Sea Ray 44 Sundancer & Zeus

Zeus thunders Down Under

Coca Cola, Pepsi or Dr Pepper must have shares in the American boatbuilding market. After all, for as long as I can remember, the drinkholder has been the hallmark of every Yankee boat. Not one drinkholder, mind you, a bevy of them for a case of beverages that you seemingly consume in your time aboard. Thirsty work, boating.

But now you can add a joystick to the list of telltales. And take it from me its effect is even more profound than a gut full of pop.

Take the Sea Ray 44 Sundancer, which is ordinarily a lovely sportsyacht, but has been transformed into pure powerboating pleasure with a pair of fully electronic Cummins MerCruiser Diesel (CMD) engines with common rail fuel injection, and, moreover, the latest ground-breaking Zeus drives and joystick docking remote.

With a joystick you take the knee knocking out of docking, the barking out of parking, and the yawing out of mooring. But it doesn't end there. The Zeus pods are attached to the latest and greatest Cummins electronic diesels that offer more speed, less fuel burn, and quieter and cleaner operation - thanks also to their underwater exhaust ports - than motors of yore. And with that, pods have well and truly rendered shaft drives old technology.

The Sea Ray 44 Sundancer is an interesting case study for the new generation of pod-driven sportsyachts and sportscruisers due also to the enticing cost. The Zeus system, you see, needs smaller engines to generate the same performance as a boat dragging shafts, running gear and rudders. And because the steerable drives also remove the need for a bowthruster, there are more savings there. And then there is the built-in autopilot with electronic 'anchor' or station-holding device that comes with Zeus.

Put it all together and the 44 Sundancer with T-Zeus CMD QSB 425hp engines costs about the same, says Andrew Short, the country's biggest Sea Ray dealer, as the same boat with QSB 500hp engines and shaftdrives, bowthruster and autopilot. And while we didn't test the two boats head-to-head, Short is adamant the 44 Sundancer with 500hp diesels and shaft drives on his marina tops out at 28kts. As driven here, the same boat with 425hp Cummins diesels and Zeus produced a startling 34.4kts. An almost 25 per cent better top speed!

Then there are the savings in fuel burn and benefits in economy. They amount to 30 per cent with the Zeus, claims Cummins. Which is to say nothing about the acceleration and, wow, the super sporty handling.

Then there is the amazing manoeuvrability in close quarters thanks to that joystick. Are we impressed? Enamoured. Read on.

WORLD AND LOCAL BACKING
Need I remind you that Sea Ray is one of the most entrenched American boat brands in Australia. But the big badge has been enjoying a new level of local backing, especially for its big boats, ever since Andrew Short Marine took on the agency in Sydney and purchased a boutique marina in Port Hacking and, more recently, a 48-berth marina, restaurant, slipway and residence called Fergusons Boat Shed at The Spit.

It's from here that Short sells Sea Rays from 36 to 60ft, stages annual owners' rendezvous, and showcases the brand. And it's from this marina bedecked with Sea Rays that we decamped in the new 44 Sundancer with Zeus and joystick docking device. First released in 2003, the 44 Sundancer has been one of the most popular larger Sea Rays here and overseas, which is why it was chosen as the harbinger for the Zeus drives. With them, the boat has got a new lease on life.

But since Cummins is owned by marine giant Brunswick Corporation, which boasts an impressive array of powerboat brands including Sea Ray, its pod-driven boats are actually designed in-house. And while Volvo Penta and CMD both have their own teams of naval architects to assist boatbuilders with the design of suitable hulls for their pod drives, each uses a very different platform.
For IPS, the hull needs to be smooth without too much deadrise, whereas Zeus drives are mounted in pockets or tunnels created from a moulding supplied to the maker to help reduce tooling costs. The tunnel mounting of Zeus leads to some benefits, not least being reduced draft and, from our experience here, superb acceleration.

Another unique feature of Zeus is that it's bundled with an in-house designed magnetic compass and built-in GPS system - Brunswick has been buying up major electronics manufacturers in America - that together provide an autopilot as standard and Skyhook, an electronic 'anchor,' as an option (see box on Zeus for more detail).

I also like the fact that Sea Ray backs its boats with a five-year structural hull warranty and is increasingly using resin transfer moulding or closed moulds to provide a better finish on its boats.

You can also see the effects of computer-aided design in the flowing curves and in the way due consideration has been given to ergonomics.

Cummins, meanwhile, offers two years warranty on its engines and Zeus drive, but you can pay to extend that to five years. And, take it from me, the service is excellent nation wide. To which you can add Short's backing, using his slipway and shipwrights.

