Best Diesel Engine Course

[Tex]

Looking for a good course on engine maintenance (Volvo) and emergency repairs.
Willing to travel to get good instruction.
Where / who would you recommend?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Lateral thinking.

Buy a half day of a Volvo engineer's time, and get him to walk you through maintaining your own engine. You don't get a piece of RYA paper at the end of it, but you do get a thorough understanding of your own installation (which may have some non-standard idiosyncrasies).

 

[Csail]

I agree with Ken.

 

[MissFitz]

Another excellent option, either on your own boat or at his centre, is Tony Brooks. He's Reading-based, so it would cost a bit more to get to him, or for him to get to you, but he really is worth the money - we had him on our boat for a day & learned a fantastic amount, really hands-on. And he'll answer any other questions afterwards by email.

http://www.tb-training.co.uk/

No connection, just very impressed.

 

[Skysail]

An enthusiastic second for Tony Brooks - one of the best instructors ever! He also has a very good website full of relevant material.

No connection etc.

 

[Sam_Steele]

i agree

i agree with the recommendation of Tony Brooks. He has maintained charter fleets for years - seems to know masses about all the different engines out there, so when he is teaching he makes it relevant for your engine. When you do the course - you have 2 name cards on your desk - one for your name and one for your type of engine. The 2 day course also covers other engine systems. You don't get an RYA certificate but you get lots of hands on practical knowledge. By the end of the course we were able to winterise our engine, find basis faults and fix them. I have no connection with him - just think it was an excellent course.

Regards
Sam


Planning a UK circumnavigation - www.circumnavigation-uki.co.uk

 

[Tex]

Thanks everyone for these suggestions.
I will investigate the Tony Brooks option a bit further.

 

[Billy Blue]

Following this recommendation, I have just attended a weekend course (Marine Diesel Engine and Boat Maintenance) and can also thoroughly recommend it. I feel qualified to be able to service my own engine now, have a good chance at fault finding if necessary and have gained a thorough overall understanding of the total system on board. The course covers not only the engine but all the associated services e.g. fresh water sytem, steering. etc. In addition you get a superb handbook which covers all the information in the course and will act as an excellent reference book for the future and all the points you forget. The fact that I was the only salt water boat on the course, all the others were fresh water (canal/river boats), made no difference and Tony took time to go through items such as salt water/fresh water cooling, wet exhausts etc which only affected my boat. It also only cost £100 for a very full 2 days.
Just to say that I am not on a commission! Just a very satisfied Customer.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

I attended an RYA Diesel Engine course run by a very good training school (the same one who did my YM).

I have to say I was disappointed. Too theoretical and also too generalised as the attendees to seemed to have different engine types.

When it came to my engines first service I worked with the local agent/engineer and helped him to do it. I learnt more in 2 hours than on the whole course.

I would therefore thoroughly recommend the tuition on own boat route.

 

[Richard10002]

I did the RYA 1 day diesel engine course with Top Lock Training in Marple. As well as theory, he has a big garage full of demo engines and other stuff, including cut-aways.

At the end of it, I felt much more confident about diesel engines in general, and my engine in particular.

prior to the course, I took several photos of my engine from different angles, laminated them, and took them with me. No-one else on the course did this, so there was a lot of reference to my pictures and, therefore, my engine!!

It cant be as comprehensive as the Tony Brooks course but, if you're in the North West, Top Locks do a good 1 day course.

 

[PeterR]

I've also done Tony's course and thought it was good but if you liked that his boat electrics course is even better. If you are on the East coast he runs both courses once a year at the RHYC.