Regal 42 SC IPS 400 vs IPS 500

Alexusfl,

I owned a fiberglass hard top 4460 Regal with IPS500s (2006) and the setup was adequate for that boat's size. I know some 46s which is the follow on boat to the 4460 can come with IPS 600s, but I generally I think they ere offered with IPS 500s. The challenge I see is that the Regal 46 sport couple is about 2k to 3k lbs heavier than the 4460 with an IPS setup. My 4460 cruised easily between 24 knots and 27 knots with revs between 2950 and 3180. I normally never ran it above 3200 though, and most of the time kept it around 3150 or so. With good seas and not too much current at the bow the boat would run at the high end of that range at 3150. Burning just under a gallon per nautical mile. If the current was heavy at the bow or rougher seas you'd be closer to 24 knots. I think with the extra weight the 46 will be slower than that, or you'll have to run the IPS500s at a higher rev to get the similar cruise characteristics. Doing that gets them closer to their 3500 Rev max which isn't always the best. I think you probably shouldn't run IPS 500s consistently above 3200 Rpm or you'll shorten the life of the engines.

Consequently, I would not buy an IPS400 boat myself in either the 42 or the 46. But from my perspective I'd make the call based on my experience with the IPS 500s in the 4460 I owned. The engine is basically the same D6 block but the issue could be in order to get to decent cruising range with the IPS400s you need to push that D6 block a revs much closer to the IPS400 3300 redline. The IPS 500 on the same block is 3500 so in my case 3150 is a much more comfortable Rev for the 3500 redline IPS500 vs the 3300 Redline IPS 400s.

With that said if you haven't had an IPS boat before, there are a ton of positives with it, mostly around handling and being comfortable around other boats and docks even in the wind. Which always helps your confidence and relationships with your crew. Back in 2012 I went from an I/O boat with twins to the IPS setup and that move made boating all that more comfortable for me and my family, so much so that my wife swore by the IPS setup. However a good captain inboard setup with the correct props can surely be just as good. However, the thing you don't get with the inboard setup with similar horsepower is the performance or the fuel economy. My 4460 was always about .2 to .3 per gallon better than my buddies Sea Ray 42 Sundancer which was pretty much the same weight.

The flip side is an IPS boat does have a bit more maintenance. My annual service for my IPS setup was about $1000 to $2000 more than what my buddy would pay for his SeaRay. I paid a qualified IPS Dealer to do the maintenance so some of that is simply a premium due to that. And even if I ended up doing the service myself on oil changes, the IPS Oil alone is about $700 I believe for both drives on a full change and the boat needs to be pulled to do it. I also had a couple seal issues with my one of my IPS drives that caused a full pull of the boat and seal replacements that weren't cheap.

However, the newer IPS' are just as bullet proof as the V-Drive Inboards and they have improved the seals and such that you probably won't see issues like that since my boat was a IPS-A boat (first gen IPS drives).

Long winded reply, but the short story is I would steer clear of the IPS 400s if you can and either find a 42 sport coupe with IPS500s or a 46 with either IPS600s or 500s.

Sorry should have said just under a "gallon per nautical mile". Corrected the post above.    On my boat the Volvo Electronics provided the specific fuel burn metrics

Thank you tc33obx!

I see you now own an outboard boat. Congrats!

This is really great and valuable information, as I'm moving from a single sterndrive (Sea Ray 260 Sundeck, Bravo 3 paired with Mercruiser 350) to the IPS-powered boat. A big change for me!

Will definitely now avoid IPS 400s.

Question---saw a Ranger Tug ad that they had twin Volvo IPS 450's attached to Volvo diesels. What are 450's??

Interesting, but other than HP ratings & rpms (which aren't significant!), neither explains the differences between the various IPS drives.

To me, the HP ratings are significant? But/ $/HP may be crazy? Also, the difference between a unbalanced (unless it has a integral second order gear driven internal balancer)  4 cyl. and a inline 6 is a big big  difference. In line 6 is inherently fully balanced for 2nd/4th/ 6th order free forces and moments. Four cylinder is a vibration PITA if not internally balanced. Sorry, old ME career coming out A 90 degree 4 stroke V-8 same, fully self balanced !