Pod drive????

[ghostrider454]

Volvo IPS dwarfs them in sales though. One issue is using Cummins and not offering larger engines.

Really? You need more than 715hp - which is what Cummins mated to the Zeus drives. And, they are in tunnels

Seals are the BIGGIE and striking logs and containers does more damage. But it's worse on the conventional shaft drives that aren't protected with nozzles and flanking rudders.
https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/boats/ips-vs-zeus-which-better
ZF Marine does the Zeuz drives now. No shortage of parts.
https://www.zfmarinepropulsion.com/zeus/

I would take the Cummins just for the engines alone. Only good thing about Volvo is they make lotsa $$$$ if you're a mechanic for them

 

[Comodave]

Definitely Cummins over Volvo. Had Volvos in a boat and had nothing but trouble getting parts, fortunately I sold boats for the dealer part time so he would take parts off new boats to keep mine running.

A friend crewed for a delivery captain. They were trying to move an almost new boat with twin IPS drives in it from Maine to Florida. They flew in from Michigan and one of the engines had a fault. Tried to get a technician out, took 2 weeks. So they flew home. Technician supposedly fixed boat so the flew back to Maine. They got as far as Annapolis and another fault. Schedule a tech to come out, 3 weeks, so they flew home. Tech fixed boat and they flew to Annapolis and then got as far as South Carolina and another fault. Again 2 to 3 weeks to get a tech out. They flew home again. Tech fixed boat and they got to Jacksonville and another fault. The boat owner who is POed now told them to forget it and told the dealer it was his problem. Don’t know if they ever got the boat to Tampa or not. Some of the faults were pod related and some just the engine. However trying to get the tech out and then wait on parts on a new system multiple times in one trip doesn’t say anything good about Volvo service. I will not even look at a boat that has them in it.

 

[BandB]

Really? You need more than 715hp - which is what Cummins mated to the Zeus drives. And, they are in tunnels

Seals are the BIGGIE and striking logs and containers does more damage. But it's worse on the conventional shaft drives that aren't protected with nozzles and flanking rudders.
https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/boats/ips-vs-zeus-which-better
ZF Marine does the Zeuz drives now. No shortage of parts.
https://www.zfmarinepropulsion.com/zeus/

I would take the Cummins just for the engines alone. Only good thing about Volvo is they make lotsa $$$$ if you're a mechanic for them

Yes, Sea Ray needed larger if they wanted to use Zeus on their L Series. They used it on the 59' but didn't on the 65' due to size limitation. That also impacted other builders.

 

[ghostrider454]

Well they make great anchors. The reason most boat builders use them is because they are cheap, Once the boat is sold they don't care about the customer. They leave that to the dealers and mechanics. These recreational engines are totally different than the commercial engines - for one thing being less than 16L and have higher output. My previous tug had a paif of CAT 3516C engines with a continuous 750rpm rating.