Another benefit comes from counter-rotating props on the pods. Some had forward-facing propellers. They tasked ZF Marine to bring them a transmission that would mate with their Zeus pod, electronic controls and joystick steering. Obviously, you have run over fish to get a bite, but we proved that pod-drives were no fearsome thing. That means a haulout to remove the break-in lube and replace it with the normal lubricant. Marlin Magazine may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site. These come with various engine configurations but commonly, with QSB 425s which can be either shaft-drive or Zeus pods. Sounds like another good option to me. All told, figure $500 per engine annually, plus haul-out fees. Pods also expand morning fluid checks to include the lazarette. With it, fingertip operation of any vessel became possible. The drive can be simultaneously connected to electric propulsion too. Some really nice high tech features that most will never use. Most pod boats burn roughly the same per mile through a wide range of cruising speeds; conventional shaft boats typically have a narrow sweet spot. I had the opportunity to run several different boats at Volvos test center in Gothenburg, Sweden, during the companys international press launch, and there is no doubt I was intrigued by the system. They have shafts, they have props, and they can get more if they need them. Simply pop in a pod and enjoy your herbs. First, hull efficiency was enhanced, because the props were always aligned with the direction of motion in the boat. Please note that to purchase a vaporizer from this website you must abide by local laws and be a minimum of 19 years of age. All with a simple push or twist of the joystick. If one engine vibrates but the other doesnt while in neutral, the problem is likely in the always-turning jack shaft. "Cummins says you don't have to haul, but it takes a lot more time to suck that heavy oil out than to just drain it from the bottom," Siebert said. And once the numbers are crunched, are pods worth it? Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can also change some of your preferences. You must be logged in to reply to this topic. What does a shaft-type propulsion system really need? Cummins expert Rob Mirman gives an overview of the Cummins Zeus pod drive system at the 2013 Miami International Boat Show. Zeus and ZF have only a few thousand pods in use. He fished many tournaments with the boat, including the Mid-Atlantic at Cape May, the Pirates Cove tournament in North Carolina and several sailfish tournaments in south Florida. Each pod has 2 props and they are different. The pods require yearly maint that is beyond what regular trans, shaft and prop systems require. Inboards are virtually maintenance-free, while pods require lots of servicing. I'm concerned that I won't be able to get my hands on a replacement drive if one were to sheer off 5-7 years from now. With the pods, there is only a very slight, nearly unnoticeable change in the amount of flavor in the vapor, but it's a very small trade-off for the level of convenience that they deliver. Thats the biggest attraction and why [pods] gained acceptance among a lot of enthusiasts, who wanted a certain size of vessel and want to move from a 28 to a 34 to 40 but were not comfortable with maneuvering inboard boats. (And when the struts rip out, they can take parts of the hull with them, something that probably wont happen with pods.) And maneuverabilitywell, any good sportfishing captain can put his ride wherever he wantswithout a joystick. Inboards props are angled downward, diminishing the power directed toward forward motion. IMO, Zeus, or any POD drive, would not even be a close 2nd. Allow $450 per IPS pod, $350 per Zeus. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. Dont cheap out on anodes, Petzold advised. Fortunately the 42 Express cockpit is well laid out for Zeus . But who cares, really? maritime ships for sale near vienna; octagon mirror feng shui; does zwift work with proform The downside is pod drives are way more complex than conventional propulsion systems; consequently, pod-powered boats cost more to buy and maintain. There are a lot of traditionalists in that market.. For the first few years pods appeared mostly on company demo boats tested by magazine writers, and received lots of press coverage, most of it extolling their handling advantages. Initially, I too was surprised at the lack of trained techs in my area but once I realized you can use Mercury techs that have been to Mercury Diesel school, more options opened up. The IPS-drives fit well in our boats, and our owners love their maneuverability, Pared says, and he has customers who can back up his word. A couple of tanks of fuel? Best of the old and the new.maybe. Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking. There is definitely more maintenance with pods, said John Siebert. However, the patent on forward-facing props a feature that Volvo Penta claims gives its drives better traction by letting the broad blades and narrow hubs of their counter-rotating props turn in clean water well below the surface was not utilized. Featuring a patented design that provides the simplest solution for vaping on the go with your Zeus 3rd generation vaporizer. Thats the environment marine propulsion engineers entered when they envisioned a new pod-drive system, a form of propulsion for boats that could change the way anglers pursue big game. I have personally ruled out any boat with PODS, IPS or ZEUS, for those 2 main reasons. $44 MediaLight Mk2 Flex 4m D65 6500CRI98 Bias Lighting USB powered ComputersTablets & Networking Laptop & Desktop Accessories USB Lights & Gadgets Running the boat for too long on break-in oil can shorten the life of the pods innards. Volvo includes neither a water alarm nor a clear reservoir, so check the single transmission and gear oil dipstick for signs of water. Siebert puts annual maintenance for pods roughly $2,000 above what straight shafts cost, not including extra haul-out fees for boats