I haven't blogged about Zeus for a while. In Miami, I tested boats with Zeus drives from CAT and from Yanmar which showed me that by choosing Zeus over the other azipod drive system, we left open our customer's options to select engines from other engine builders. We don't plan anything for the short term because both CAT and Yanmar are early into the game and don't yet have the level of development that Cummins does but they are on their way. Both companies will be using the same Mototron Joy Stick, SmartCraft display and Glendinning controls. BTW we have also chosen IPS for our pod application in the Sabre 38 Express.
Zeus Pods need to be placed within a specific distance from the transom for a lot of performance reasons and because they include the automatic trim tabs as part of their standard offering. Many boatbuilders have installed Zeus in existing designs as we did with the Sabre 42 Express. Fortunately the 42 Express cockpit is well laid out for Zeus with three large hatches offering great access to the lazarette. On the new Sabre 40 we designed the cockpit so that the aft cockpit seat hinges forward and allows wide access over the pods. In addition to this hatch there are two other hatches for accessing the storage spaces below the cockpit deck.
More about the clever cockpit table design and cockpit seating next time. (Public) Launch day is still set for May 1st.