Pod drives in the real world

Sierra,
I now have 2 seasons behind me with IPS drives and over 260 hrs. of run time. When I purchased my boat I had most of the same questions.

We dont have lobster pots in the Chesapeake but crab pots are everywhere. This makes it very difficult to travel at night in areas where pots exist. I keep my eyes open at all times watching for them. However, the drives are not what causes me to be more alert towards them. I would do the same with any type of drive system. I have never had an issue!

There is always the concern of floating or submerged logs or debris! and if you hit something it wont matter what type of drive you have, you will do serious damage to any system. If the Pod is hit, as you know, it is designed to sheer off. However it takes a substantial hit to break the pod off. It doesnt seperate under normal conditions it would have to be an extreme blow.
Personally, I have Sea Tow to help if I become disable. They will tow you to the nearest facility that can fix your boat. (I wouldnt be without it if you plan on traveling).

Service wise, I looked into all service techs in my area that can handle the IPS. They are becoming more and more. Sooner than later, with these types of systems offered by most manufacturers, you will see them popping up in areas that they presently can not cover. It is the future and dealers will have to step up and get the accredidation.

Draft is a little bit of a concern for me. The Chesapeake is extremely shallow and my boat draws 3'6" which is 6" more than the same boat with shafts. I have become very aware of depths in and out of strange areas and do not push it. If I am not comfortable in a shallow area I just stay out, or wait for the higher tides. Most shaft boats are drawing 3-4 ft. anyway so I am not much different then they are.
I will also ask for local knowledge while traveling. Sea Tow and Tow Boat US are very good about that and can give local knowledge. I will also try and follow a deep draft vessel in areas where I am concerned.

Overall I cant say enough about this new technology. As long as I have a large power vessel I will have POD drives. Will I have issues? Probably at some point! But I am not going to worry about what I can not control. I have great insurance as well as common sense. So Hopefully my issues will be no different than those with shaft driven vessels. Time will tell!
 
Thanks Van Lafermine. That's precisely the type of real-world info I hope this thread will generate. And it is obviously so true that proper due diligence and good seamanship apply regardless of what technology your vessel employs (which is why the "ease for inexperienced boater appeal" of joystick control worries a lot of people - but that's a topic for a different thread).

It is good to hear an owner's perspective on what it takes to shear off a pod. Have you heard the dreaded "thud" of hitting anything while underway? How do the props look after two seasons?

The service concern is not inconsequential for me as I primarily boat in a bit of a service "dead-zone" to begin with, but as the technology proliferates, I hope so too will the availability of service.

Thanks again.
 
Sierra,
Thankfully, I have not hit anything that was to substantial. I would imagine, like everyone, I have hit small logs and several pieces of debris in the water. As long as it is floating it should not do much damage to the props. The hull will push small items away before it can reach the drives.

I pulled the boat in early Sept. to clean the bottom and the props were still like new. No nicks or dings at all. I am keeping it in the water for this winter and will pull it again in the spring for a short haul and basic maintenance.

Hope that helps!
Van
 
We were sitting around at the yacht club last night debating pod drives. The 2 concerns that people had was that they are ineffective in a following sea and that docking with a current is difficult because the system does not compensate (apply more power) to off set the current.

I have yet to operate a boat with pods so I couldn't really comment. Is there any truth to this?
 
I drove them very briefly and the maneuverability was amazing. There seemed a long delay in shifting but I think that was probably just my inexperience showing.
I do wonder about Art’s question, normal shaft boats can be run on single quite easily with no real handicap if not overpowered because the rudder can offset the single prop torque, I don’t think that would be possible with a pod.
 
Maxwell,
The pods make it extremely easy in currents or winds. The current pushes you either to port or starboard and with the control you can actually push sideways compensating for the push of wind or current. There is a high and low button on the joy stick so you can use the high in difficult situations. Also there is a way to increase the RPM through the computer. It will make the low button run at the high rpm and the high button run on a higher rpm. I am in an area with fairly extreme currents and have never been challenged. I have alot of hrs. on both set ups and you really cant compare them.

I have not noticed any difference in a following sea. I took mine from Chesapeake bay to LI last summer with 5-6 ft. seas with absolutely no problem. My last boat was a motor yacht with shafts and I did have problems with control in a following sea with that. No problem with the IPS. However, I would not use the Joy Stick in that type of sea. Just the throttles.

Also on one engine it is quite easy to maneuver. You just have to use the throttles and not the Joy Stick.

Everyone will be a skeptic until they experience the system themselves. There is literally no place that I can not put my boat into with total control and confidence.
 
We have a 2007 Tiara with Volvo Penta IPS and have about 600 hours and over 4,000 miles on them. Our draft is 3.5 feet and the IPS pods hang about 18 inches lower then the keel.

