Zeus Drives

[giantfan]

I have a question...

Seems like the Zeus drives and pods are becoming all the rage in propulsion....

I know that the topic of diesel vs gas motors has been beaten to death and in those discussions harmonics are always brought up and how it attracts the fish.

What about the new drive systems that they are now coming out with? Does anybody have any first hand experience with these and how... if at all... it effects the fish raising ability of the boat?

Not that I am in the market for yet another boat... two is enough for now...

[canyonjunkie]

I havent had any experience, but this is my thought. please correct me if im wrong here, but doesnt alot of vibration come from the engine itself? Engines are mounted on stringers which are directly connected to the hull, which translates into alot of vibration being transfered into the water. With outboards, the main engine is above water, meaning most of the vibration is lost to the air and not water. Even with the zeus and IPS drives, the engine should still create the same amount of vibration. I think the propellers are responsible for the prop wash and maybe a little extra, but i dont think they create the bulk of the noise/vibration. therefore i dont see why the zeus and ips drives would have much of an impact on raising fish.

Then there is the real factor of actually dragging baits over fish. if they arent there you wont catch them and if they are I think the spread is more important than the engines...

what do other people think?

[giantfan]

Sounds good....

Makes sense...

[Shortfin]

My worries from the inception of these drives has been forward facing props , we know how bad it is when you suck up a piece or rope with conventional set ups

think about running over some floating debris ,timbers, nets.what ever it may be , I know it is a crap shoot with any vessel running in low vis

I wonder if there is any differance in the configuration that actually helps push away debris

From personal experience i have gotten lucky a few times
you know the feeling .....hear the bump at speed and you look in the wash to see a blue shark or worse a log popping up behind you

from what i have read the pod will shear off if you hit something hard or big enough and it is sealed from the outside to keep seawater from entering the vessel ??

just my thoughts

[Reel_Nauti]

The "park" feature that comes with those could be great for wreck fishing. Test a few spots on the wreck and see if it's worth dropping the hook to stay awhile.

[clt_capt]

There are 2 primary drive systems for Recreational boats - The Volvo IPS and the Cummins Mercruiser Zeus System.

The Volvo IPS system has forward facing dual counter rotating props.

The Zeus System uses rear facing dual counter rotating props

Both are pod systems and are fly-by-wire. They both have Skyhook like positioning features

The IPS has been around longer. Volvo is very involved with the design and implementation of their drive system - I don't know enough about the Zeus to know.

Both are designed for the pod to break away on a severe hit, while sealing the opening - so the boat doesn't sink.

Both have shown promising efficiency gains in much smaller packages than normal.

Both can be configured in multiple engine installs - I've seen up to 4 installed on one boat.

[rampage38]

Pod and Zeus drives are becoming more popular in "smaller" sport fishing boats. This can be seen with Egg Harbor, Everglades, Luhrs, Ocean Yachts, Rampage, Spencer, Tiara, and Viking just to name a few. Obviously the increase in fuel efficiency, ease of control are attractive to the clients of these manufacturers. Unless none of these boats are catching fish, I don't see the trend stopping. Also these companies are able to give more room in the cabins due to the location of the engines. The only question I have is if these boats ride as smooth? Don't boat with conventional setups have the engines farther forward and thus ride better under way? Just a thought.

[N2theBlue]

you can jackshaft these systems just like a regular diesel. My dream boat is the new SeaVee 39 with IPS....see if you can find the review in Saltwater Sportsman or Sport Fishing the efficiency numbers are outrageous and the performance and agility is out of this world

[rampage38]

you can jackshaft these systems just like a regular diesel. My dream boat is the new SeaVee 39 with IPS....see if you can find the review in Saltwater Sportsman or Sport Fishing the efficiency numbers are outrageous and the performance and agility is out of this world

http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/ar...eaVee-390i-IPS

[N2theBlue]

http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/ar...eaVee-390i-IPS

Yeah but for some reason the fuel burn numbers aren't there, and they are really impressive