On Sun, 27 Sep 2015 14:59:53 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/27/2015 2:21 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 27 Sep 2015 11:47:27 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

To me (and obviously to the guy who wrote the above) the IPS system
re-introduces all the drawbacks and problems of outdrives.

I understand real big boats use inboards but outboards offer an
elegant simplicity that is hard to beat.
I see boats approaching 40 feet with outboards. Granted they use 2, 3
or even 4 but that is great redundancy for guys running offshore.

It is like the B-52 pilot who radioed in that he had lost an engine.
The tower asked if he was declaring an emergency and he said, "no I
think we will make it back on seven)


I agree with multiple outboards on large, go-fast, center console type
fishing boats. See a lot of them in the 30'-40' range. They are
designed to get out to fishing spots quickly to get more actual fishing
time.

But for a cruising boat of that size nothing beats a couple of diesels
spinning big props. Well maintained they will go for several thousand
hours of hard use.

When I went and looked at the ads for the IPS, Volvo shows them on go
fast boats, going real fast. They are still gas and when I read the
article in Yachting magazine, they made a big thing of the
maintenance.

I think the rule of thumb for a gas engine I/O is
about 1,000 to 1,500 hours before you have to start thinking of
re-powering or a rebuild.
Don't know what a modern, 4 stroke outboard
is good for.
There are plenty of 4 strokes with several thousand hours on them and
still going. I put over 3000 on mine and it was still running strong
when I sold it.,
The engine was not even a concern of mine I got rid of it because I
was not interested in fixing the other stuff that was getting old.
The commercial operator here has over 6000 on his Zekes with no power
head work.

The 1984 Grand Banks we had with the little 120 hp diesel
had almost 7,000 hours on it when we were first looking at it. We had
a survey done and a mechanical inspection and I expressed my concern
about the number of engine hours. Both the surveyor and the mechanic
said, "it's just about broken in".

No argument a diesel is a long running and efficient power plant. That
is why truckers use them.