Pod access aboard the Riviera 43 is through the cockpit sole.

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Warranty concerns may shorten the list of service providers. “Not a lot of guys know pods yet. Make sure they’re specifically trained, or at least have several years of experience,” Siebert said. Zeus service includes changing 0w30 SAE transmission oil, hydraulic steering oil and filters inside the hull as well as 90-weight gear oil outside the hull. Volvo uses SAE 75w140 oil for both the transmission and lower unit. Zirk fittings require grease in U-joints and at both ends of jack shafts that connect engines to drives.

Painting pods will cost a bit more too. “We get a lot of oyster growth inside the drive intakes,” Siebert said. “You can’t take the grate off to clean or paint in there.” His solution is to spray Interlux Trilux 33 or Pettit Alumaspray Plus from aerosol cans inside the seawater intakes. Siebert removes all loose paint from the drive, sanding down to shiny metal with 100-grit sandpaper, and then applies primer and two thin coats of Trilux 33 or Pettit Vivid copper thiocyanate anti-fouling paint.

Pods also expand morning fluid checks to include the lazarette. When checking transmission oil level, give it a sniff. The pods’ synthetic oil is dark, making it hard to see the telltale oil discoloration of a slipping transmission, but it will likely have a burnt smell. On Zeus drives, check the steering oil reservoir dipstick, and check the clear reservoir for lower-unit gear oil for any signs of water seeping into the drive. “If you lose oil or get water in the lower unit, an alarm will sound before the problem becomes catastrophic,” Fessenden said of Cummins drives.

Volvo includes neither a water alarm nor a clear reservoir, so check the single transmission and gear oil dipstick for signs of water. If water is suspected inside any pod, get a mechanic aboard right away or risk internal damage.

It’s also important to monitor for seawater dripping onto drives. “Our drives are made to stand up to a light freshwater rinse,” Fessenden said, “but don’t blast them with the hose.” Fessenden suggests a light coating of Mercury’s corrosion spray. Siebert prefers Boeshield T-9.

Siebert puts annual maintenance for pods roughly $2,000 above what straight shafts cost, not including extra haul-out fees for boats that exceed 250 engine-hours per year. On the other hand, pod boats typically don’t have bow thrusters. They also don’t have cutlass bearings or shaft seals to monitor and replace, nor separate rudders and steering systems to maintain, saving money on those items over the long haul.

A very hard grounding is also likely to cost less with pods, since they’re meant to shear off and then go right back onto the boat with just a thorough service and new bolts. When one of Siebert’s clients hit a sandbar, “it happened so smoothly that he didn’t even realize he’d lost drives until he revved the engines and the boat didn’t respond,” Siebert said. His experience tells him a similar grounding with conventional shafts would have been much worse, perhaps even damaging rudder or strut supports badly enough to flood the boat.

On the other hand, touching bottom only hard enough to bend the propellers will likely cost more on pods, because they have two props to repair on each drive. Somewhere in between the cost of straightening conventional shafts and rudders, and possibly even repairing transmissions, the advantage shifts back to pods.



Fuel savings can be weighed against additional maintenance, but economy varies with each boat and depends on how it’s used. (See “How Fuel-Efficient Are Pods, Exactly?”) The biggest savings might come when the pods’ aft-located engines add interior accommodations. The pod version of the 42 Sabre, for instance, adds a queen bed and more stowage to the guest stateroom, as well as the option for a washer and dryer. When a 42-foot pod boat can replace a 46-footer, savings add up fast. It’s also hard to put a price on joystick control, which completely changes dockside handling.    Sociability is another huge advantage to pods. “They’re a whole different animal,” Siebert said. “For people who have been boating for 30 years, the quiet, smooth operation and the clean exhaust are really going to surprise them.”

But Collins thinks the pod’s advantages are even less quantifiable. “Pods are something new,” he said. “They get people excited about buying a new boat.”