that exceed 250 engine-hours per year. But its also highly dependent on the application of the vessel. Theyre a whole different animal, Siebert said. They get people excited about buying a new boat.. Volvo Pentas IPS drive features patented forward-facing props, which lets them bite into clean water. A very hard grounding is also likely to cost less with pods, since theyre meant to shear off and then go right back onto the boat with just a thorough service and new bolts. But then outboards are more powerful and more economical than ever. After that, it wasnt up for discussion any longer: The marlin didnt mind the pods at all. Boat will operate 75% of the time in displacement/9kt mode, if that is relevant. I am looking for a larger boat in the same size range as you. The Zeus ArcPods are the convenient method of preparing, loading, and transporting your dry herb for use with your Zeus Arc GTS or Arc S vaporizer. (I know you're supposed to replace each use for both the other companies, but it is possible to get more than one sesh out of each pod). Of course neither of these statements is true. You might not think of Cat as a pod company, but since ZF offered its pods to the market, hes helped several manufacturers build ZF or Zeus pod with Caterpillar engines. Then forward-thinking builders (Tiara, Cruisers, Regal, and Sabre among them) redesigned their boats for pod power and the technology became mainstream. It might save the cost of a divorce on cruelty-while-docking grounds, too, a way bigger budget-breaker than pod drives. The pod-drives gave us the ability to manage the narrow locks and small marinas along that route without a bow thruster. Unless I lived/boated in the same area where existed the Mecca of Zeus Service Centers (wherever that may be) I would steer clear (no pun intended) . Wouldnt accommodations be the more relevant yardstick? I can do a 180 in about a second and a half. Sure the stories are one-sided, but as an aggregate source of information, theyve led me to conclude that pods are no more prone to failure than inboards but that when a pod breaks, the repair bills going to be higher. Being new to power boating, I selected this configuration for ease of docking and it has been fabulous. Pods, on the other hand, need annual TLC, and this means skilled work. The company didnt invent them, but it made pod a household word among boaters. But now that both Volvo Inboard Propulsion System and Cummins MerCruiser Zeus drives have been spinning beneath boats for more than five years, its time to assess the cost of ownership of pods versus conventional shafts. Pods have been pretty darn foolproof, he said. As Mercury continues to grow its diesel business, Zeus support will grow. For those first 25 hours, we use a break-in lube, said David Fessenden, a marine applications engineer with Cummins Atlantic. But how do you compare boats? Its also important to monitor for seawater dripping onto drives. If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here: We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Having the ability to move sideways, spin and dock raises the comfort level, especially for an inexperienced boater who wants to weekend but doesnt want to train on an 18-foot vessel, Meissner says. In fact, shafts and struts have been driven through the hull by groundings and collisions with floating debris. Richard Thiel, in February 2014. I am after some of Seaboards famous frank and honest advice: should I run away from pod drives.or go for them if they have a solid maintenance track record which I need to commit to maintaining.or go for them without hesitation because they really are the better technology? Outboards are easy. Zeus allows for simple control o. x 33 ft.), SMX Bronze Freshwater Flush Cap for Groco ARG Series Strainers, Bronze Tee Adapter and Freshwater Flush System, Military Style Top Post Battery Terminals, Heavy Duty Marine Grade 316L Stainless Steel Washers, Cummins Marine Diamond Performance Series Engine Sticker, ZF Marine Transmission Sales & Current Inventory, ZF 45-85 A/IV Shift & Troll Cable Bracket, ZF Marine Transmission Oil Drain Line Kit, Suredrive Coupling for Borg Warner & ZF 220A, Suredrive Coupling for ZF 301 & 302 VLD/IV with Vulkan L, Marine Flex Plate (Velvet Drive, SAE 11.5), Vulkan Vulkardan-E (2K3411S004) SAE No. Vessel Systems Considerations for Marine Repower, ZF Marine Propulsion Systems Miramar, LLC. When checking transmission oil level, give it a sniff. (Volvo Penta soon followed suit.). Around here most mercury dealers wont take it on. Great contribution Blue Magnolia..that rings true and honest. Great Product. Zeus ArcPods Lid pack filled with 50 paper lids for the Zeus ArcPods (sold separately). What customers are choosing is maneuverability. Check the status of an existing order here. What if you do hit something? he says. Theoretically. Ill be limiting my search to non-pod models going forward. Can anyone speak to when there were evolutionary changes in the Zeus pods? Nevertheless, pods are making inroads. Pods require drive-oil changes every 250 hours or annually. Okay, the motors cost about $80,000 and $90,000, respectively. Zeus Arsenal has always made only reliable, well-performing devices that go beyond just being the perfect daily driver. And often, they are recoverable and repairable. The pod-drive boats were clearly more maneuverable and accelerated more quickly than strut, shaft and -prop-drive inboards. Full details on our program can be found here. Cummins QSC 8.3 Zeus pods long term support, https://www.yachtforums.com/converszeus-pods-long-term-support.17232/#navigation, https://www.sabreyachts.com/motor-yachts/fly-bridge-sedan-48/fly-bridge-48-performance-data, (You must log in or sign up to reply here.). Make sure theyre specifically trained, or at least have several years of experience, Siebert said. Somewhere in between the cost of straightening conventional shafts and rudders, and possibly even repairing transmissions, the advantage shifts back to pods. The performance numbers on the IPS are