We started out boating in Knoxville, TN and did the 75% of the Great Loop in reverse direction. (We went up the rivers to Chicago, across Ontario Canada via the Trent-Severn Waterway and down the east coast via the ICW). We liked Florida boating so much we decided to move to Florida and now boat out of Fort Myers. The west coast of Florida has skinny water. We are boating in 5 to 6 feet of water on a regular basis.

We are absolutely sold on IPS system. We've run on flooded rivers (lots of crap in the water from logs to refrigerators) and didn't have any issues. We've bumped a muddy bottom on the Illinois River and were fine.

The Trent-Severn has a railway lock. They actually lift the boat out of the water using a sling. I have to say it did make me nervous but it went off without any problems. Here's a link to our blog with some picture of us on the railway lock. http://skifishfly.com/greatloop/?m=20080918

We've only had one issue. We followed a sailboat out of a lock on the Erie Canal. We hit a submerged log and bent all four props. We were able to continue on to a marina about 10 miles away where the boat could be serviced. The Volvo mechanic was about 90 miles away and he was on-site the next morning. They were able to reshape the props over the weekend and we were back on the road by 11:00 Monday.

The Volvo Rapid Response dealers we've used for oil changes, service and the prop work have all been responsive and helpful.

IPS is great for docking and locks. You have complete control of the boat when the wind is less then 25 knots. When the wind is over 25 knots you have to be a little careful when the wind is on the beam because the wind can stop you. We docked in Pompano Beach last week in winds sustained at 18 and gusting to 28. Our beam is 14 and they put us in a 15 foot wide slip. My wife does all the docking and I handle lines. She wasn't too happy with the situation but the boat handled great.

Docking with throttles is ok. Since the drives are close together and with counter-rotating props you don't have the same level of control as a traditional drive boat but it is adequate.

We've docked a couple times on one engine - log and impeller issues. Boat handled like a traditional I/O boat.

We hit our first crab pot line a couple weeks ago. The engine dropped about 50 RPMs and then came right back up. We looked at it later and found no damage.

Sorry for the long post. As you can tell I'm sold on the IPS system. I'll figure out how to post pictures and put a couple up.
 
IPS bent props. The pod and props are coated with PropSpeed. Where the PropSpeed is removed from the props is where they were bent.

brewerton-2-6-300x225.jpg


Here's the boat going back into the water. You can see how far the units hang past the keel.

sylvan-beach-2-300x225.jpg


Trent-Severn Waterway - railway lock

big-chute-2-300x225.jpg
 
quote:
Originally posted by TerryM

Sorry for the long post. As you can tell I'm sold on the IPS system.
Click to expand...

Terry - the long post is very much appreciated. It's great to hear this kind of feedback from someone with so many hours under their belt with this technology - and if you think of anything else please pass it along!

I was particularly interested to hear that you touched bottom without incident, something that I'm sure was a concern.
 
Volvo is just starting to offer a repower from shafts to IPS drive system I dont know any details but its something to look at $$$$$$$ I would think
 
I asked a local Volvo dealer about two years ago if they would sell engines and IPS drive. They said "absolutely". $100k for the IPS 500 with a joystick. Needless to say, I haven't bought yet :-) ZF makes a three pod drives: Zeus, one for boats 30 to 48, and one for larger boats. I have not priced any of these drives. My boat has the engines far aft like the new boats with pod drives. I figure that converting to pod drives will give me a 15 - 30% increase in efficiency and manuveriblity (sp?)
 
Personally I don't see how a pod drive is any more efficient than a conventional outdrive... More maneuverable probably, but that's going to depend on how it's set up. I think you could do the same thing with outdrives IF you could independently control each drive, which is what I understand the computer does with the pods.

I can't afford either one...
 
I believe that outdrives are more efficient than conventional inboard. But there are limitations on the size and they are a bit more difficult to handle at slow speed. I believe that Cummins/Mercruiser have developed a system with joystick control for outdrives (each outdrive is steered independantly). Outdrives have a corossion issue, don't they? Have they done anything different for pod systems?
 
Pods are really best suited $$$wise for larger boats, much larger than you would find using outdrives.
 
Terry, Great pics and your trip looks like an experience of a lifetime.

Quick question, how often do you use your joystick? I went out on a 40pc with the formula people at the Miami boat show and he was using the joystick anytime the boat was not on plane (in and out of the harbor, no wake etc). I'm unsure if he was just trying to demonstrate the system or if that is what people do when you have it. Is this normal or are people mainly using them while docking etc?
 
Terry, while looking at your album, I came across this photo of a diver inspecting your props. Do you have an underwater camera which you can view from on your MFD? Or is that photo taken from above?

prop-300x225.jpg
 
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