The future is definitely DIESEL (somewhat off-topic)

CRuD Bucket · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:54 am

VW is cranking out TDI marine engines. http://www.volkswagenmarine.com/cms/index.php?id=33&no_cache=1&L=1
Someone must be listening to me. For years, I've said that what we need is a small diesel SUV (I was hoping VW would come through with something smaller than a monster truck) and small (affordable) diesel marine engines. Jeep gave us the SUV (sigh) and it looks like VW is coming through on the marine engines---not sure how "affordable" they'll be though. I suspect the diesel will be quite an upgrade. Heck, with inboard boat motors fuel injection is still considered an upgrade!
Now if we could just get some affordable fuel!

DZL_LOU · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:59 am

VM Motori and Detroit Diesel also provide a suite of Marine Diesel Engines

CRuD Bucket · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:10 am

Not sure about VM, but the Detroit are usually for yacht-sized boats. Cummins and Yanmar are big marine diesel companies too. I think Yanmar or Tohatsu makes a very small diesel outboard, presumably for trolling. Looks like VW is going small (55hp-225hp). I have a 260hp Mercruiser (GM) in my Bayliner that gets around 3mpg. :shock:

litton · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:18 am

VW has been making industrial engines for decades. Some of those have been marinized for marine use. I have a 55hp in my sailboat that just sips fuel and is easy and cheap to work on. This is not a current technology engine with 55 hp from 1600 cc, but that is a defintite plus in a boat as computers and a salt water envoirnment are problamatic in an engine room.

In the older engines, used motor oil is often filtered and then bleed back into the fuel feed. This is not done for efficiency as much as means to get rid of the oil after a change at sea.

Endurance · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:22 am

Thats right. VW has been making marine TDI's for several years now.

CRuD Bucket · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:28 am

I thought this was "new" news. I've been reading BOATING Magazine for years and this is the first I've seen an ad for VW. I guess in a sense it is "new" news, as they are using the TDI powerplant. I'd love to have that 225 in my Bayliner and it looks like they're pairing it with a Mercruiser outdrive. I could never figure out why snailboats

come with a diesel engine. At my old dock, the sailboaters would rub my nose in it saying they fill up once a year whether they need it or not. I was going through $80.00 weekend. :oops:

litton · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:49 am

What may be new is that VW is marketing the marine engines where, in the past, other companies have been buying the engines, marinizing, marketing and then distributing. The downside may be cutting out the marine body of knowledge regarding the application.

FYI, MB has been suppling diesels to the marine market for at least 30 years.

CRuD Bucket · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:55 am

It probably wouldn't take a buttload of HP to get on plane, with all that out-of-the-hole torque. I wonder which engine would be matched with something like my 26 foot aft cabin. I think my rig weighs around 5000lbs. My engine is 260hp. I never priced diesel at the marinas but I assume there would be no road tax.

torqueofthetown · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:08 pm

Some Marine diesel news that is somewhat new

Cummins has teamed up with mercruiser for some diesel powered sterndrives and Jets! They range from 1.7L / 120hp to 4.2L 320hp for the sterndrives and up to 250hp for the jets.

www.cmdmarine.com then click sterndrives

jaciii · **Joined:** Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:09 am **Posts:** 25

They are in everything from old Aussie Cherokees to tractors to boats.

And a lot of those snailboats have that old Atomic 4 gas motor.

Dutchy · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:21 pm

Nice to see that the US is finaly getting diesel power, but be carefull with TDI engines in boats as you will probably know that boats have much more water in the diesel than cars, some marina's add water to the diesel to ripp you off and it is bad luck to find this out 12 Miles out with a storm brewing.
This is bad enough with normal diesels but a High precision VW TDI engine has even more problems with 'dirty' diesel.

litton · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:42 pm

Dutchy wrote:

Nice to see that the US is finaly getting diesel power, but be carefull with TDI engines in boats as you will probably know that boats have much more water in the diesel than cars, some marina's add water to the diesel to ripp you off and it is bad luck to find this out 12 Miles out with a storm brewing.
This is bad enough with normal diesels but a High precision VW TDI engine has even more problems with 'dirty' diesel.

I don't believe the fuel docks add water, however condensation from the open vents is a real problem. As the fuel tank is used it breathes in high humnidiy air and then condenses inside the tanks. Same problem in the boat tank.

Now at the Mexico docks.....all bets are off. That stuff can be pretty bad and we all carry "baja filters". I would worry about the high tech engines for sure.

Dutchy · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:57 pm

You can never know about the adding of water to the fuel, couple of years ago a yacht run into trouble of the coast of Belgium, they found out that the diesel supplier at Antwerpes dock added 40% water to the marine diesel.
I myself had some engine trouble due to too much water in the diesel in Greece a couple of years ago.
With the diesel prices going sky high in the US i would not be surpriced if this is also going on at some of your boatyards, be aware!
I for instance want my marine diesel to be simple and indistructable, something that will run half submerged and will even run on dirty diesel.
If your car diesel stops you just call the AA but if your Boat diesel stops you send out an SOS.

dog_party · **Posted:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:22 pm

Yanmar teamed up with BMW and they're supposed to be releasing a new line of small marine diesel engines. It's the Yanmar BY series. They start with BMW cast iron blocks in either 2.0l 4-cyl, or 3.0l 6-cyl configuration (used in BMW 3- and 5-series cars in Europe). The rest is Yanmar. They claim 150-180HP for the 4-cyl models, and 220-260HP for the 6-cyl models. They estimate the market to be 28'-30' cruisers and sportfishers.

The future is definitely DIESEL (somewhat off-topic)

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