Pod Drives

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mjf

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Have to say I still remain a bit unconvinced on these beasts - esp. the IPS pull me throu the water type.


The piece in Nov issue MB&Y is very interesting as clearly the Zeus system has all the knobs and whistles and appears to perform well. I like the push you through the water approach too - somehow seems less risk to props

I have driven the joystick IPS and would love to have a go with the skyhook toy.

What happened to Blue Fin?
 
A couple of years ago I remember a TV documentary on National Geografic, about a super big container vessels, one of the biggest in the world, and in order to get the best propulsion system, they developed some super big Pod Drives, the vessel had 4 of them, one was bigger then a bus,
I am still wondering if there is a link between the pod drive Idea from Volvo, Mercruiser, and these super ship buylders,
I wonder if and who stole the idea from the other ?
 
I am interested in your assessment of a joy stick IPS on a flybridge, I saw an IPS boat trying to berth and it kicked and healed over to a dangerous extent in that the tilt/heal was enough to hit the boat at the side, with the drives so low there is a pivot point to set off a pendulum effect..

Did you experience any tilt/heal or have they got that sorted now ?


(I am against all the pod drives not just IPS.)
 
I was quite impressed actually for manouvering.

Although at the time thought it could do little more than a good helmsman with good deck crew could achieve.

in gusty wind it took the 'hairem scarum' bit away.

Underway in harbour channel was less impressed as boat seemed to crab. I prefered to use the helm or alternate engines to keep straight.

At speed you are on throttles in any case and this boat rode very well indeed on IPS (Rodman 38 or 40 maybe).

Its the forward facing props with me I'm afraid.....
 
Because it only makes sense on that type of boat, and there aren't many around.
Besides, even in that type of boats, just a few owners are willing to afford the higher cost, which is not trivial.
 
I think the first pod appeared in the big P&O Princess Cruise Ship launched in the end of the 90s
remember reading it that they where a novelty at the time for ships
Volvo copied the system this is a fact as did Mercruiser with Zeus
I am still waiting for some heavy weighter like ZF or Twin Disc to get in the game, but apparently Volvos IPS is produced by ZF with commsioning by Volvo

still many builders seem not so convinced about IPS, for example it is strange that none of Ferretti Group boats have them and Azimut have been testing it on flybridge yachts for the last 4 years and so far we have not seen nothing on them
I believe Fairline was also testing some of its flybridge and so far also from them no fly IPS

the Spanish on the other hand seem more experimental with Astondoa, among the first to do it on a fly and also Astondoa seem to have gone in it the game
I helmed the Riviera 4400 Sport Yacht and the boat does tilt a bit too much when one turns over half the steering range, the surprise is that it does in a surprise manner unlike a sterndrive boat which tilts accoridingly as you turn the wheel
may be Nautical can tell us more, but I think he in Genoa doing a job

I also agree with MJF the forward facing prop on Volvo IPS is also a bit my issue
 
Why does it only makes sense on this type of boat ?
how about all the +50ft cruisers with shaft drive ?
In this segment, Volvo doesn't have a big share, you see a lot more Cat, MTU, DD's, ...(as far as I know)
but no pod drive
I am just wondering, and interested in the technology /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
how about all the +50ft cruisers with shaft drive ?
In this segment, Volvo doesn't have a big share, you see a lot more Cat, MTU, DD's, ...(as far as I know)
but no pod drive
I am just wondering, and interested in the technology /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Volvo suffers mostly cause of the less torque it has on its engines compared with Cats, Man and MTU
here in the med having a 50 feet plus with Volvo sometimes it reduced its resale value

people on that length always ask for the above engines especially Greeks and Italians
 
[ QUOTE ]
I am still waiting for some heavy weighter like ZF or Twin Disc to get in the game, but apparently Volvos IPS is produced by ZF with commsioning by Volvo

[/ QUOTE ]

And just who do you think makes the Zeus pod drive... 'Zeus' is with out question a ZF product.

You'll see it rolled out with other engine manufactures before very long.
 
[ QUOTE ]
still many builders seem not so convinced about IPS, for example it is strange that none of Ferretti Group boats have them and Azimut have been testing it on flybridge yachts for the last 4 years and so far we have not seen nothing on them
I believe Fairline was also testing some of its flybridge and so far also from them no fly IPS

[/ QUOTE ]

do you think they are not convinced due to technical aspects ?
I have a feeling that it has more to do with politics,
----"If you want us to offer IPS in our popular model XX then we should get XXXXX conditions? -----
or the other way round, If they offer IPS, they loose a good cooperation with Merc, Cat, Man, MTU, ...
I would expect something like that, especially from a strong group like Ferretti or Fairline.
But again, I am not in that business, so I really don't know it
 
I understood that you were asking specifically about the thrustmaster.
If you look at their site you'll see that such massive equipment is specifically built for heavy duty boats, tugs, etc.
Totally unsuitable for leisure boats, which are mostly V-planing hulls, where weight and drag are big issues.
That's the new field of application IPS and Zeus are aiming at.
My contribution was only meant to confirm that IPS and the likes are just - as I'm saying - a new application of an already proven idea, with some specific product development aimed at the needs of such application.
I didn't want to debate whether such new application is the be-all and end-all of leisure boating, it's been done to death in the past. But 'fiuaskme, no, fwiw. Only time will tell.
 
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