Drives vs Inboards

LaRea

Haha, okay, for a while I thought you were serious.  Now I realize you're just trolling, so I'll leave it alone.

zaverin1

What size boat?
and I am not trolling 
that would be to easy 

aero3113

Why don’t company’s offer a third engine for boats over 40’ and add another sterndrive. I’m sure there’s plenty of room to stagger it or even 3 engines in a row.

zaverin1

For what  and they do on big car off shores 
useless unless you want to rip across the water and not in a cruiser 

212rowboat

@zaverin1 your pretense is that all things are equal when they're not equal by a long shot.  

sterndrives allow trim to be set by the drive angle of attack and not drag alone- sterndrives can also be trimmed by drag, whereas inboards can't.  Inboards only alter the angle of attack slightly as trim tabs drag pitch the of the vessel, and we're talking only a slight amount of angle deviation. 

^that alone and unto itself demonstrates superiority of sterndrives over inboards. 

the largest issue with building larger vessels with sterndrives, and this isn't according to me but is something i subscribe to, is the amount of stress on the transom sterndrives cause.  the pivot, as it is... the weight of the boat is largely on the hinge while a planing vessel comes out of the hole.  boats as large as the larger Rinker's or any other cruiser in the 40'+ group have to be constructed in a way to counter the construction aft.  that requires a lot of material and becomes an issue of diminishing the return when the hinge can be under the pad on the keel (or on either side- via inboard). 

inboards can also be set much further ahead of the transom and simply have a longer shaft.  they can be inverted in a v drive.  they can be multi geared.  they can do things and things can be done with them that can't be done on a sterndrive- but the stern drive is still used just as far up the displacement (size) scale as they can allow... why? .... they are superior with their ability to trim, and builders are willing to add weight and rigidity simply to retain them.... which serves as proof they are superior to inboards in cruiser/planing hulls.  

a properly matched sterndrive-to-boat will do as well or better than the same boat w/ an inboard powered even with an engine 15% higher than the outdrives- and it has everything to do with trimming and being able to alter the angle of attack (and not fudging it with the trim tabs)....... all of this said, the simplicity of inboards and the ability to move them where they are best suited within the hull makes for a longer lasting less intense maintenance schedule.  

Dirtythirty

Pods !!!

zaverin1

Larger boats 
ins all day long 
smaller cruisers and runabouts sterns in my book 

jbschmalz23

This is a good discussion. I’ve always wondered which was better. I’ve never had anything but stern drives, so don’t have a opinion on the inboards, but I do like that the guys with their inboards can cruise at slower speeds a little better. I have the Mercruiser outdrives with axius... I will say this... I’ll never have another boat without axius. Some may say it’s cheating, but man does it make it nice, socking or maneuvering against a strong wind.  

zaverin1

Axius 
pods
shoot even a bow thruster 

but axius and skyhook is sweet

rasbury

and those pods are designed to brake off I'm understanding...they don't flop up like a stern drive does when you hit something do they?

Dirtythirty

@rasbury...the idea is that they break off and self seal...I certainly hope I never need to find out.  Be quick marking your location on the GPS plotter and have a diver on standby.  I suppose its a better idea than dislodging your entire engine and breaching your hull.

rasbury

I don't think I'm signing up for that kind of problems...I'm sure they have applications but not in my world!