Check this out I wonder if it could be used in a high performance application?? Click on the more info to see a picture.

http://www.volvo.com/volvopenta/na/en-us/

I meant in a newer designed boat

Its supposed to be really efficient, there is no way to trim it however.

Boating Magazine recently did a test (March 2005 issue) of two Four Winns 378 Vista Cruisers, one with conventional V-drives, and one with the new Volvo IPS drives (backward pointed drives mentioned above). Both boats had identical power (375 hp Volvo D6 diesels), layouts, and displacements. The IPS boat ran a top speed of 42 mph, the V-drive 37 mph. At a cruising rpm of 3000 the IPS boat ran 33.5 mph, got 1.2 statute mpg giving it a range of 335 miles, and shoed 80 db at the helm. The v-drive boat ran 31.5 mph and got 1.2 mpg giving it a range of 317 miles and showed 83 db at the helm.

So, the new drives were a bit faster, a touch more efficient, and offered a quieter cruise.

*****en..............but the guy looks and sounds like Forest Gump!!!

I saw this at the London boat show.

Theres a pick of us looking at it close up it here...

http://www.pontoontalk.co.uk/forums/...3&postcount=30

The most worrying part of it is when the "giant hook" catches the "giant under water obstruction", it parts your boat at its cleverly made weak point.Then sinks to the bottom, and theres another ooportunity to make another online pruchase from VOLVO.

Surely a coiled up teather betwen the the two parts would be a good idea? (for owners)

May be Mercruiser will produce lower unit reversal adapters, so as not to be out done?

My $0.02: IPS is a small step forward but still has all the disadvantages of a stern drive so nothing revolutionary. Too many moving parts, too many cogs to turn which means power loss and inevitable reliability problems when you get into high HP and torque stuff. Like with a stern drive, I can see drag being a problem and vulnerability of those drives strikes me as a major problem. So thanks, but no thanks. Not for me, I'll stick to surface drives. It'll probably work for express cruisers but it's definitely not for HP stuff. Having said that, I do believe that ZF Marine's Ring Drive is a better solution for express cruisers as it combines the performance advantages of a surface drive and saves just as much space as IPS does vs. conventional V-drive.

yeah, and that idea to make the drive-hull connection a weak point so that the drive falls off without ripping a massive hole in the hull if you hit something at speed is a bit naive. Thanks very much guys, how thoughtful! Unless you're gonna sell me replacement drives for $100, I'd like my hard-earned drives to stay with me. And somehow, those pods don't look cheap at all. One very expensive fuse...

Arneson Drop your prices.

Mercury try to be just a little bit, more adventurous.

GOD give me just a little more money. :-)

Check the SEAKEY anti theft system fron VOLVO,it is discussed in the theft recovery article on the VOLVO site.