The History Behind Drive "Coolers"

     The Drive Shower was introduced in the 1980s, when there were only a few manufacturers and they all sprayed water on the top of the drive. Some have solid pick up tubes and the others have flexible tubes but they all had one pick-up port and one dump port on the top. Tests done by Hot Boat Magazine found this technology to cool the drive by about 25 degrees. The Multiport system, which was introduced in 1999, is fed by twin pick-up ports and targets the top and both sides of the drive. It was also tested by Hot Boat as well as many other independent sources and found that it cooled the drive oil by 50 degrees. Now many of the new, as well as the existing, manufacturers were scrambling to come up with a gimmick to sell their products. Within a few months, most of the manufacturers also claimed to be cooling the sides of the drives. One problem is that they don’t seem to want to let go of the notion that it’s beneficial to target the top of the drive. To date, there have been no test results to prove that their system is any better that the systems first introduced in the 1980s.

     In 2000, Simrek introduced the Halo Design which doesn’t waste any of its cooling water on the top of the drive. Again, it was sent it out to be tested by various magazines. Two of them tested it and published that by targeting only the sides of the drive we increased the cooling protection by 10 degrees. So if a system that targets only the sides of the drive gets 20% more cooling than the one that dispenses some of the water on the top, then why do most cooler manufacturers sill insist on targeting the top bearing cap and pre-heating the water before it runs down the sides or worse yet, simply targeting the top bearing cap. Once you understand the concept of efficiently cooling a drive, it becomes easy to see that these other systems are nothing more than gimmicks. If they can make it look good or sound good, maybe they can sell it and in nearly every case at a higher price. Have you ever seen independent test results on any of their products? If a magazine tests a product, the results get published whether the manufacturer wants them to or not. So if you don’t see any testing, then they must not want to the results to be disclosed.

     In 2000, Simrek also introduced the 90 degree pick-up port. Click here to see the benefits of the 90 degree pick-up ports. This also sent many of the other manufacturers scrambling to come up with a solution for their products. To minimize costs, some choose to do nothing. Even after the 45 degree pick-up ports were tested and the results of their failures were published, they are still using this system on their products. You can still find pictures in various magazines of a boat with one of these 45 degree drive coolers and it is obvious by the picture that the drive cooler is not spraying any water onto the drive. One guy tried to circumvent the US Patent by drilling the hole in the front of the tube but plugging only half of the bottom of the tube which picks up just about half of the water.

     With the introduction of the Multiport Drive Shower® in 1999, the industry saw a 100% increase in the ability to cool a stern drive. Since then, many have tried to make improvements on our design but we remain the leader in the industry. There has however been the introduction of a lot of gimmicks to the market. Coolers that replace the top bearing cap or the back inspection cap with a very expensive and not very efficient cooling system are one of the worst gimmicks. They are closely followed by the “cap styled” systems that use: attractive finishes, elaborate designs and exotic shapes to entice you to buy one because it looks nice and should work even though they will offer little protection for your very expensive drive. Before you buy any drive cooling system, ask to see the independent test results that documents that the system does what it claims to do. Don’t rely on the salesman’s redirect, your buddy’s opinion, “it looks like it should work” or claims made by the manufacturer. Click here to see “Physics behind cooling a stern drive”. The proof lies in the ability of the system to cool the drive oil. Isn’t that why you are buying it in the first place? A blown drive with a pretty drive cooler on it won’t be of much value.