Pod drive - bow thruster required or not?

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nw04jen

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New to me boat with Zeus - no thruster ..wondering what peoples thoughts are or preferably experiences without a thruster on pods..last boat outdrives with BT and was necessary
 
I have a boat with Zeus drives and it is very easily manageable without a bow thruster. I have had it for over ten years. Without doubt it handles better than the shaft drive or outdrive boats I have owned both at speed and in the marina. Four years ago I had a problem with a pump on one drive that left the joy stick unusable. With no joystick it is harder to manoeuvre at close quarters. Much more so than shaft drive or outdrive boats. So as an insurance policy I had a bow thruster fitted in case it happened again. Thankfully at the moment it has not been needed at all.
 
Good to know thank you - will wait for SIBS (if goes ahead) and maybe order one there - seems to make sense how you describe what happened to your pod
 
I have IPS with no bow thruster. Just as Moonstruck said, you don't need a joystick but I think it would be nice to have one. I try not to rely on the joystick too much, mainly to maintain my boat handling skills (it's a great piece of kit but it could make you too reliant/lazy) so I've often thought a bow thruster would be nice as it would probably mean I'd rarely use the joystick at all - but it's all cost at the end of the day...
 
thanks - tend to agree - think a bottom of the list wish and see how i get on initially - slightly nervous as on Thames and never driven pod drive ...
 
The Thames.
Need to exercise extreme caution when mooring bankside just about everywhere , even on the more civilised moorings such as Windsor/ Henley etc
Have come cropper both with outdrives and shafts. mooring at those locations.
At least with these two you can fix quickly and get on your way , the former with spare prop ,spanner and a pair of swimming trunks, the latter with a spare prop and the phone number of a nearbye boatyard with a crane driver who had an intense dislike of credit cards.
Suspect fixing any IPS prop damage will not be quite as straightforward . ?
Set the depth alarm and keep an eye on water under the boat.
The prop will protrude be well below the keel and the first thing to thump anything.
 
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Thank you - yes totally agree - have clipped the odd thing with legs b4 and tended to beach those whilst drifted onto moorings...minute i saw a pub i would make headway for it regardless of depth! - pods a whole new game and they do protrude plus have 'break off' fins that extend another 8 inches under 'leg' / props - will make sure all set up properly and take extra care....as you say wont be cheap plus Zeus but thats all known to me b4 taking her out so ill be careful...
 
nw04jen said:
Thank you - yes totally agree - have clipped the odd thing with legs b4 and tended to beach those whilst drifted onto moorings...minute i saw a pub i would make headway for it regardless of depth! - pods a whole new game and they do protrude plus have 'break off' fins that extend another 8 inches under 'leg' / props - will make sure all set up properly and take extra care....as you say wont be cheap plus Zeus but thats all known to me b4 taking her out so ill be careful...
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IPS on a Rodman it does have small excuse of a keel just out of shot, suspect most craft with pods have nothing.
Stick down a fair way perhaps to keep props in undisturbed water, which helps efficiency. ?
This particular boat certainly does fly .
This boat does have the optional joy stick and it gave the owner a lot of confidence to handle the boat in very confined spaces.
It handled very well if you manoeuvred the boat purely using throttles.
As a Thames user well worth popping over and talking to the "Thames Navy" over on the Thames forum .
 
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I stand to be corrected, but I have always thought that you get a bit more protection with Zeus over IPS due to the props being rear facing. Needless to say if you hit the bottom with any boat the outcome is unlikely to be good!
 
Moonstruck said:
I stand to be corrected, but I have always thought that you get a bit more protection with Zeus over IPS due to the props being rear facing. Needless to say if you hit the bottom with any boat the outcome is unlikely to be good!
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Just a guess. Doubt the outcome of encountering a rope/ builders bag/fishing net , no matter which way the props are facing, would be much different.
One advantage of the outdrive is you can at least lift the leg and attempt to free the rope, provided the boat designers have not installed some massive swim platform which renders the outdrives invisible (SC42 ?) let alone accessable .
With shafts you can at least fit rope cutters.
On a recent trip on a boat with IPS , crew member did spot a couple of plastic bottles masquerading as pot markers.
As they past the stern quarter of the boat close enough to nearly hit a dangling fender. :)
 
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