Installed starts of course with removing the old ones. That’s where the problems started. The nut a bolt formed a perfect union that didn’t want to be broken so out came the drill.
Are these from TR Machining? Could just be a typo is your post…
I believe they are machined and not 3D printed. I have similar ones from Jack Foreman on my Tohatsu that are made by TRM. They are composite material - they are not plastic. @Smackdaddy53 might be able to tell more on this. We had a thread about these at the previous place.
They do work, but one thing to look out for is clogging of the cooling system, especially if you idle or run over sand a lot. I’ve seen my pee tube go to nothing while it was just working fine earlier.
I was just at Todd’s shop getting some Shallow Scoops for a customer’s F70 and also having my thrust washer and splined washer machined down to test a prototype prop.
I can assure you his scoops are all 100% machined, none are printed. If you get some that are printed they are fake Shallow Scoops. A few years back a certain skiff shop was rigging their new skiffs with 3D printed scoops and they were reverse engineered TR Machining scoops…I have a gallon bag full of them that came off these skiffs new from the builder and most have fins missing that ended up trashing the water pump impellers and rubber and plastic ended up in the cooling passages in every one of these brand new outboards. I took the fake scoops to Todd’s shop and he showed me the real deal versus the fake ones. He took a flat screwdriver and inserted the tip in the screen slots and twisted, the 3D printed ones broke and his machined scoops bent and popped back into shape. He machines them out of virgin HDPE. The 3D printed ones have lines that are a dead giveaway of 3D printed junk plastic scoops.
While I was there last week he and I discussed this topic again and he showed me some prototype scoops he is working on along with some spacer pucks to change the angle of trim tabs without drilling new mounting holes in the transom. He’s a sharp cookie, we get along well!
I hope this helps!
Edited to add a couple of points…
• The scoops in the previous post photos are machined virgin HDPE. 3D printed ones do not have those mill marks from the machining process. I will go get some real ones and some printed ones and show you guys the difference.
• Shallow Scoops do not cause any issues with ingesting sand…at least no more than stock screens.
• Shallow Scoops work very well, if they didn’t I promise someone who runs a business centered around modified cooling system components would not touch them witj a ten foot pole…I buy them for customers all the time who don’t want (or can’t afford) my system or their hull is not acceptable for my water intake installation.
Look guys.. I can honestly say I don’t know what a 3D printed product looks like. I’m sure I’ve seen something along the way, but idk.
I assumed all the talk about his scoops being machined, meant they were machined metal, but they are not. Which is fine. The OEM aren’t metal either. That assumption was purely on me.
These do have machining marks though, that I can clearly identify.
They are also straight from Todd as I texted directly with him many times. Nice guy, very responsive and easy to deal with. He also sent out a replacement set, as apparently USPS, lost the first he sent out, with no questions asked.
@Smackdaddy53 if can post pics of the knockoffs, I’d love to see em, just to see the difference.
Maybe you guys can educate me, do you use these scoops because you’re running your motors so high up (assuming these are mostly for tunnel hulls) and the only way to force enough water in for cool is to add these scoops? I’m guessing if you don’t have these scoops and your pick up is barely under the waters surface your water pressure would be minimal and also maybe capture air? Curious when the you realize these need to be added?
I don’t run mine up on the plate for miles on end though. For a use like that, @Smackdaddy53 pickup system is a better option.
However for my situation I do run up in the plate occasionally but for short distances and while I haven’t had any issues, it’s cheap insurance.
A more accurate way to see if there’s a need would be to use a water pressure gauge.
About three weeks ago I picked up a client’s 2005 HB Guide with vented tunnel to work my magic without a pickup system. I lifted the outboard 5" higher than the stock height and ran it with and without Shallow Scoops. With the stock F70 screens it was not getting water and with the Shallow Scoops it ran fully jacked and was consistently hanging around 20-25psi water pressure. No doubt the Shallow Scoops work but only to a certain point where you can’t go any higher unless you go with one of the other remote or nosecone pickup options.
I ended up deleting the tunnel vents and it runs a full 5" higher than stock and I could go higher if the poling platform was not in the way. He is happy where it is and will be getting the “full meal deal” from me soon for his HB Whipray 16 so he will have his big skinny skiff and his smaller super skinny skiff. My definition of skinny is not the same as most. I had a nice laugh yesterday reading a new post about how cutting edge a certain skiff’s tunnel was and how it allowed the outboard to run with 3" of prop below the hull. This is not impressive for a tunnel, I’m just being honest. The things these hulls are capable of are very impressive if they are rigged correctly. If the limits are not being tested what’s the point?
I think it always, or atleast should come down to needs.
Mine does exactly what I need it do. Now would it be perfectly suited for your area? Idk, maybe, but probably not.
I really only need it to go super skinny in the winter time, and even then I really only need it to run across skinny areas for 100 yards or so at the most, which generally in the 4-6” range.
I played around with it a lot this past winter and learned a lot about it.
What Mac mentioned is similar to what I did with my non tunnel Whipray. I was able to raise the engine to the highest bolt and add a jack plate and scoops. My prop runs half way out of the water, so this puts 6" of skeg under my stern. I can raise one more inch and lose some water pressure temporarily to get up shallow, then lower back down.
I run for long distance - 80 miles round trip sometimes. Sometimes, I only run 5 miles in a day - but my engine is set the same way for both.
If I added the low water pick up from @Smackdaddy53 I could run even higher with less worry than I have now. But the scoops do in fact work - I could not run the way I do without them.
This thread is not about me or my system but I’ll add this…
There’s a common misconception about my system that it’s only purpose is to run the boat shallow. A few months ago I dropped my lower unit for the first time since I replaced the water pump with a full rebuild kit and my prototype pickup system…that means the water pump was not checked or changed in over eight years and I run my HPXT with the hull dragging sand and over back lakes of matted grass quite often. Another benefit is being able to preserve my expensive custom prop for that same amount of time before having the cup touched up. The only reason the cup needed touching up was because of cavitation and just the sheer number of revolutions over that time. I don’t baby my rig, it gets used and used hard.
Here’s the eight plus year old impeller and cup…still pegging out the water pressure gauge but I figured I’d replace it anyway.
Mac — That’s my HB Guide tunnel you were referring to. Ran it hard this weekend in Rockport and it is impressive what the boat can do. Very easy to spin up and was able to navigate some really, really shallow stuff exiting a back lake. The scoops are a great improvement to my skiff and I recommend them. FWIW — Mac also got my prop set up dialed to improve the hole shot as well. Totally different boat.
I forget everyone’s handles versus real names! I’m glad you are enjoying it. She took some work and testing but I knew it would end up working out. She’s definitely not the same, a diamond in the rough!
Interesting. Ive been meaning to write up my impressions going from my 90TR to the F70 but one is that the new engine has very much impressed me with how well it does fully jacked with WP. I need another 3" of jackplate in reality.
