there any measurable loss of speed from dragging the pick-up through the water?

I have not seen any speed loss on any that we have ever installed.. And I have done quite a bit of them.. :) I dont know of anyone who haas ever been dissapointed with any of the ones no matter what style they were that we had installed.. :)

I have the twin pickup as shown above on my new 22 & can in optimum conditions even with a full tank & my wife & I in the boat hit 75/76mph in a good day.. :)

I hope this helps to answer the question.. :) Jamie / Lakeside

[Carl C]

:)
I hope this helps to answer the question.. :) Jamie / Lakeside Yup, thanks. I'll probably install one in the spring.:alligator

[yeller]

Is there any measurable loss of speed from dragging the pick-up through the water?
I think i remember seeing a post where RoadtripSE said he lost 4mph with his. Some people called bulls**t, but he swears he tested with and without and definately recorded a slower speed.

Sorry RT if I've misquoted you.

[Carl C]

I think i remember seeing a post where RoadtripSE said he lost 4mph with his. Some people called bulls**t, but he swears he tested with and without and definately recorded a slower speed.
Sorry RT if I've misquoted you. 4 mph seems exessive, but I could see .4 mph. How about it RTSE? I value your opinion since you have one of the nicest 22Cs on this board.:confused:

[roadtrip se]

I think i remember seeing a post where RoadtripSE said he lost 4mph with his. Some people called bulls**t, but he swears he tested with and without and definately recorded a slower speed.
Sorry RT if I've misquoted you.
BUT, keep in mind I have a few different variables than most of you working with my shortie drive. I even messed around quite a bit with the height of the pickups sticking down below my cav plate and just couldn't make up the speed difference of 3-5 mph. For those of you who want to call me out on this, I'll be happy to bolt my SIMREK on and lets go for a ride.

By the way, I worked with Eliminator Boats of Texas to do a lot of the heavy engine swap work and other stuff I couldn't do in the barn during my re-rig project. You will never find a cav plate pickup drive shower on an Eliminator cat rigged from the factory for the same reason according to Bob Leach.

All of this being said, I wouldn't hesitate to recomend SIMREK to any of you.
Cooler temps, no chalky build-up, and simple insurance. I don't think these things will make any difference on your performance using a normal drive.