cle water pick up question

[finishline]

I had recently bought a daytona eliminator with 2.4 efi motors and cle lowers using hull water picks up and having the holes in the lower unit filled/epoxyied shut. the fittings are going into the side clean out holes in the drive. im kinda new to the HI perf merc stuff. is this a common water pick up design. from the mid eighty's as I have not seen this used commonly. with the newer 2.5 stuff it seems there plumbed into the upper mid plate. but have lower hole still openin the drive. the fitting going onto the side clean out plates seem to look like a homemade set up. kinda looks like the fitting set up used with the bobs nose cone just with the hose going to the water pick up on the hull. is it ok to use it like this.

[Eagle One]

That style set up and similar ones were used in a lot of offshore applications and a lot of experimentation came about with such designs. If the water pickups still allow the pump to pick up water (rather than just force it through the engine when moving) it should be ok to use but I favor the stock low water pick up that was on the CLE to begin with.

[Go Time]

Definitely not common on outboard applications..its more of an offshore performance I/O setup. I prefer the internal pumping, less reliability with the hose from pickups to engine.

[finishline]

I looked on bobs machine website and the still sell the transom water pickups, What kinda water pressure should i be expecting on this set up its plumbed into the side of the cle clean out cover feeding the water pump. Can i run the transom/hull water pick ups and leave the low water pick up open on the drive or do they have to stay epoxyed shut to keep up the water pressure?

Thanks for the Input on this Guys

[toyomirage02]

It shouldn't just blow by the water pump and you should have normal water psi open the holes on the lower for when idling or if its ok use clean it up so that it looks cleaner

[pyro]

The 21 Daytona with twins runs great with the motors up super-high... Higher than they could go on the stock nose cone intakes. The transom pickups allow for the heights needed to get the best performance.

[Mr. Demeanor]

I run a transom pickup on my tunnel. The Bobs adjustable unit is junk. The aluminum bracket isnt anodized or coated in any way. The "stainless steel" pickup is actually a square staineless tube with a cast iron fitting welded to it. Expect rust in short order.

I made my own and can elaborate if you want. The pickup does not need to stick down below the hull. Mine is a hair above flush and I rounded the trailing edge of the hull at the pickup to feed water into it. Its not much at all and I have huge pressure. My propshaft is 4.5" above the bottom of the sponsons.

Here is an example of how some boats do it although I prefer a square tube.

[Mr. Demeanor]

I made my own using a drain plug fitting and some square tube after experimenting with the adjustable Bobs pickup.
The reason I like the square tube flat against the transom is there are no gaps on the sides to suck air.

[Mr. Demeanor]

This was the Bobs adjustable I started with until it began to fall apart. I had to modify it to fit tight against the transom to make it work without burying it. At the height in the pics I had 20+ psi at 80+ mph and a good gain over using the gearcase pickups. Just be careful because you can get too high and loose.

[finishline]

thanks for the input and pictures. what have you done with the drive fittings I didn't think the bobs fitting/ hose connection look very clean how they are screwed into the clean out cover and into the drive. I figure there would be something else out there or a different way to feed the water pump in the drive.