Hippocampus
Guru
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2020
- Messages
- 4,182
- Location
- Plymouth
- Vessel Name
- Hippocampus
- Vessel Make
- Nordic Tug 42
Have a jeep summit eco diesel. Gets 30 on the superslab at 70. Has a range of 720 miles if I stay in proximity of speed limits. Has great grunt rock crawling ( suspension let’s it rise a foot so surprisingly good at it). Diesels have great torque. Of course e has even better but lousy range. For even a coastal cruising boat range is a big deal. Gas just doesn’t have the energy density of diesel.
Have had three recalls but no other issues in 100k+ miles.
Diesel are high pressure systems c/w gas. The compression stroke ignites the fuel not a spark. So the engine must withstand that pressure. Everything in a diesel (vessel or vehicle) seems overbuilt c/w gas for that reason. There’s also usually more waste heat as well (not talking formula one engines).
Remember putting sleeves in old school diesels and getting over 1m miles out of them. Even now believe you’ll get more service life out of a diesel.
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My current boat is a totally new animal to me. In the past with small HP (<100) NA and turbo engines felt fine doing my own wrenching. On this one (common rail) will watch some else do it before attempting things beyond fluid and filter changes and belts. Think I have the concepts down but the devil is in the details. I haven’t even had a reverso in the past. Total newbie. Old enough my diesel courses weren’t on tier 4 or even 3. So yes fear prevents me at present. But knowledge makes fear go away.
Not a fan of gasoline for boats other than speedboats. Even there although current outboards are massively technologically improved service life and reliability are still a issue. Clean fuel, air and compression diesels wil go and go.
Have had three recalls but no other issues in 100k+ miles.
Diesel are high pressure systems c/w gas. The compression stroke ignites the fuel not a spark. So the engine must withstand that pressure. Everything in a diesel (vessel or vehicle) seems overbuilt c/w gas for that reason. There’s also usually more waste heat as well (not talking formula one engines).
Remember putting sleeves in old school diesels and getting over 1m miles out of them. Even now believe you’ll get more service life out of a diesel.
.
My current boat is a totally new animal to me. In the past with small HP (<100) NA and turbo engines felt fine doing my own wrenching. On this one (common rail) will watch some else do it before attempting things beyond fluid and filter changes and belts. Think I have the concepts down but the devil is in the details. I haven’t even had a reverso in the past. Total newbie. Old enough my diesel courses weren’t on tier 4 or even 3. So yes fear prevents me at present. But knowledge makes fear go away.
Not a fan of gasoline for boats other than speedboats. Even there although current outboards are massively technologically improved service life and reliability are still a issue. Clean fuel, air and compression diesels wil go and go.
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