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Penn Yan difference between Pocket drive and Tunnel drive


Patriot

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"Pocket drives" are actually "half tunnels".  The original Penn Yan boat company designed the "Tunnel drive" originally for the military so boats could be beached without damaging running gear. This led to recreational vessels being built for sale to the public as well as rescue vessels used by different departments. These inboard vessels were very popular in Maine and in the FL keys due to harbors and inlets that at times had very little water for passage. The trade off was steering at low speeds(especially in single engine models) and a slight decrease in performance and fuel economy compared to a standard inboard. The full tunnel models not only needed very little water for passage, but could often ride over submerged logs without taking out running gear.

The "half tunnel" or "pocket drive" design is a compromise for necessary draft, yet in many models provides the ultimate performance and economy. Many of todays top boat builders have either recently built, or currently build inboards with pocket drives. The boat you purchased may have pocket drives or half tunnels, and that model does very well performance-wise with this design for a boat that size/weight. 

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