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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
New Volvo bonehead propulsion system
Posted By: Vic Roy
Date: Saturday, 8 January 2005, at 7:45 p.m.
The new issue of Southern Boating has an article about Vulva's new inboard drive system. It is basically a tugboat Z-Drive at high speed. It combines the worst of I/O and straight drive.
The diesels sit further aft than a pure inboard (bad, even tho they want you to think it's good) and the engines are coupled to a 90 degree gearbox, which looks just like the top of a Vulva outdrive, all this inside the hull. Then the fun begins. You basically have an outdrive that does not tilt, but just turns, going stright thru the hull, with the inside ring allegedly glassed inside the hull and 3 "robust" O-rings sealing the outside. It's a tractor drive with the props in front of the outdrive unit, duo prop set up. Worst news it's all "fly (or maybe die) by wire" - all steering, shifts, etc. by pure electronics. They claim that if you hit something soft, it will go right thru it, and if you hit something hard, the whole she-bang will shear off and no water will get in the boat. Looks from the pix that the back of the drive would surely bend back and go thru the hull in a heavy impact. Lower unit is all bronze, so bet replacement from Vulva will take a second mortgage. What an overall dumb idea.
Once again, Vulva has over-engineered itself, a fact I became painfully aware of in 1984 when I repowered my B25 with Vulva 4 banger diesels and duo prop outdrives. Stuff fell off the engines like pecans out of my trees in a heavy wind. They claim the system is "extensively patented", but in my view thier patent attorneys will be like the Maytag repairman, since no sane human would try to knock off that stupid system.
UV
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