Sea Ray introduces Zeus on the 38 and 44 Sundancers

If this pans out to be true, it's disappointing. These may be growing pains, or one man's opinions. This system has the potential to be the quintessential development of the marine century. I understand wanting to produce just one hull, but it had better be ideally suited for both drive systems. It would be a shame to produce such a revolutionary propulsion system, pick a couple of debut cruisers, and just bolt 'em on like an after-thought. $.02
 
I'll be letting you new technology "early adopters" be Mercruiser's guinnea pigs on this one. Their track record of "pulling them green" and rushing to market with new stuff makes me very gun shy.

Other than to keep up with Volvo's IPS, I see very little resason to fix what ain't broke and Sea Ray has the Sundancer-V-drive thing figured out very well.
 
I didn't want to scare off people from the zeus system... The system is awsome and very accurate, nothing bad on the Merc/Cummins pod systems... My observations as well as few other SR enthusiests were how the SR DA hulls need to be tweeked a bit more for the true use of these pods... My data was provided by the Merc/Cummins techs that hope SR will finalize a proper fit with hull engineering...
 
Well thanks everyone for the brilliant posts on this very new change in Sea Ray's line up, I'm sure they will perfect the zues Drives, it's in every manufactures nature to rush something so revolutionary to the boating industry. The zues drives and the IPS are certainly the best thing to happen to boating in a long time, lets give them a chance.
I personally like the prop in the rear, seeing the IPS system and thinking about everything floating ot the Great Lakes......Nah I'll the the skeg hitting first. Each are showing Impressive Fuel economy, but that remains to be seen. I'm going to let them perfect the system beofer I run out and get my 44, he he he it won't be hard waiting,,, The Admiral has the checkbook locked away...

Robert
 
Did any of you who had a chance to speak with Merc and/or Sea Ray ask why they passed up the 40DA for the Zeus?
 
I spoke to some people and the feeling is boats equiped with the zeus will have a different center of gravity . so things have to get moved forward to retain the proper center of gravity and balance with the existing hull. ( 38 ) When the newly designed 44 comes out that will be addressed.

Rob
 
OK, let me get this straight:

1) Zeus is more efficient, so engines can be smaller = Nose Heavy

2) Zeus drive / engine center of gravity is further aft than V-Drive = Tail Heavy

3) SR moved the bulkhead forward to make more room for Zeus = Nose Heavy

4) Actual models need equipment moved forward, so they must be = Tail Heavy

It sounds like they have not taken advantage of the ability to put smaller engines in these boats. They are moving the weight of the transmission aft (V-drive taken away from in front of engine, and Zeus put in back under aft of engine). So, the boat is tail heavy. If they put the smaller engines in, they may find that they break even.

In the test boat (Formula 44), Zeus (or was it IPS) cost less than the V-drives due to using a smaller engine, was more efficient due to angles, drag, less weight and smaller engines, ran quicker and faster due to angles, less drag, and less weight, but SR is producing their boats with the larger engines and have tail heavy boats? Easy fix.
 
Interesting thread. I suspect Zeus , like IPS, will move engine and drive weight to the rear. I'm not an expert but it would seem difficult to make one hull fit both a Zeus drive and a traditional Sea Ray V-drive. Perhaps the fact that both drives use tunnels will make it doable. I know several manufacturers are attempting to do the same with IPS. Tiara, on the other hand, designs their hulls for IPS exclusively. They've designed a hook into the transom ( see attached photo) and moved the fuel tank to the center of the boat in front of the aft cabin as opposed to using saddle tanks to compensate for the extra weight in the stern.
 
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Thats quite a noticable hook on that hull Dan. The Tiaras with the IPS drives are getting some nice reviews in all the recent boating mags too.

It will be interesting to see what issues develop for both Volvo and Mercruiser as time goes on. I do think though that with a hull engineered for these drive systems, buyers will start to pick this setup over the conventional V-drives because of the performance gains and fuel mileage gains. I guess we can all meet back here in another 5 years to see how well they really fared.:smt043:smt043
 
I spent many hours talking to the Cummins tech as well as riding both 38 & 44 Zeus demos at the EXPO... SR wants a single design hull for both v-drives and Zeus...

I suspected that Sea Ray wanted a single hull mold for both V and pod drive boats is the reason why Zeus was made for pocketed hulls. That load of crap that it was for protection is just crap. The prop must be positioned below the bottom of the hull so that it can rotate 180 degrees for the joystick stuff to work. If the prop is tucked up in the pocket, how does the unit pivot without drilling the hull?

The more I hear about zeus, the more it sounds like a quick and dirty answer to the IPS that was done on the cheap. If I buy my next boat new, I still haven't seen a good reason to choose a SR/Zeus over a Regal/IPS. Experience with new Merc products certainly makes the IPS much more attractive.

Best regards,
Frank
 
I'm with you Frank, I think I'll let someone with deeper pockets than mine buy the first Zeus 44 and break it in for us! :thumbsup:
 
Zeus reportedly has a marine bronze housing with stainless steel props. Not too terrible from a corrosion standpoint, but it's not outstanding either. Bronze housings are a heck of a lot better than aluminum. The IPS drive is superior in many respects to Zeus, which also includes materials. IPS has nibral housings and nibral props. The shafts are stainless. Fewer dissimilar metal in electrolyte and more nobel metals are better. On the other hand, marine bronze is much cheaper than nibral and reusing sterndrive props is cheaper too. Probably why Zeus has aft facing props is so they can recycle the sterndrive stuff.

Best regards,
Frank C.
 
Some good points Frank on the difference in the materials being used by each company.

Has anyone seen the MSRP on the two different offerings? I think a few manufacturers offer either Zeus or IPS on the same boat from what I recall reading somwhere .......sometime :smt017. It would be interesting to see how much the cost at MSRP differs between the two products.
 
Saw the 44 with zeus at the boat show . If anyting the zeus equiped boat has less ER room. The zeus BOX in the bilge takes up space where there noramlly would be open space. LOOKED tight...

The Genset access was really tight.

The only version marine max NY had was sold at the expo. But was at the show .

Rob
 
Stihl....I'm with you, I want a new 44, with the zues drives, but right now I'm willing to wait, I'm still in Love with my 320 and I'm in Love with its feul consumption, a lot less then the 44 I imagine.. but a new 40 with Zeus drives wouldn't hurt either..... Gosh so many boat s to choose from, and so Little money... but things will be looking brighter when the snow melts and the Sun warms things up here in Michigan... until then lakeland boating has a small article in the Feb issue.......
 
I'm not jumping on the bandwagon yet. The following article says that the fuel economy/speed increases are about half of what volvo touts, and I guess Zeus should be about the same. For me, there's too much underwater- shaft seals, O-rings, and an awful lot of metal subject to corrosion. Time will tell.

http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/engines/0205volvopentaIPS/index1.aspx
 
Well for Us Tob, we're not in the corrisive water area like you are in the Salt Water, And I've had outdrives all our lives. Even the cruise ships have these POD drives, and have had them for years...... I cannot see why the boating industry has waited so long to bring the=is about.... I will want the control and the wife will love docking that big of a boat as well, and truly I don't have to talk her into it, she's already talking about the 44, but feels like she Unfaithful to our 2 year old........320.
Imagine that!!!! I won't feel that unfaithfulness.....HE HE
 
Would you guys like a Quicksilver generator to go with your Zeus powered boat? Or maybe and L-Drive dingy. ;-)
 

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