High Speed Handling Tiara Sovran 4000 IPS: Awesome and Different The 4000 is an Awesome Running Boat. It is Different. The IPS system makes a dramatic change in the handling characteristics of a boat, especially when comparing the same size boat with standard inboard propulsion. We got up on plane quickly and smoothly. Tiara provides trim tabs on the boat. I saw no need for them. We didn't use tabs and there was very little bow rise. High speed handling of the boat is more like carving the the water. Much better than a traditional inboard. It leans over in a turn, but it leans over in a manner that you are “seated into” your seat and don't notice it, unless you look out the side window. Even in a very tight and sharp but fully controlled 90-degree turn, you remain perpendicular to your seat. Level with the boat, not the horizon. It’s a function of both the drives and the hull design. The drives act as rudders; and as the hull has no keel, it leans over. If the boat ran flat into a hard turn, it would most likely skid out. The hull is designed to lean into a turn so if feels very stable. Similar to carving a turn on a down hill ski. Very fast and very efficient. It’s not an odd lean and you do not even notice it, but you can see it. Full-length running strakes and the elimination of a keel define the 4000’s new IPS-friendly hull.  Compared to the response one would expect from an inboard boat, the combination of the IPS drive  system and Tiara's new hull makes a very, very agile boat. IPS is much quieter than a traditional inboard. The engines are further aft… even sitting in the transom… you can’t hear the engines. You can talk at normal room levels to someone sitting next to you. All you hear is water and air moving past you. Exhaust smell and gases are virtually nonexistent. From my point of view, that is a blessing … an odd sensation.  It's more like you are in a really fast sailboat with no motor sensation. Volvo IPS Drives on a Tiara Sovran 4000 I’ve seen the drives out of the water.  As you can see above, they are definitely beefy and bigger than you might think.  They give you a feeling of power and real feeling of security. If you put both drives straight ahead, you can use it like a traditional inboard but it is a little slower to react when close quarter maneuvering than a traditional diesel inboard. But better than a gas boat (gas boats do not have the torque or the rpm). Slow Speed Handling ... Maneuverability Testing Tiara's Sovran 4000 - At the Dock After having spent six or seven hours behind the wheel of that 400, I can say unquestionably that she handles like a dream. I spent a lot of time playing at low speed offshore away from other boats and docks. My objective was to see what I could do with it if you turn the wheel in different directions and how she maneuvers. This proved very interesting ... If you put one engine in forward and one in reverse just at idle, she will actually have some propulsion edging her forward. And when you begin to turn the wheel, she responds very well ... at idle! Seems the underwater exhaust provides propulsion. Power is not wasted on this boat! If you turn into a rotation, your turn will speed up tremendously. An odd feeling when you are not touching any throttle. If you turn it out of a rotation or against the direction she is moving, you can actually stop the rotation. You can spin the boat on itself by putting one drive in forward and the other in reverse. If you turn the wheel, you can rotate much faster. You can actually stop a rotation by turning the wheel. The center of the spin is the center of the boat. You just have to play with it and get used to it to see exactly what it does. It doesn't take long to learn it. The boat has a very slight forward motion while the engines are in neutral and you have total control without using the bow thrusters. Turning the wheel one way or the other actually makes the boat more responsive than a traditional twin inboard diesel. This however takes time to learn and should be practiced before attempting in a high wind or high current situation. I'd practice away from the dock as well. It's not scary but feels odd the first time. Once you get used to it, handling at slow speed in forward is actually much better than a traditional inboard. Having run the 4000 on four separate occasions and spent about 6 hours on board, I was always amazed how the boat runs so much quieter than a traditional boat. From the cockpit all you can hear is the water and wind. Nice, very nice indeed. The Rotating Difference Rotating the boat is the only real difference. After an hour on board, I was rotating the boat at very high speeds without increasing the speed above idle and just using the wheel to increase or decrease the speed of rotation. What I learned was that IPS gives a boat the advantages of both a stern drive and an inboard propulsion when maneuvering in tight quarters. Another benefit is that if you loose an engine or a propeller or anything that might cause you to come in on one engine, you can still dock the boat. You can actually steer the boat on one engine which is very different than a traditional inboard. I’ve lost engines offshore and have had to come through a channel. Try docking a boat with a strong current and on one engine. That is not fun! The IPS drive will actually allow you to steer against it and you can get the boat to go straight relatively easy even with one motor. You can even back up straight with only one motor. Something you can not do with a traditional inboard at all. Hopefully, you never have to do so, but it will work. And, it should make you feel more secure knowing that it will. Tiara's Sovran 4000 - Pretty from all angles. My Advice ... If you're thinking about making a purchase, don't wait any longer to order your own 4000 Sovran equipped with Volvo's newest drive system, the Volvo IPS.