ENGINEROOM INSPECTION
Before we cast the lines, Matt Robinson, 20 years with Cummins and now running a mobile servicing business called On the Water Sydney, weighed in with some background on Zeus. Robinson visited Charlestown, USA, for the Zeus launch and understands something about the systems.

As ever, a push-button engineroom lift raises the cockpit floor on the Sundancer 44, granting terrific access to the 5.9lt straight-six donks. But with the Zeus drives aft of the blocks, there's a lot more servicing room compared with the same motors and conventional V-drives, which cramp the front end of the engines. However, there's not a lot to see of the Zeus drives in the engineroom. Their working parts and gearbox hide under fibreglass covers intended to provide a degree of protection.

Robinson says the major benefits of the Zeus system include the fact that: (1) you can perform oil changes with the boat in the water; (2) the bronze pod drives don't need antifouling; (3) the rear-facing propellers are protected by a small skeg and recessed in tunnels for better protection than forward-facing props on the IPS; and, (4) there is an integrated trim tab on the drives for terrific automatic driving performance. In fact, all you need to do is keep your eyes on the road when driving with the Zeus.

Service intervals are 12 monthly or every 250 hours and the Zeus drives, which use a ZF gearbox, include an integral saltwater pick-up but a remote sea strainer in the engineroom so you can check for weed. There is also a through-pod underwater exhaust outlet as well as idle relief outlet in the hull corners. But the electronic Quantum Series diesel engines are inherently smoke and fume free - just lovely engines.

The steering system is all fly-by-wire and, I really like this fact, the joystick docking device responds the moment you move it. In other words, there's no need to press a button to take the joystick station from the throttles. The steering is adjustable and set up for each and every boat, and there's a back-up pump so you can still drive the boat in the event the hydraulic steering fails. The joystick also works up to 1800rpm, which produced 14kts on the 44 Sundancer, pretty fast.

As far as the owner-driver is concerned, thanks to electronic motors, maintenance is pretty much limited to checking the aforesaid sea strainers, which you can see right before you, perhaps draining the Racor fuel filters should the alarms sound - they include water sensors - and dipping the oil, which was connected to a Reverso oil-change system. I could make at-a-glance checks of the coolant levels and noted stop-start buttons for the Cummins to assist the serviceman.

The batteries are all low-maintenance gel types and access was reasonable to the upgraded Onan generator, a 9kW model serviced by Cummins at the time the engines do. The upgrade makes sense instead of the standard issue 7.3kW Kohler generator, a Volvo Penta product. A good amount of sound insulation and a Seafire system, plus major DC breakers, were noted.

IMPROVING THE LIFESTYLE
The options on the demo boat are responsible for making the 44 Sundancer a savvy Australian sportsyacht and lifestyle cruiser.

Things like the extended submersible swim platform would be difficult to live without, not only for splashing about safely with the kiddies, but for launching the tender or PWC at the press of a button.

The hardtop is another option that you wouldn't be without, since it provides all-weather protection to the helm and at least half of the cockpit seating. And doesn't every boat berthed on the marina have underwater lighting these days? I can only imagine how sexy that looked on the demo boat when switched on during a hot summer's night.

As ever, the 44 Sundancer has a boot for fenders and lines, a swim ladder and hot/cold transom shower, a wide marlin door, clip-in cockpit carpet and a social seating layout. A giant U-shaped lounge dominates around an upgraded high-gloss teak table, an upgrade in lieu of the moulded table. All told, eight can do lunch. There's also a Toshiba flat-screen TV in the cockpit.

The moulded portside cockpit amenities centre opposite features a 12V fridge - an icemaker comes standard - grabrail and sink, small Corian counter, and a good amount of storage space. Yet for all this, there's still a lot of floor space for a clear passage to the helm and below-decks.

Meantime, access to the bow is gained via cockpit steps and usefully wide sidedecks backed by moulded toerails, a bowrail with intermediate wire, grabrails on the cabin top and a good grade of non-skid. The boat also has two clip-in sunpads on its foredeck, a spotlight, windlass (as part of the Aussie package) plus forward freshwater wash and upgraded stainless steel anchor.

As with most sportsyachts, the 44 Sundancer is a social, cruising boat where everyone travels on the same level as the skipper. A high-backed helm seat is alongside a two-person co-pilot lounge, with storage ranging from a sidepocket to various underseat holds and sub-lounge recesses. Head, shoulder and legroom is generous and, even without engaging the Zeus, the 44 Sundancer is a user-friendly boat.

TICKETS ON CRUISING
Of course, owners are the main priority aboard the 44 Sundancer. They get a permanent sleeping arrangement in the bow, with wide island double berth and their own split en suite boasting a king-sized shower stall opposite the WC with upmarket Vacuflush head and vanity with sink to port. The boat had an optional central-vac system, as well as air-con that, when I ran the generator, didn't include annoying noise.

