Someone sent me this.

Still got a lower unit to whack. Those new 4 stroke ProDrives got my attention tho.

Kinda my thinking as well. I would like to see a durability test on the heat exchangers. Start hitting them with a baseball bat at a controlled speed. I like the concept though. Although loud, the best setup I have seen to date was a 96ci Harley engine mounted on a gatortail (I think it was) frame. More power, more robust, still air cooled and most importantly, not a cheap lawn mower engine.

That's what I find interesting about that new ProDrive motor. A real boat motor... quiet, robust, etc. It'll be interesting to see how that heat exchanger / panel on the bottom (and the rest of the cooling system) holds up. Sure would suck to crack it and lose all the coolant.

A good friend of mine is a fishing/duck guide around Padre so he is gonna give it a shot. Not sucking salt water through the engine is a good bonus, too. He's been talking to ProDrive. Apparently there's a 90 hp version in development meant for big center console hulls and that's what he's after.

That prodrive setup looks good. Not sure if it would hold up to rocks, tpost or a pipe. But it should hold up to stumps and obviously mud. I'm surprised prodive hasn't developed a hull with the cooling system already integrated into it.

With that said I've head that prodrive is proud of that setup and it's big $$.

I wonder how long it will take someone to develop an electric setup. I wouldn't think it would be that hard, just needs about a 50mile range for the majority of applications. Really you could probably get away with a 25mile range. You could get a whole lot more speed and torque out of an electric motor. Plus it would be whisper quiet.

Neither setup is a good answer. Seems like with all the research and time that’s gone into this they would’ve thought of a way to get rid of external heat exchangers. Maybe move to a radiator in the boat with an electric fan, or a heat exchanger in an internal boat compartment that has a continuous flow of water pumped on it by a separate bilge. There’s a better way than having to weld stuff to the boat or some wings hanging off the lower unit.