Drive Shower

SquallyEmperor

I ordered a Sport Tech Drive Shower from CP Performance. It looked great and would have bolted up to the the B3 drive but would not clear the boat or the swimm platform (04 232) . Damm. so sordered another. This one was was also ordered from Cp. This one was a product from Wicked Marine. bolted up great.No clearance issues.

 We recently went on a long trip tp Nevada and did some somewhat long miles.About 150 or so in 4 days. No drive issues so I guess the proof is in the pudding. I will be posting some awesome pics soon.Stay tuned.

pepmyster

Can't wait. Did you have problems in the past with heat?

Black_Diamond

My #1 complaint with drive showers: they foul up from growth/zebra mussels and are useless afterwords. Unless you are on a lift/trailer/rack store of course.

SquallyEmperor

My guess is most drive showers out there have the possibility of getting pluged at some point.

 I guess I look at it like somewhat cheap insurance. On longer trips at speed wth the outdrive trimmed up I have read and heard of people doing damage and even burning up the upper end of their B3 out drive. That would not be the high point to any boating day and cost several bucks that could be spent on go juice or a number of otherthings. To me it was worth the money and time.

Michael T

I have always believed-in and used drive showers. They come in countless configurations, single arm, dual arm and for applications where a non flex tube will bump a swim platform there are flexible ss braided showers that will work fine. We had a zebra problem. At the beginning of the boating season I made a mixture of vaseline, cayanne pepper and tobasco. I smeared it on a small piece of rag attached to a wire and pulled it through the drive shower tube. I did it again about half way through the season. Never had a problem. I wish I could say it was my idea. It wasn't. The first time I heard it from some local guys I thought they were looking for a laugh at someone's expense. Guess they weren't. I know that guys were putting a vaseline paste laced with cayenne powder on the legs and arms of their boat lifts to keep the zebras off and apparently that worked. At any rate if you are running your drives hard, you'll see the hardened water deposits up on the drive tower top, a drive shower is great insurance. MT

raybo3

The pepper really works. An old lobster man told me about pepper, just mix it in with your bottom paint and works great.....

pepmyster

Why would you mix it in the bottom paint? Very curious.........

raybo3

How else would you spread it on the bottom????? The pepper helps to stop growth and barnicles...

212rowboat

Navy has been doing it for years and years.. its a fact it works, is cheap, and there aren't a lot of better options around no matter cost or ease..

pepmyster

Learn something every day!

Handymans342

Just put mine on so its non stop full speed to key west Friday. 

Black_Diamond

I just replaced my drive showers, same as Handy's. After 4 years of fruitless work, we'll see if the replacements work. 

Mine had burrs..more like chunks of metal..at all the holes. If you hooked up a hose to them to would be massively disappointed. What spray you get is worthless. I worked on mine to deburr with little success. 98% of the water sprays at an angle that does not even hit the drive, the other 2% zero water came out of (the water goes right past the hole. I'll put the new ones on, but I still think they are a scam. 

Handymans342

I watched the video on these first before I bought. Halo showers

Black_Diamond

I should have made a video of mine. lol

randy56

proud of ya Handy

Michael T

I prefer the showers that rain down on the drives from above. That way the tower gets better cooling. There are a number that will clear swim platforms including SS hose models. Anyway anything is better than nothing!

Handymans342

Drives all the way up I have 1 inch clearance

Michael T

....other Rinker models have more clearance...other drive showers have lower profiles.....dozens of styles available plus custom orders.

Black_Diamond

 If you saw how mine flowed water...you may as well have nothing.

Michael T

The ones I used flooded the drive towers with water. Never had any chalk type residue again, just pristine clean tops that were totally cool tothetouch after long runs at cruising speed. I would never have anything to do with a rig if I had to stop it to cool it down.....in this day of technology, geez that's, IMO, nuts;

craigswardmtb

I have talked to numerous folks in my area about drive showers and no one uses them. Everyone that has echos a similar story to BD. The zebra mussels and other SW growth is just brutal around here. I don't mind running for 30 minutes and coming off plane for a quick drive dip. Seems to work fine for me. 

One thing a lot of folks at my dock have been discussing lately is a ti bar. Anyone using those between the drives?

LaRea

Here's what puzzles me about drive showers:  would they make a difference on a boat like mine? 

Not an overpowered go-fast, or a long-distance workboat ... I mean a typical express cruiser, running 28-34 mph for 30-90 minutes at a time, with annual drive service (every 50-75 hours).  

In general, hot=bad.  Got it.  And I have no trouble believing that drive showers reduce temperatures.  But so what?  The drive is designed for those temperatures, so who cares about running cooler?  What does it mean to my wallet?  Would it actually extend the life of the drive in some meaningful way?  

