Pod envy

[Amberjack]

Most new boats are equipped with pods rather than traditional shaft drives as our boats are. Talking with the service technician who is helping me with my Hynautics upgrade he reminded me that drive pods are like I/O units in that they have to be pulled and serviced on a regular basis. He has one 6 year old boat in the yard with all four pods dropped for a heavy service which sounds expensive. At the moment the boat is just sitting there waiting for the service parts. He says pods are easy for the boat builder to install because they come complete and you essentially bold them on and the controls are fly by wire. The issues come later.

[Yannis]

Let alone that as the props face forward, they should be prone to hitting floating debris...that is expensive too!

[Carl]

Almost as easy for builders as outboards.

Expensive to service is one aspect, a dealer over here had two boats on land for several weeks waiting on parts. Maybe it was just a glitch but the parts guy made it seem like it is just tough to get them. With a short season having to sit out for weeks has to suck royally. Boat payments, dockage with no boat to use.

[Tony Meola]

Pods are expensive to service and when something goes wrong with them it really hurts.

[Raybo Marine NY]

I have a Formula here with them and my head hurts just looking at them, kind of thing that would keep a person up at night

Great for someone who dumps their boat every few years but I cant imagine owning a 20 year old one

[Amberjack]

Kind of a toxic mix at work. New boat buyers fall in love with the features--rotating pods, electronic controls, ease of docking and just the general techiness of the thing. They're not thinking years down the road, they're seeing themselves with the wind blowing though their hair and beautiful women admiring as they dock the boat with ease.

Builders like the idea of simplicity, no shafts or rudders to worry about (or if outboard powered, no hull perforations or engine mounts). Controls are increasingly wireless instead of hydraulic or cable and easier to install. And they don't care about years down the road either.

It's all great until it isn't, like the internet. But that's were the market is going.

[Ironworker]

In South Florida its hard if not impossible to sell a boat with Pods.

[Amberjack]

In South Florida its hard if not impossible to sell a boat with Pods.

That’s a reminder of how huge, diverse (and wonderful) this country is. I’m writing this in the heart of Amazon and Microsoft country.

[ktm_2000]

I get the aversion down south to the pods, shallow water and lots of marine growth on very expensive parts which hang out under water all add up to a potentially costly TCO.

Running in deeper colder water could be different

[Rawleigh]

Until you get into some of those inlets the northern guys talk about!!!!!