It’s a difficult one isn’t it.... efficiency and obvious boat handling benefits of IPS over less complicated shaft drives. Does the fuel savings and benefits outweigh the additional services costs? Just how long do these generally last before a strip down if properly maintained with oil changes and regular cleaning?
The costs (for second + Gen IPS drives) aren’t really that much more than a shaft driven boat, you just need to take her out of the water every year or so (same as any water berthed boat) for a hull clean, then you replace the oil (there’s a lot of that, 20 odd litres) the anodes and inspect, it’s really not a great deal more than shafts or stern drive. Where the costs come is in repairs, if you need to replace bearings or seals it can be a bit expensive, but with the new units that’s a once a decade issue if you keep up the annual maintenance.
