Pod drives for large yachts

Volvo & mercury pods I think are going to be put on their heels in the future by all electric pods and thruster systems.

I agree 100%... there isn't any to compare........ someone needs to design one....What I mean is smaller electric pods in the 300 to 500 horsepower range, it's very possible to have a diesel electric boat at least in the near future. I would like to see a LNG/generator for power/propulsion(very clean) and to harness the cooling from the LNG boiling off too supplement cooling. Just dreaming out loud. The cooling gained by using LNG would have to off set the lower energy density LNG has compared to diesel.

Yes, Zeus was a joint effort between Cummings, mercruiser, and zf. It was owned by CMD, Cummins mercruiser diesel. As far as I know they have not worked with man. An agreement with cat for its c18's would make more sense as Brunswick companies such as seaway already use some cats.

Torqeedo seems to be making inroads in this direction, though they haven't yet produced in that 300 to 500 hp range.

LNG certainly has it's own challenges, mostly related to bunkering. Some commercial firms are working on this.

Sorry. I misread yours as saying Zeus and you clearly said ZF.

I'm surprised we're not seeing ZF and other pods make more of an inroad into recreational vessels, especially small to midsized vessels. Azipod and Rolls Royce's pod systems are widely used on much larger and on commercial vessels.

As of today the small to mid-sized pod market is dominated by Volvo.

ZF has two boats in Jax doing R&D with Cat powered, ZF (prototype) pods.
Practice and patience.

The new engine for Zeus drives is the Fiat Power Train 6.7 straight 6.

https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us...ly-unveiled-at-miami-international-boat-show/

Interesting
Cummins does not service this but MarineMuxx does.
Ass other Merc dealers.

JMO - Methinks Capt J is just full of himself. Zeus pod drives have been around for 15 yrs. Not much difference - a stern drive or a fully enclosed outboard. It does have a tunnel to protect the wheels.

It's Cummins, not Cummings. So many people make the mistake - including truck owners and wannabe owners.

CMD was a 50:50 partner with Mercury marine/Brunswick corp & Cummins engine company. That agreement ended in 2011. Cummins still supplies engines to Mercury on an as needed basis. http://www.americanmachinist.com/beyond-cutting-zone/cummins-mercury-marine-dissolving-joint-venture

Jim Turner (www.releaseboatworks.com) built the first Zeus boat with QSC 600hp Cummins diesels in hull #1 - Goldfish a 46ft walkaround in 2012. The boat performs better than the Volvo IPS at higher speeds and fuel economy. A lot of work went into designing a boat like that from the ground up. They did it in less than a year. Subsequently they've built several more, and one standard shaft model.

I have worked directly for CMD running one of their boats for test drives at the Miami Boat Show one year. I have also run around 30 different Zues boats and have put a lot of miles on them since the inception of them. Most of them for a Brunswick boat builder that spit out a lot of zues boats. Stern Drives down here in South Florida on boats that sit in the water get destroyed in less than 2 years from electrolysis and corrosion. The Zues and IPS have been lasting in regards to corrossion. I prefer the Zues over the IPS and have NEVER been a Volvo fan if given the choice. But unfortunately nobody besides Searay and bayliner are using zues anymore and zues hasn't upped the HP game like Volvo has. Not sure what I am full of......... If you want to know the full scoop without spouting bs, Mercury supplied the electronics and lower gear unit, ZF supplied the gear, and cummins the engines. The Volvo's props are better as they're bronze and while they grow growth like wildfire, they're not as bad as the stainless props zues uses in regards to growth.....a little scaling will slow both of them down quite a bit....worse so than traditional inboard propellers.

Not mercruiser but as I recall the Searay 55 (2008 09 vintage) had MAN's in it. But that's the only one I can think of.

If you have issues with your Zeus today, don't bother knocking on Cummin's door. Not a happy Mexit. We deal with both CM and Merc and it's a bloody nightmare.

As stated above, Fiat is Merc's new big Diesel partner.

This was the problem with Zeus. With warranty repairs, I've seen the 3 companies punt the blame at each other and it being a pain to get the issue warranties because of who was going to pay for it. I don't like volvo's for various reasons, but they own the ips from prop shaft to alternator and you call the Volvo dealer when you have any issue and it's under warranty.

To my knowledge Fiat does not make a 6.7L engine. But Cummins does.
Volvo engines suck - I have had several and repowered with Cat or Cummins.
And, it's ZEUS
http://www.mikelsonyachts.com/m43/
Mikelson offers one on their 43'