Simrek drive shower impact on top end???

[roadtrip se]

I bought a Simrek drive shower via the group purchase here last year.

Paul Kermis, owner of Simrek, has been great to work with sending me parts and offering advice.

Because of the combination of steering, a revised caviation plate, and the shortie, it has been quite the exercise to get the thing to fit. With the use of a hack saw, I have finally got the pickups short enough that they just barely stick below the cavitation plate unlike the picture below.

I've come to the conclusion with my set up that this thing really scrubs top end. 74-75 with, 80-82 without. Something tells me that the shower is going to stay off.

Anybody else run into this? If so, got a fix?

Thanks, Todd

http://www.donzi.net/photos/tsomerville34.jpg

[clayman]

Hey Todd, Wow, Really looking good. love that polished lower. How about trying only one pick up instead of two in the water. I have a hard time believing that is the cause of that much drop in top end.
James

[Bryan Tuvell 33ZX]

Todd, try some same day testing, I did, and it was zero difference. Those number are a significant drop.
Keep us posted.

Corsa worked with me on the wrong custom tips that came, very professional, Jim Browning @ CORSA was great, I returned the tips today and new custom ones are being built, of course the new ones cost more than the $300 I already spent. :mad:

Your boat (as always) looks GREAT!
Thanks
Bryan

[HyperDonzi]

I hope not all drive showers do that much to the top end. What do you guys think on an IMCO bran new, neve used for 50$? worth it or not?

[Forrest]

Wow, that much! Hmmm. . . that may explain why that I could never seem to get my 16 to go quite as fast as it did before I installed the shower. I lost about two mph, but I figured that it could have been due to anything that day. Like you, I'll have to do some testing before I can make that determination. I too, had to use a tubing cutter and get some parts from Paul to make the Summit shower fit my Alpha SS. Paul was very helpful and the parts were cheap and arrived fast.

[MOP]

Just a thought not sure if it would make that much difference but what about the oil staying thicker due to the cooler drive temp. maybe synthetic, one of the other guys with a shower must have some input.

[CDMA]

Todd,

Could you do some back to back testing. I would be pretty suprised by those kinds of speed drops but it could be possible.

What about going to a transom mounted raw water pick up then using the bravo water pick up to supply a drive shower.

Chris

Final on food poisoning...not good

[BigGrizzly]

Todd you are right, herd this many times. Eliminator boats uses the low water pick up -no pump- for the drive shower and a hull pickup for the engine cooling. They say its worth 3 mph over the cav plate shower. What I would do is tap into the cooling line right after the pump and before the PS cooler and run it to the drive top. Another thing about cav-plate showers is that the higher you trim the less water is sent to the shower head, especially on high X dimention ie: shorties and Blackhawks. I have checked many boats and seen water stop at speed. Notice mine doesn't have one yet. I havn't gotten around to plum my own yet, maybe soon.

[roadtrip se]

Thanks everybody for the quick feedback...

Bryan and Chris, these findings were from two different occassions, once in mid-November and yesterday. Run with the shower on, pull up on the trailer, take the thing off, and run without it. Same prop, temps, and fuel level.

Clayman, I will try your idea and bolt it on with just one pick-up. Can't hurt to try.

MOP, the water was cold yesterday. Have to think your theory through.

Griz, bingo! My rigging shop just happens to be the Eliminator dealer for Texas, so we will chat.
I just hung up with Baxter getting the low-down on the SEADOG event, and he suggested the engine feed. I objected to drilling another hole in the transom and Poodle mentioned that I've already drilled sixteen, what's one more. He has got a point.

Any more theories or ideas are appreciated...

With the shortie, we are throwing a lot of water off the back end of the transom. The shower may be a moot point.

Todd
"Showerless and swearing off left hand rotation props!"

[clayman]

I was watching a APPA race a while back and a driver said they never run drive showers because it thickens the oil too much and robs horsepower. Does anyone run one of those drive oil temp guages? to really see how hot the oil is getting? I personally don't believe in those drive showers. I would think that if they were needed, Mercury would have them from the factory, think about all the warranty repairs? I would think they would do whatever they needed to do to reduce repairs.

[tamburello]

Todd thanks for posting those results. I'll have to run the same test on my ride when the ice finally melts up here. I think that I'll keep the shower regardless to keep my wimpy alpha from nuking.

How has the handling changed with the IMCO shortie? I'm looking at swapping my alpha for a bravo in the near future.

[MOP]

Could not resist trying a little experiment, Had a quart of straight synthetic 30wt Mobil 1. Was low 30's here today, I stole the oven thermometer put the oil in a can took a wood tongue depresser and stired it a bit to get the feel. I lit up my torch and started heating the can til it showed 200 degrees, I again tried my very un-scientific stir test the oil felt thinner. I still think the viscosity plays into this shower stuff.

[BigGrizzly]

I won't get into the viscosity robs hp on our nearly stock applications because it is mimimal

[Darrell]

not to get off of Roadtrips post, But this was on my wish list for winter projects. I'am a inland lake boater running a 502/bravo, I would rarely ever run over 15-20 miles @ 4000rpm's plus. Do I really need a cooler? I'm trying to get a little more speed and I sure don't wan't to go backwards.

Darrell

[roadtrip se]

Tamburello, the shortie enhanced the handling on my 22. I did make a lot of other changes at the same time, and I can't speak for the 18, but raising the prop had great results for us.

Darrel, I've spent time on Tuvell's 26ZX and with a boat of that size and weight, the single engine and drive really work hard. I would think the drive shower would do you more good than bad.

The oil viscosity thing doesn't play at this movie house.

Thanks again for the great feedback!

Todd