False Claims

Misleading or outright false statements that we found on manufacturer’s websites: "Beware of the White Salmon Salesmen" - So far, your response has been nearly overwhelming and we are trying to keep up with your queries. We are continuing to ask; if you see a claim from a manufacturer that is misleading or sounds hard to believe, please bring it to out attention using (info@drivecoolers.com) and we will investigate it and post the claim and our evaluations on this site. Please be patient, keeping an eye on the drive cooler manufacturers is NOT all we do. So it might take a little time for us to respond. We are not about to do a "shoot out" test where we test various models and report our findings. We are not a test facility. They will all claim to be the best so it's up to you to figure out who is the snake oil salesman and who has legitimate test results. We will say this, as soon as one manufacturer claims a 60 degree drop in temperature, everyone else’s test results seems to inflate to a 65 degree drop in temperature without a change to their designs and everybody's system out performs everybody else’s. We found these statements on the Just Wicked Marine site: Just Wicked Marine: “This is our competitor advertised picture of their Halo shower design. Where’s the water on the top?” Evaluation: Over the "Where's the water on the top" they have a picture of Simrek's Halo Design functioning at 40 MPH. We have already described in our "Cooler Physics" page why it is a waist of water to spray the top bearing cap. Please review the information that we have provided before falling for nonsense like this. Just Wicked Marine: "Pick-Up tips are tempered for a more durable tip." Evaluation: This statement is so blatantly false that we’re not sure if it's simply designed to mislead the public, or if it's an honest mistake made do to shear ignorance. 316 stainless is austenitic, a non-hardenable chromium nickel steel. It is a low carbon steal, (that’s why it doesn’t rust), and with little carbon, it cannot be hardened or annealed and definitely not something that you can temper. Just because you toss a metal part into a bucket of water after you have welded it, doesn’t mean that you can claim that it has been tempered. - We are going to let our readers decide which case this is: a manufacturer that is willing to deceive the public, or one that has this little engineering knowledge. Just Wicked Marine: "Our showers come with two brackets for two mounting points reducing shower vibration up to 65% over one mounting point." Evaluation: You should always consider the words "up to" to mean "we picked a number out of thin air". Up to 65% can mean anywhere from minus 100% to plus 64%. So let's help them determine what their claim should be. They are claiming that two brackets that are wrapped around the tubing will reduce the showers vibrations "up to 65%" over a shower that has one mounting bracket. Assuming that they are referring to the Simrek shower, that has more contact area than both of their brackets together, plus it's welded to the tubing not clamped. We are thinking that the "up to 65%" in this case would be best described as -65%, or less effective in reducing the harmonics (the proper term is harmonics not vibrations) that the shower is subjected to. Remember that these are the same people that think, or maybe it's want you to believe, that their "Pick-Up tips are tempered for a more durable tip." Just Wicked Marine: “With Just Wicked Marine’s Drive Shower design you get more water flow and lower drive oil Temperature. GUARANTEED” Evaluation: A statement like this is meaningless because it's unenforceable. The only way that one of their customers could force a refund is if they bought and install all of the other drive coolers on the market and have everything tested by an independent testing facility? So, a bold statement like this may sound impressive, but a “Guarantee” like this one should be considered as just another gimmick. "Just Wicked Marine: Come on now, what happen to the integrity of honest advertisement. There's not one claim on our site that we are not prepared to backup." Evaluation: This one actually gave us a chuckle; need we say more with respect to anyone that says that they can back up their own test results? Plus, you guys have got to be kidding right? It sounds like "the kettle calling the pot black" to us! We found these statements on the Hurley Marine LLC website: Hurley Marine: “Your stern drive is probably operating at 250 + degrees. Image (we are assuming that they meant Imagine not Image) how thin the oil must be and how soft the internal components are at that temp!” Evaluation: “how soft the internal components are at that temp”, this has to be one of the most misleading scare tactics that we have ever seen. It would take temperatures well in access of 1000 degrees to alter the molecular structure of the internal components that they are referring to. There is absolutely no way that the internal components are “soft” at 250 degrees. Hurley Marine: “The Bravo III's have problems keeping oil in the reservoirs which is due to excessive heat. This heat is thinning the oil so much that the seals start seeping.” Evaluation: It’s true that some Bravo IIIs have problems keeping oil in the reservoirs, and it is due to heat; but the bit about the seals seeping due to the oil getting too thin, is nonsense. The oil is actually foaming inside the drive and causing it to expand enough to push itself past the seals. It’s for that same reason that Bravo IIIs have been known to have their reservoir bottles overflow or even explode. The oil getting thin has nothing to do with it. We found this on the Simrek website: Up date 03/2007 Simrek has corrected their site to refect our findings. Simrek: "How much cooling water does your system supply? The mathematical formula for the water volume for our dual pick-up system with a .400 I.D. tube is: Tube Capacity: Pi (3.141593) x Rad (sq.) = 3.141593 x .200(sq.) or 3.141593 x .04 = .125664 .125664 x 2 (2 pick-up ports) = .251327(sq. in.) tube dia. capacity Water flow: 5280 ft./mi. or 5280*12 = 63,360(in/mi.) at 1 mph 63360(in./at 1 mi./hr.) X .251327(sq.in.) = 15924(qb.in./hr.at 1 mph) 15924(qb.in./hr.) / 200 (qb. in./gal.) = 79.6(gals./hr.) at 1 mph. At 40 mph. 79.6(gals./hr.) x 40 = 3185 gal./hr. or 53 gals./min. or .9 gal./sec." Evaluation: Though the mathematical formulas are correct, don’t be mislead by the “At 40 mph” statement that sounds like the shower will produce .9 gallons of water per second to your drive. These numbers could be reproduced in a laboratory setting, but not in the real world. The water directly underneath the anti-cavitation plate is very aerated so the pick-up ports are not supplying pure water but an air/water mixture. Expect about half of the .9 gal. / sec. or just over 4.5 gallons per second. We found this on the Innovative Marine website: Innovative Marine: "THE BASE PLATE, OR "STUD GIRDLE", IS THE FOUNDATION FOR THE ENTIRE SYSTEM. IT BOLTS TO THE TOP OF THE BEARING CAP AND CONTAINS THE RUBBER SEALS. ALSO STRENGTHENS THE UPPER GEAR CASE AND BEARING TOWER WITH AN INTEGRATED "STUD GIRDLE". Evaluation: Below and on the left is a picture of their Base Plate. Below and on the right is a picture of the underside of an Alpha bearing cap. The arrow is pointing to the bearing tower. What they are actually doing with this plate, is suspend it over the top surface of the bearing cap by the use of studs and spacers. How attaching this plate is going to do add strength and stability to anything is far fetched at best. First, to stabilize something is to reduce its movement. Nothing about the bearing tower or upper gear case is going to move anyway, so you can’t add stability to them by simply changing the bolts. Second, the only contact between this plate and the bearing cap is on the top surface, with two rubber seals. The bearing tower is on the underneath side of the bearing cap which is simply bolted onto the upper gear case. This unit might be a nice drive cooler, but it will add strength and stability to nothing but the company's profit margins.

Mounting plate on left -- Bearing cap on right