A question on a MTU engine of the 90s: any good?

jamesmdr said:
I have 2 of these in my boat! They are great.
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First of all, welcome to the asylum.
I guess you didn't notice that this thread dates back to 2016, when I was beginning to consider a boat replacement.
And just for the records, the boat involved was a very remarkable Tecnomarine T62, so I suppose that PYB made the right guess, back then.
Anyway, in the meantime I went for a different boat, MAN powered, though the base engine block is essentially the same.

On which boat have you got those MTU puppies? I see that you are in CA, so maybe a fisherman, if I should guess?
BTW, I will come to San Diego next Tue, and I'll be there for a couple of weeks.
If by chance you are anywhere in SoCal and you would fancy a drink and a chat about boating in the W coast vs. the Med, just drop me a PM!
 
jrudge said:
If based on Detroit if any thing like Whitelighter's the main advantage is that in fog you have no need for a fog horn..... they can clearly be heard at 500 mts.
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Haha, nope J, nothing to see with them.
While it's true, as PYB said, that back in those days MTU and DD had some kind of collaboration - afaik mostly aimed at MTU support in the US market, the engines discussed in this thread are totally different animals from DDs.
Built in Germany, and based on a Mercedes block which has been used for ages by both MTU and MAN, but never by DD.
What WL has in his Ferretti are 100% DD engines, whose noise is mostly due to their peculiar two strokes architecture.
Btw, I believe that their sound is still nothing, if compared to their emissions.... :oops:
 
They were pretty solid units and the only real issues were Bosch governers were sometimes problematic and they were often smoky on start up, they had unlimited continious use ratings and were generally used in commercial craft with low load ratings.
 
MapisM said:
First of all, welcome to the asylum.
I guess you didn't notice that this thread dates back to 2016, when I was beginning to consider a boat replacement.
And just for the records, the boat involved was a very remarkable Tecnomarine T62, so I suppose that PYB made the right guess, back then.
Anyway, in the meantime I went for a different boat, MAN powered, though the base engine block is essentially the same.

On which boat have you got those MTU puppies? I see that you are in CA, so maybe a fisherman, if I should guess?
BTW, I will come to San Diego next Tue, and I'll be there for a couple of weeks.
If by chance you are anywhere in SoCal and you would fancy a drink and a chat about boating in the W coast vs. the Med, just drop me a PM!
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I did notice it was back in 2016 in fact I wanted to reply back then as well but dont often comment usually just a reader. Tecnomarine T62, good looking boat. Surprised no one had tried to beat it out of you. These puppies are in a Palanca Express. I imagine no one has heard of them (Italian). Sort of the smaller version of the mangustas as I see it. And they definitely smoke real good for a few minutes. Only problem I ever had was due to the floscan flow meters locking up. Other than that they purr like the dickens.
 
jamesmdr said:
Tecnomarine T62, good looking boat. Surprised no one had tried to beat it out of you.
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Well, the one I was considering was under seizure from the fiscal authorities - which is the reason why back in those days I didn't give more details.
She could be bought at a very good price, but subject to so many conditions and bureaucratic paperwork that I gave up pretty soon.
Besides, upon inspection of the thing, both myself and my wife thought that she was a bit too large and demanding vs. what we actually wanted/needed.
In fact, should we have decided to go for a boat like that, probably we would have gone for another one, a stunning Sanlorenzo SL62 which we saw afterwards.
But eventually, we decided to stick to the principle that imho should always drive the choice of a boat, i.e. not go for the largest you can afford, but for the smallest that suits your needs!

jamesmdr said:
These puppies are in a Palanca Express. I imagine no one has heard of them (Italian).
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Oi, it's not like there's lack of knowledge about Italian boats here in the asylum, you know.
In fact, being Italian myself, IT yards are the ones I know better than any others!

That said, it's very hard to find a Palanca also here in Italy, because AFAIK the yard only built a few.
I never saw one in flesh, in fact. But I've always been mostly interested in flybridge boats, of which they built none as far as I know.
I don't know exactly why the yard was only active for a short timeframe - late 80s/mid 90s, as I recall?
Anyhow, surely Enrico Palanca was better known for his contributions to other yards, than for when he started his own yard.
Not that he built bad boats, mind.
I would dare guessing that the opposite (i.e. excessive quality, hence too high costs) might have been what restricted the yard success.
Your boat must be the 60 footer, which as I recall is the largest ever built by Palanca under his own brand.