slightly better. Pods are designed to shear off without compromising hull integrity. Before, maneuvering required forethought, logic, coordination, and strategizing; after, it became mere intuition: Look where you want to go and point the joystick that way. Plus factors and quiet fuel efficient. If that aint enough, Seven Marine builds a 557- or 627-horsepower small-block V-8 configured as an outboard motor. The lower units (gear housing) will need to be resealed and I expect to have to do this every 5 years or so. Some pods require draining. Theres no free lunch, so there must be a hidden cost that no ones factored in.. And joystick piloting? Are there particular production years that performed better than others. Siebert prefers Boeshield T-9. Sea Ray sells the 460 Sundancer with twin 550-horsepower Cummins diesels, with either V-drive or Zeus drives; the Zeus option adds $113,333 to the $1,004,768 price, according to Sea Ray. All rights reserved. It gets all the bubbles out of the wake, he says. We have, on occasion, sent oil out with no visible sign of water, but it showed up on the test. Oil analysis is inexpensiveusually under $200and worth doing at every change; finding a bad seal early will save thousands of dollars in repairs. I had one of the first triple-outboard SeeVees made, but I was sick of buying the gas, and Ariel was gonna try the IPS. If you dont like the look of outboards, hide em, like Pursuit does in its SC 365i Sport Coupe, with twin outboards concealed by a transom hatch. But how much more, and how complex is pod maintenance? The other issue was when the owner sold the boat they did a oil sample and found water and both lower units had to be resealed and a main shaft had to be changed. Many boatbuilders have installed Zeus in existing designs as we did with the Sabre 42 Express. All my personal experience to date is with 6BTA 370s in a conventional shaft drive arrangement. Otherwise you will be prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab. Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. With SmartCraft innovation throughout, Zeus provides a seamless approach to propulsion technology, marine electronics, and on-board information management that makes boating safer and more enjoyable than ever. The 42 Convertible is up to Hull number 10 but we are up to 36 hulls for the Open version, he says. You dont have to redesign it to get our joystick maneuvering system. 2023 Active Interest Media All Rights Reserved. Hes also found them to be extremely reliable. And what of resale? Also demanding periodic attention are hydraulic steering, transmission, and lower-unit oils. The Zeus ArcPods are the convenient method of preparing, loading, and transporting your dry herb for use with your, Fashioned out of high quality aluminum, the Zeus ArcPods are designed to hold up to 0.3 grams of dry herb and work perfectly with the. Today electronics are inextricably entwined with every aspect of our lives, and whether its commercial jet engines, cars, home appliances, or chartplotters, we expect and receive virtually bulletproof reliability. Maybe.) Instead of having to jog throttles and shift levers to effect a maneuver, simply push, pull or twist the joystick and the boat follows the -directions, pivoting in place or crabbing sideways say, into a slip thats just long enough to fit your vessel. Pods cost more, period. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. Down sides were in the San Francisco Bay Area there is only one person that can work on them. Not so. Pods have taken certain segments of the cruising-boat market by storm, and now big-game charter captains who were once fixed-shaft aficionados are embracing this new technology. Pods have more parts, both mechanical and electronic, and conventional wisdom says that means more problems. Its fun. Look for signs of corrosion. Zeus has two zincs attached to each trim tab. It is so nearly parallel to the boats keel that it enables pod-drives to lighten the vessel with smaller engines that still provide ample thrust to plane and power the now lighter boat. I worked on a boat with Zeus pods for about three years. Then realized it was a conversation which I figured was private so I reposted here. Most yards will repaint a pod for $300. Volvo uses only one oil, while Cummins uses three different ones in Zeus drives. While the maintenance schedule varies somewhat among pod builders, its essentially the same. The pods combine transmission, steering, and propulsion that would otherwise entail separate trans, shaft/prop, thrusters, and rudders. Cummins Marine Diesel Repower Specialists Forums Cummins Marine Engines Zeus Pods: Good, Bad, Ugly?? I opted to avoid Volvo as my experience with them as a car dealer was poor. One issue that early pod adopters discovered, usually to their financial surprise, was the necessity of checking the shaft seals regularly, and replacing them on a scheduled basisevery five years is about right for most folks. Its like a orange and all they work on is apples. No thrusters are required, saving more cash. I am on the East Coast. pathfinder kingmaker river's justice . vs. 0.8 nmg pods @ 16.2 kts.). Most studies show that maximum rpm only accounts for about 10 percent of the total running cycle of most boats and engines. Spencer Yachts builds an 87-footer with ZF pods, and Smith was integral to the development process. Both throttle and steering. More interior room? (Its not a bad idea to do the sameminus the sealsfor inboards.). And often, pods do have less torque than shaft-driven boats. You can check these in your browser security settings. Some could be rotated 180 degrees and run adequately facing either fore or aft. Pivoting a boat is simply accomplished by twisting a joystick. The Zeus system propellers are on the back of the pods, as opposed to the Volvo IPS, which are on the front. The problem vs. Volvo is that the Zeus Cummins combinations are limited by Cummins engine sizes and that limits them on larger boats.
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