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I believe Cat says a rebuild may be necessary after 30000 gal of fuel. If you run at 1800 rpm that will be about 10000 hours. Over on Boatdiesel, you'll find the gurus saying it's not uncommon to see a 3208 natural last 20000 hours.

Removed the old vinyl wallpaper, laminate countertop and stainless sink. Livened it up with a Mexican vibe. Put a smile on the wife's face.

If you don't already have one, get an endoscope camera. Once you've removed the starter, stick it in the bell housing and look for carnage!

You might also check out Seaboard Marine.

I had Forespar Marelon seacocks on a previous boat that was 18 years old. They looked good as new and worked fine.

Just FYI... there was a Cat bulletin in April 1985 that said to reduce the total capacity for the NA to 13 quarts including a filter change. If your boat is older than that, it's possible your dipstick is not marked properly.

I put a Blue Sea 5191 terminal fuse block on each battery as extra insurance. Simple and easy to do.

Check out Seaboard Marine (here) as they have everything you need from the sensors to hydraulic line fittings and gauges. I just replaced my 40-year-old gear hydraulic pressure gauge as the 20' hydraulic hose to helm gauge was stiff as a board. The new sending unit and electric gauge are good...

Since you asked for "any" input... consider switching over to Victron. I've had the Balmar Smart Gauge and can testify that the Victron stuff is much better (and $$$). Minimally you'd need their Smartshunt, a Cerbo GX controller/display device and the cabling to hook it all together. With...

What size boat are you contemplating? In the 40 range, we had a sedan with a nice large rear cockpit and forward berth, and our current boat with a small aft cockpit but large rear berth. I really liked the large rear cockpit but didn't like the wave slap/anchor chain noise in the bow. I do...

I've found the MV Sanctuary site to be very helpful in understanding both AC and DC marine electrical systems. You can find it here.

We have a 3208n which I assume has the same heat exchanger (HE) configuration as your 3208t. In the 3208, the coolant tank and the HE bundle tank are welded together. If it were me, I'd remove it (probably heavy like everything else on the engine) and take it to a machine shop to get the pin...

I first ran into this when we went into Campbell River many moons ago. I was making a beautiful landing in our transient slip when the eager college student grabbed my bow line, pull it tight then tied it off. Wackiness ensued...

Just curious... but has anybody ever heard of a chain break at anchor? I never have and so it seems very rare. Dragging from a poor set or just overwhelming conditions seems the norm.

Send a query to Actisense. They have a lot of 0183 integration devices and I've found their support helpful.

No hacking required. You want to configure Relay 1 as an Alarm Relay which is available via Menu->Settings->Relay. Works great!

Perform a coolant pressure test on both engines. It's simple and quick. The devices can sometimes be borrowed or rented from auto parts stores.

Consider joining BoatDiesel.com as they have a section dedicated to Allison transmissions. I looked briefly and in response to a shifting issue one poster suggested calling Acadian Marine Transmission in Broussard, LA. No experience with them... just passing on the info.

Btw, the iPhone app now has a setting to make the antenna stay flat. I've been fooling around with it down here in Baja and honestly haven't noticed any difference from the "normal", tilted, orientation.

The two biggest reasons we switched to LFP was the ability to discharge to a low SOC when conditions warrant, and the ability to charge at a high rate all the way up to 90+% SOC. The latter is helpful, for example, if you need to charge your house bank off a generator. It sounds like your...

Here's the instrument layout I use:

Our Cat 3208 NA is 1740 lbs dry weight, 1980 lbs with the TD 506 gear attached. The thing is a beast but does help provide a nice, sea kindly ride :)

Great info above that exactly matches our experience down here. By far the biggest plus for us is the Mexican people and culture. Very friendly and lots of smiles. If you're thinking of living down here, you need to also think about medical care. While there is free healthcare as a resident...

Not sure about other DC-DC chargers, but the Victron can be configured to sense engine start (voltage above a certain level) so it only charges when the alternator is active. Unlike an aCR, you can also define a different battery chemistry/charge profile on the output side.

I have always preferred Icom but when I recently replaced my VHF I went with a SH GX1850. I wanted a radio with a NMEA2000 jack on the back and Icom now only offers the 510 which requires an extra module and consequently the price is much higher. I noticed the SH internal speaker is not great...