Out of idle curiosity, I made a quick web search to check if there's any of them on the market here in Italy.
And I found only this one, advertised in the website of a bank involved with nautical leasing - so, that's more than likely a repo boat.
But while most of them are a bit shabby, this looks in pretty good conditions, as far as can be told from the pics.
And at her asking price, you could grab her just for the sake of having a couple of spare engines for your own...!

Ref. catching up in SoCal, to be honest neither myself nor my wife are fans of LA and its crazy traffic, that reminds us of Milan on a much larger scale.
So, while we will certainly make some tours N of San Diego along the coast, we were not thinking to come to LA other than for our flights, which will be to/from LAX.
But never say never. Yourself, do you possibly have any occasions to come further S, towards SD?
Anyway, you can reach me also via email, using as address my username plus "@yahoo.com".
 
Forgive me for assuming, I dont think there is a single one in the US and have never met anyone who had heard of it. This one is very similar to the link but the previous owner spent a few hundred thousand on some beautiful upgrades. You are right for that price the engines alone would be worth it. I have seen these engines with 4k hours on them asking for $80k. This one has been for sale for 5+ years if my memory serves me. And that isinglass is just hideous. Its really a damn solid beautiful boat. Everyone I have ever have aboard is in awe. I am certainly in love with it and enjoy improving anything I can afford. I am in the process of digitizing all the gauges. I will be sure to email you. I have actually tried to contact a few italians to see if they can find any diagrams or any documentation on the boat unsuccessfully. Thinking about just doing it myself. I have been removing as much old useless cables as I can, like coaxial. There was literally a tv in every room except the bathrooms, 6 in all. I am big into sensors and plan to have every motor hooked up to monitoring. Really fun stuff!
 
There's absolutely nothing to forgive, because your assumption was actually very reasonable.
I wouldn't go as far as saying that I'm the only one to know Palanca boatyard also among my compatriotes, but pretty sure also in IT only a very tiny percentage of boaters are aware of it, let alone know that it used to be a top quality builder, for as long as it lasted.

Anyway, you are indeed making me curious to see your vessel.
Coming to think of it, how funny it would be for an Italian boat lover, to be able to see only in CA an extremely rare IT boat?!?
If you drop me an email, I'll see if my wife will allow me to come to LA during our stay in SD.

Regardless, feel free to ask what sort of documentation might be helpful for you.
I do know some folks in this industry who might be worth calling, to check if they were ever involved with Palanca.
I can't promise you anything of course, also because these artisan boatbuilders, of which we used to have plenty in Italy, typically were not so keen on any kind of paperwork, that they saw as a waste of time compared to actually building and/or improving boats...
But it doesn't hurt trying a few calls, anyhow.
 
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@MapisM today I was contacted by a Stefano. But I assume the booking site delted the message as its not related to them making any money. I wonder if there is anyway to find him and respond?

Hello, my name is Stefano, I am a collaborator and a great friend of Enrico Palanca the designer and the builder of your boat. Today Enrico is old but still fit despite the fact that life has reserved many surprises for him. I kindly ask you for photos and videos of the boat and get news about the history of this boat. All this would be a wonderful surprise for Enrico. I await your kind reply.
Stefano
 
Sorry James, but I do not know any "Stefano" associated in some way to Palanca.
TBH, I know very little also about Palanca himself, and I never met him in person.
But did this guy send you a PM on this forum, or another website? I never heard of a PM deleted here, regardless of content.
And frankly, it sounds unfair to say the least also if by "booking site" you mean one where your boat was advertised for charter.
Did you try to get in contact with the administrator and ask to let you reach this Stefano who wrote you?
I would guess that the message is still somewhere in their files, even if made hidden to yourself.
 
I know this is a few years old, but just as an FYI, the MB400 / MTU 183 numbers well over half a million installed units

One of the most successful and reliable designs from Daimler Benz

Everything from a Leopard tank to a Tatra personnel carrier to 110ft luxury sailing yachts

They will see you safely across 4000nm of ocean without missing a beat
 
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