Have you looked at Volvo's web site? The drives are not plastic. They are
encapsulated, no?

Butch
"Sir Spamalot" wrote in message
...
Hello there,

I have seen lots and lots of hype on these "plastic" drives in the
last few years, but have seen very little in the ngs about them. A
couple of years back, when the press started hyping on them, I did a
patent search and was pretty intrigued to see that they were belt
drive from the upper gearcase to the lower; at least that's what the
patent I read was claiming. Apparently, they have gotten away from
that scheme and have now found a way to do it with shafts and such,
like a "normal" drive does. They were also claiming that, due to the
ability to imbed that magic elixir "Teflon" into the outer layers,
barneys and such could not adhere to the outdrive unit. I guess we
all know the folly of that...........

Does anyone have any recent comments/anecdotes on these new drives?
I've only seen them mounted on some new boats from Steiger Craft,
nothing else.

SS