Just sayin' ... drive showers cost money, require maintenance, add new places to get sticks and debris wedged in the drives, and add even more corrosion-inducing stainless steel to the dissimilar-metals equation.  

jme097

What is the purpose of a drive shower? Does it redirect the water to on top of the drive to keep cool? Totally guessing here. 

aero3113

jme097 said:

What is the purpose of a drive shower? Does it redirect the water to on top of the drive to keep cool? Totally guessing here. 

Yes

212rowboat

I've got a drive shower ready to install... 

If it does half of what it reports to, I'll be happier... I run an Alpha-g2, and they don't have a lot of reserve oil or exposure to the water when on plane- I'll also be twisting that thing with more torque this season... If my lil rig was any bigger at all I don't think I would have bought it with the alpha... I hesitate to run more than an hour or so above plane without slowing down and dunking it, letting it cool for a few minutes.

If I had one of the bravo series, I wouldn't worry one bit about a shower- they have enough reservoir and gearbox exposure that even simple heat transfer to air will suffice... not so much with the tiny upper on the alpha... 

Michael T

I ran a brand new Bravo 1 with my 390 HP 383 for 1 hour without a drive shower. It had chalky deposits on it even after that time. I cleaned it off with 5% white vinegar. Waxed and polished the drive and installed a drive shower before the boat went out again.

That was about a dozen years ago. the next owner who bought it from me beat the cr*p out of that boat and rig and it's still going strong.

For ANY up-powered Alpha or ANY fast run bravo I'd install a drive shower(s).

By FAR the cheapest insurance anywhere.

A job most owners can do or any decent tech in 30 minutes.

LaRea

So are you guys saying that a conventional express cruiser with standard power and Bravo drives should not bother with drive showers?

Michael T

No, I would never say don't use drive showers on a cruiser.

Many drives on cruisers could probably benefit from drive showers, based on the condition of drive towers I see in marinas.

In many cases I suspect significant drive overheating not from high speed running but low speed loading or even lugging for long periods.

 imo it would depend very much on use and observation. IMO personal observations of each person's drives is the critical determinant as IMO personal usage is the key.

Is the boat heavily laden with friends and just on plane for long cruises? Is nit run at high speeds/rpms for long periods? Is it wot'd for 30 plus minutes? So, IMo "it all depends"

I never saw any signs (even the most minute and un-noticeable) on the twin Bravo lll drives for the twin 350 Mags on my 2013 EC 310 or the Bravo lll X drives for the 502 Mags for my 2014 EC 360.

Nor did I ever feel heat build-up after stopping after a long run and going immediately into the water to check.

Had I seen deposits or felt overheating I would have immediately ordered drive showers.

IMO any lime-like or chalky-like deposits on drive towers bespeak drive tower over heating and require attention.

IMO a drive shower(s) are cheap and easy to install and as such are ridiculously well spent insurance for such expensive equipment.

....and man do well designed drive showers work. A friend videoed my 383/Bravo I combo (yeah it was that long ago that a video camera was used lol)  and by the time the boat was on plane the water was blasting all over the top of the drive tower.

I would run that drive at 50 to 70 mph for hours and it was shiny and black after that without a trace of deposit on the drive tower or anywhere on the drive and the gear lube was always pristine.

BTW if I had Bravo lls I'd  be using drive showers for sure!

Handymans342

All the go fast boats down here have them. Visible on a lift

Black_Diamond

I'll get a video of my new drive showers. Proof in the pudding. 

212rowboat

it's all about how hard you're working those things... 

one alpha behind a 24' (3500~3800#) fiberglass boat is working its a$$ off... two behind the same boat, not so much... one Bravo would be well in it's comfort zone behind the 24' fiberglass boat, but would strain likely at around 5k#'s in single application... a B3 likely not as much... a pair of B3's will likely handle upwards of 15k# boat w/o concern, so long as it wasn't running WOT or crashing through faces of waves constantly, loading and unloading...

if those showers were necessary I'd guess they'd either come stock, or the OEM's would have devised something that does the same thing- which to me speaks of us boaters simply taking precautions and overbuilding, or, somebody taking something out of the design envelope and using it anyway...  

most mod's we do are either or, or either because of or- meaning we take precautions and overbuild an identified weak link, or, we overbuild a weak link we actually created by pushing something else to the edge of it's design...

this is sorta like the oil debate- there is what the manufacturer recommends, going as far as to void warranty if something else is used, and all the while not knowing how you actually use your rig... they can 'guess', based on make and model, and how it's rigged- but they don't KNOW.. not KNOWING, they leave a huge market for aftermarket sales- which we take FULL advantage of... and by my reckoning, the shower fits in this category... I don't think I NEED it, but I can't see how it will hurt anything (if it functions as advertised)... same with the bypass motor oil and then transmission oil filter on my truck... I don't think I need it, but I can't see how it will hurt one way or another- in contrast to traction bars on the same truck... I jumped the TQ to twice the delivered rating, and those poor UBolts that hold the axle to the leaves and shackles that hold the leaves to the frame just weren't enough anymore... I HAD to put traction blocks on to cover my created issue... not so much with the filters...  see where I'm coming from?