Interior Accommodations Tiara Sovran 2000 IPS: Salon - Click for Full Screen Photo - As noted, the new IPS system provides a number of performance advantages. It also allowed Tiara to add a full second stateroom with head, found aft of the port-side galley.  When describing Tiara's accommodations, let's start with the fact that everything ... fit, finish, and fixtures  are all top drawer.  Tiara knows quality and is among the best of the production boat builders. Tiara Sovran 4000 IPS: Aft Guest Stateroom The aft stateroom features two large twin beds, plenty of storage, and a flat-screen TV with plenty of seated headroom for the grown-ups. The cockpit features a perfect complement of cruising necessities. Seating in the upper cockpit is L-shaped and elevated to allow all passengers a perfect view. The helm seat is electronically adjustable for perfect visibility.  The traditional helm is an excellent home for all necessary electronics. The new aft cockpit U-shaped seating, complete with table and/or sun pad inserts, is both inviting and comfortable – a perfect environment for the cruising enthusiast.   Tiara Sovran 2000 IPS: Dinette - Click for Full Screen Photo - Tiara Sovran 2000 IPS: Galley - Click for Full Screen Photo - The headroom is ample at the vanity, featuring vessel sink and exquisite fixtures, and in the wet head. Tiara Sovran 2000 IPS: Head - Click for Full Screen Photo - So, what hasn’t changed? That’s a simple answer.  Tiara's classic and timeless design. And, the fact that Tiara Yacht’s Sovran 4000 is powered by Volvo Penta’s new IPS system, which may be new and different, but the 4000,  is still 100% Tiara. That translates directly to Quality and Performance.

Bob Slickkers on the Sovran 4000 "The IPS has brought to us a whole new way of looking at propulsion systems. Both in terms of the efficiency that we get out of them and the space savings they can provide. If you've been on the 4000 - you can see what space we were able to get out of the boat. That wasn't there with traditional drives. We plan on more boats like that. It is a big improvement. Bob Slickkers President Tiara Yachts We talk to Volvo on a regular basis and we think we were fortunate to start out the way we did by designing a boat specifically for the IPS system. The IPS system did well for us at the Miami boat show (Feb 2005). I think we did because we built a new boat around the engine optimizing hull shape and interior accommodations to fit it. There is a good future for us in IPS. Volvo has been very supportive in our development and I have been very pleased with their support. Out of the 14 Sovran 4000 IPS active owners we have so far seem very happy. That is what counts. Volvo is very dedicated to the IPS system and they are moving forward. I would expect a bigger series for larger boats coming out with more horse power and more robustness. Engine manufacturers are our most critical suppliers. Not surprisingly engines are critical to the boat. You may have great customer service but if the engine goes down, the boat stops. The manufacture needs to stand behind their products and be there." The 4000's Interesting Development History "There is an interesting history of the development of the boat. My father and I traveled out the the Chesapeake about six years ago when Volvo was first starting to put IPS in a prototype test boat. We drove one that they had and talked about the concept with them. I must admit, that there were a lot of bugs in it at that time. However, it was interesting because of the efficiency gains they were getting. We we said that we'd like to stay in tune and in touch with them. They kept developing IPS and called us. They we're to the point they were getting close maybe within a year of introducing it. They wanted put it in one of our boats. We agreed. They chose a 38 open. We modified that boat for them to accept the engines. Put the fittings for the engine and drive system into the hull and shipped it to them. They installed the engines at their factory. As soon as they had that done, we flew back out there and ran the boat with them. The beauty was that it helped us determine that the 4000 had to be a "from scratch" boat. While the 38 performed very well, there were some quirks and things about the combination that we would not want. Some of that had to do with putting engines way in the back. Our hull bottom was not designed for that. We noticed how the boat handled and turned. It was not unsafe but it just did not feel like a Tiara. There were things that we wanted to do. As we were already in the process of developing the 4000 for those engines (IPS), we went back to the drawing board to accommodate the lessons we had learned. We had tons of data on a 38 open, we knew exactly how that boat rides, how it runs, and how it handles. That was a given. Now we had data on the same boat but with a different drive system. We could compare all of its characteristics. We had to change some things in order to have it work well. I feel that the changes we made to the boat, were phenomenal. All of us were very pleased with the results. There were things in the hull design that we said needed to change in order to have the weight farther back and redistribute the weight in the boat to accommodate the engine weight in the rear. For us IPS could only work with a brand new hull. It was well worth the expense and effort. The hull is different. It's different from any other Tiara that we have ever sold. Designed, just for IPS. We've got more on the drawing boat to capitalize on the IPS drive. I must admit that we are very pleased with the result." - Bob Slickkers, President - Tiara Yachts

Specifications: LOA: 45 ft., 3 in. Beam: 14 ft., 9 in. Draft: 3 ft., 7 in. Weight (dry): 26,800 lbs. Fuel capacity: 375 gals. Water capacity: 110 gals. Performance Specs Top speed: 28.6 knots MPG @ 3,300 rpm cruise: .86 Range @ 25 knot cruise: 254 nautical miles (w/10% reserve) Sound level @ cruise: 80 dB Standard Equipment Bow thruster, three cabin air-conditioning units, Clarion AM/FM stereo system with four speakers and six-CD changer, Bose Lifestyle system with integrated DVD, TVs in main salon, master suite and guest stateroom, foredeck sunpad, windlass. Optional Features Cockpit air conditioning, cockpit carpeting, cockpit ice-maker, all chain windlass, washer/dryer. Construction Hull constructed with gelcoat outer layer, high performance tie-coat, quad-axial fiberglass, balsa core, epoxy resin and vacuum-bag technology. Deck is gelcoat outer layer hand-laid fiberglass balsa core with vinylester resin. Company Profile Years in business: 31 Number of employees: 850 Boat lines: S2 Yachts Corp. includes Tiara and Pursuit Builder Tiara Yachts, Holland, MI; (616) 392-7163; www.tiarayachts.com