The interior décor is more European than overtly American thanks in part to the smart combination of austere dark cherrywood joinery instead of common red cherry, silver door handles and catches instead of gold ones, timber blinds, cream carpets (covered with Sunbrella runners) and matching sandstone upholstery. There were light Corian counters in the galley, heads and a soft lighting plan. Triple opening portlights in the saloon, big hatches in the forward cabin and skylights direct light inside and help create a sense of connectivity with the outside world.

The saloon has a cherrywood dinette opposite a drop-down flatscreen TV in the galley, itself the highlight of the interior. With decent fridge space, two-burner electric cooktop, small microwave oven, power vent and storage space including a bootleg locker you can whip up a decent dinner.

But while the interior is open plan, you can convert the aft living room into a mid-cabin. The lounges before the second TV turn into a double berth and there are sliding timber doors for privacy. The dinette lounge also converts into an impromptu berth, while the dayhead is nearby with Vacuflush loo and handheld shower. And the AC/DC control panel is operator friendly, with water and waste-tank gauges, plus generator start/stop.

With 378lt of water, more than 1000lt of useable fuel, generator, air-con and more, you should be able to range to far-away places and live comfortably on the Sundancer 44.

Four-hour ocean legs would open up a lot of possibilities either side of home port. Take another couple for the weekend or pack the family of four for longer stints. And swing by the marina every three days or so for more water.

SPORTY SPICE
Sea Ray's ergonomically designed helm works wonderfully well and, with some reverse sheer to the decks and a naturally flat running hull, your sight lines are great on the pegs and puttering about. The helm seat has a flip-up bolster, the dash features Raymarine E120, analogue engine gauges and a big switch panel for everything from pumps and lights to wipers and windscreen vent, plus there's a spotlight remote, upgraded sound system and so on.

But it's the Zeus gear that makes the dash different and takes this boat to the next level, one of driver friendliness in mock contrast to the way these boats are sometimes set up with split shifts and throttles that, with bowthruster as well, demands two sets of hands to operate.

The Quantum engines include a SmartCraft panel relaying engine data, fuel consumption, range to go and so forth, while the Zeus package also includes the Precision Pilot autopilot with Skyhook electronic 'anchor', electronic fly-by-wire Quickshifts with go-slow, synchro and uni-lever modes, and the all-important joystick beside a drinkholder. Whereupon we have turned full circle.

We decamped from the marina with the aid of the joystick which, quite simply, shifts the boat in the direction you push it. When you twirl the knob the boat spins on its axis. Such is the responsiveness of the motors and props that the secret with 'Zeusing', to coin a phrase, is to be gentle, incremental and casual with your movements. Heavy-handed skippers need not apply, and women and kids are naturals.

Normally nervous behind the wheel of a big

boat, Kylie Short demonstrated the ease of docking perfectly. And the built-in trolling valve in the Zeus helps with low-speed manoeuvring.

Yet for all this, this writer was no less gobsmacked by the sporty off-the-wheel performance. The Zeus drives include an automatic trim plate, so all you need to do is plant the wheel and look forward. Everything else is taken care of. But it was in the bends that this baby really performed and, without any shadow of a doubt, this was the snappiest sportsyacht or sportscruiser with pod drives that I have had the pleasure of skippering.

Yank the wheel around - just one turn either way to lock from dead ahead - and the 10-tonne boat pivots as though on rails but without unduly digging it's bow. The boat is so nimble at speed that it feels much smaller in the sense that it doesn't intimidate the skipper. And with a handy 19º deadrise, the hull runs smooth and, I noted by the spray count on the windscreen, dry. No suck-backed spray into the cockpit, either.

Low-speed cruise of 20kts was achieved at 2200rpm for 88.8lt/h, cruise speeds were clocked anywhere from 24.5kts at 2400rpm for 107lt/h to 26.6kts at 2600rpm for 122lt/h. And top speed was 34.4kts at 3020rpm for 173.4lt/h. And once you reach your destination, there are 10 drinkholders to fill with beverages. Hey, I guess some things don't change.

HIGHS

LOWS

DR ZEUS TO THE RESCUE
Even at the best of times, berthing can be terrifying, paralysing and, stuffed up too often, soul destroying. With twin engines and a bowthruster, you seemingly need three hands. And it's not just human error that brings you unstuck. Bowthrusters aren't immune to failing and a stack at a Sydney marina prompted an official warning to skippers not to rely on them.

Add the fact that boats are getting bigger, while marinas are becoming jam-packed and parking a powerboat is becoming a serious problem. But that's not the case with the latest independently articulating pod drives linked via fly-by-wire technology to a single joystick. Now, with just one lever to worry about, everyone from greenhorns to gun captains can park with aplomb.

