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.

What do you mean with "all electric pods", I have not seen any that you can compare with IPS and Zeus?

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.

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.

ZF has their own pod offering. The MCY 70/76 has offered the ZF/MAN pairing since 2012 I believe.

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.

Those ZF pods have been around for a while without much adoption (MCY and I think a Nordhavn planning one off has them) but they are the first pods in the 1,000HP+ range but I think 1,200 is currently the max. The trend is to bigger engines like I mentioned with the new Volvo 1350s.

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.

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.

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'