Mercruiser Alpha 1 Outdrive

[Jitterbug]

Does anyone know if the top of a Alpha 1 outdrive would get hot while cruising on plane which leaves most of the unit out of the water? Once I slow down and the unit is back in the water it cools off again and does not seem to be a problem other than when running on plane at mid to top speed.
Any thoughts ?
Thanks in advance
Dave H

[Sharon lea]

Jitterbug,
I don't know what type of boat you are running or what speed,I have seen some of the performance boats use a spray tube which attaches to the lower unit .It is basically a metal tube which when installed the bottom opening is pointed to the front of boat,and as you run water pressure causes h2o to come up thru tube and is directed on to top of lower unit. ( check to make sure your oil level is correct.)
sharon lea

[Darren]

If your drive is actually running hot you should see a lot of white deposits on the upper housing after use. I haven't heard of the Alphas having too much of a problem with this but you can add a drive shower for some fairly cheap piece of mind. They run from around $100 to $200.

You can get a couple of different types. The Hydrocool puts a plate on top of the upper housing.. They even have an option to use the plate with a seperate saltwater pump, instead of the standard pick up tube option.



The other style is just a tube that wraps around the upper housing and sprays water onto it.