CMD's IPS killer !!

It had to happen of course.... CMD (Cummins / Mercruiser) have released a drive unit to compete with Volvo's much talked about IPS drive unit.
CMD have chosen to stick with pushing props, rather than pullers, and locate the drives (at least partially) in tunnels. As such they should be better protected against damage. The units are also capable of handing up to 500hp (vs IPS @ 370hp).

I've always been an open critic of the IPS system - not least because of its cost and vulnerability to damage - but I was ready to at least concede to the brilliance of the about-to-be-released IPS Joystick. This allows slow speed manouvering that is at least the equal (and in many ways far superior) of having bow and stern thrusters. Joystick can steer each of the drives independantly of the other, as well as giving forward or reverse thrust, relegating docking disasters to only the truly inept!
But CMD's Zeus system has it too....

My criticism of IPS has always been that conventional sterndrives should offer almost the same level of efficiency at a much lower cost, and without the vulnerability problem.
CMD's Zeus goes some way to addressing this....

What I'm waiting for now is a test comparing all 4 propeller drive systems - shafts, sterndrives, IPS and Zeus......

http://www.cmdmarine.com/PDFs/zeus-brochure.pdf

http://www.volvo.com/volvopenta/global/en-gb/marineengines/Volvo_Penta_IPS/joystick/

 

This thing is pretty amazing. It has a station keeping function that will hold it in position. I saw it at the Marriott marina at the Miami show. As many of you know there can be a pretty significant current through there. The boat pulled up to the sea wall and the captain put it in the "hold" mode and it stayed a foot away from the dock as the captain walked away from the helm.

The "shoot-out" sounds great. Just need one boat company to donate 4 boats and the companies to donate the engines. One of the magazines should pick up on this.