Twist the knob on the top of the joystick and the boat pivots. Push it in the direction you want to go and the underwater drives thrust you back in your pen. Not even a kiss, let alone a scratch. Even the dockmaster looks suitably impressed in the tempest.

Best of all, there's no panic-stricken crew ready to abandon ship and, all too often, declare boating isn't for them. In fact, with pod drives and a joystick, parking a powerboat is child's play. Kids with Playstation expertise are naturals at it, so too women who aren't averse to doing things gently rather than jumping on the throttles. Pod drives are very responsive.

The latest pod drive making waves on our waterways is Zeus from Cummins MerCruiser Diesel. It was apparently 15 years in the making and designed concurrently with (though I suspect in response to) Volvo Penta's Inboard Performance System or IPS pod system that has been breaking down boating barriers.

Both the Swedish IPS and American Zeus have steerable underwater drives or pods, as they are known, and use microprocessor brains to move independently of each other in response to movements made with the joystick (standard on the Zeus package). In fact, the trickiest manoeuvres can now be executed with the mere push of a lever and/or twist of the knob on the top of it. Single handed berthing in any weather.

Meantime, MerCruiser has just released Axius in Australia, another fly-by-wire steering system, only it's for the twin sterndrives from 5.7lt and only with the Bravo III sterndrives, a combo you typically find in sportscruisers from about nine to 12m in length.

We recently tested an Axius-equipped Bayliner 320 and were suitably impressed. Yet that's a story for another day.

Back to Zeus which is available on fully electronic Cummins MerCruiser Diesel (CMD) engines from 380 to 600hp with common rail fuel injection. The Zeus 3500 uses a fully electronic QSB 5.9lt diesel engine with common rail fuel injection in 380, 425 and 480hp variants; while the Zeus 3800 uses the QSC 8.3lt electronic diesel engine in either 550hp or a new 600hp version.

For the moment at least, the 600hp model is the biggest pod drive on the market and, when referring to it, the vice president of marketing for Cummins, Gary Dickman, said: "We are targeting 38-foot-plus sportsfishers and cruising yachts that typically would be powered by 700 to 800hp conventional inboards."

This is more than a sales pitch and both IPS and Zeus generate giant-killer performance from their favourable power-to-weight ratios and the horizontal thrust of their hydrodynamic underwater drives. The drives also create a lot less drag than conventional shafts. And because the pod drives are steerable there's no need for rudders - less drag again. The bronze pod castings are virtually corrosion free, too.

As for price, Volvo Penta's IPS typically sells for a $5000 premium over the same boat with necessarily bigger diesel engines for the same performance, plus shafts and a bowthruster which, as mentioned, you don't need with IPS. We're told Zeus works out about the same money when you take into account its system includes an integrated autopilot. So what are you waiting for?

But IPS and Zeus head in different directions when you examine them in greater detail. While they both feature steerable fly-by-wire underwater drives or pods, the Swedish insist on using forward-facing propellers much like an aeroplane to pull their boats through the water, whereas the Americans use rear-facing propellers to push the boat more conventionally.

Hit something at speed and the IPS drive is designed to break free, while the skeg of the Zeus is more inclined to ride over an object.

And the rear-facing propellers are less likely to be damaged. Hit something really hard and the skeg is designed to break free. As ever, running aground at speed is a costly mistake.

As mentioned in the accompanying Sea Ray test, CMD has its own teams of naval architects to assist boatbuilders design appropriate hulls for their pod drives. The Zeus drives are mounted in pockets or tunnels created from a moulding supplied to the manufacturer to help reduce tooling costs. Since Cummins is owned by marine giant Brunswick Corporation, which boasts an impressive array of powerboat brands, its pod-driven boats are actually designed in-house.

But where Zeus really has the edge is with its add-ons or bundled features. The system includes an in-house-designed magnetic compass and built-in GPS that together provide a standard-issue autopilot called Precision Pilot. There is also an optional Skyhook 'electronic anchor' that, using real-time data, satellites and a series of onboard sensors, can hold your boat - handsfree - in one position regardless of wind, tide and waves. Pure genius, though public liability issues are still to be sorted. And the boat can move up to 30m before correcting itself if the satellite reception is dodgy, we're told.

So which is best: forward facing or rear facing pod drives? That's the million-dollar question and the impetus for two very different but equally robust marketing campaigns. Either way, thanks to IPS, Zeus, and now Axius, powerboating is attracting a new generation of would-be skippers previously too nervous or proud to take the reins.

And depending on which brand you go for, their push or pull is such that even proficient skippers will be swayed.