7 Outboards

[functionoverfashion]

Came across this today: https://boatingindustry.com/news/2020/11/06/volvo-penta-to-stop-the-sales-and-production-of-seven-marine-engines/?oly_enc_id=4125B6746801J3Y

These things are amazing, I highly recommend googling them if you're curious. Basically a smallblock V8 chevy engine turned on end, connected to an inboard-derived transmission, producing 550+ hp in a single outboard, developed and released at a time when 350hp was about the max anyone else was making. It will be sad to see development stop, if they don't sell off the brand.

[LooseonExit]

@functionoverfashion
The market for $100k outboards is smaller than they thought I guess (and still bigger than I thought lol). Really neat engines, especially when in quad form on a 42’ center console...

[Exage03040]

I don't really follow boats, these are dope as hell though.
Counter Rotating Mini Pods!!

https://www.volvopenta.com/marine/products/volvo-penta-ips/volvo-penta-ips-engine-range/#/all

[Cé hé sin]

@functionoverfashion
Thought they meant seven models, but turns out there's a business called Seven Engines.

[BicycleBuck]

@functionoverfashion It looks like your subscription is ending soon!

Next time, remove the "/?oly_enc_id=4125B6746801J3Y" from the link so it's not tied to your account.

[Tripper]

@functionoverfashion Came here for a boat with 7 engines. Left disappointed

[EngineerWithTools]

@functionoverfashion

Earlier this year, Bombardier exited the outboard engine market too.

While 7 Marine's outboards were aimed at a different market than BRP's, I wonder if both are a result of investment required vs. return expected. Mercury has the technical and financial capital to develop their own optimized engines. If you're stuck in a technology cul-de-sac and can't go low on price, continuing on may not make sense.

Regardless, all of this vexes me, as I hate stern drives (even though I own one) and think outboards are a better choice for runabouts / pleasure boats. In the last few years, more boat manufacturers have been designing outboard-powered pleasure boats. I hope the developments in the outboard engine market don't bring that to a grinding stop.

@Exage03040

Those Penta pods are very cool. When they first came out there was a small-ish yacht in the Chicago boat show with them. My wife was really confused why I wanted to look under the boat, not inside.

Also, both Penta and Mercury now make forward-facing stern drives.

The Mercury version looks a little like the designer just mirrored the lower half of the outdrive.

That said, the forward-facing stern drives solve only one problem - the location of the props vs swimmers / boarders. I wonder if anyone is working on forward-facing counter-rotating outboards....

[functionoverfashion]

@bicyclebuck ooh good call. I usually do remove extra stuff from the end of URLs actually!

[functionoverfashion]

@tripper That would be... interesting. Here's something close, I had a picture of this on my office wall in my marina days:

[functionoverfashion]

@engineerwithtools It is, from this perspective, discongruous (pretty sure that's a word) how boat manufacturers have been designing around fewer, more powerful outboards, and now the outboard market is shifting, or so it seems. Maybe there's an opening for someone here.

The forward-facing sterndrives do seem to solve that swimmer safety issue, but you're still dealing with a lot more moving parts than a direct-drive setup for sure - or an outboard, for that matter. I wouldn't be surprised if there's such a thing in development as a forward-facing outboard...

[Tripper]

@functionoverfashion lol wow had no idea something like that actually existed! You turned my day around!

[functionoverfashion]

@looseonexit Their original argument was that you could have fewer engines for the same or greater HP total than you could get with any competitor, and so the cost would be similar or possibly less overall. Then with fewer engines, upkeep would be a little less, although I think upkeep is a small expense relative to the overall costs here... but it's a bullet point for them to brag about in the showroom.

[EngineerWithTools]

@functionoverfashion

Stern drives = a u-joint'ed jack shaft, shaft alignment sensitivity, thrust-carrying pivots for yaw and pitch, Z-shaped exhaust-out and cooling-water-in paths, and my personal (not) favorite, a multi-square-foot hole in the transom below the waterline, with only a constantly-flexing rubber bellows, retained by band clamps, keeping the wet stuff out.

Outboards = a thing that sticks up a little at the back of the boat.

Yes, I'm triggered by stern drives...

[functionoverfashion]

@tripper allegedly that was a drug running boat, in fact, I found it via google by typing in something like 'drug running boat outboards' - it certainly was a good conversation starter in my office!

[functionoverfashion]

@engineerwithtools lol I don't like sterndrives either. Don't forget how expensive they are if you hit a rock! Our lake is famous for unmarked rocks, and while it's true that inboards can't be trimmed up, you're less likely to be out $5k if you hit a rock.