Buying a boat and worrying about the engine

KellysEye said:
>Why are you bringing out this old chestnut again. Scrapyards are littered with dead old style Volvos out of yachts, killed by salt water, neglect and failure of now unavailable or expensive ancilliaries.

If you neglect an engine what do you expect it applies to all brands not just Volvo.

>So how long can I hope my MD1 will last?

I asked Volvo what it would cost to build a new engine to the quality of an MD and they said 16,000 pounds which is why no engines are now made to that quality. To answer your question if you service it properly it will last 50,000 hours or more. At stages it will need a full service of pistons, rings, bearings, injector service and head gasket mainly to stop it burning too much oil.
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The man was telling you what you want to hear. Who is ever going to run 50000 hours. If these things were so brilliant how does that explain all the people posting on this forum asking what they should do with their knackered old Volvo which after 30 or 40 years good service and probably only 2000 or so hours has died and is beyond economic repair.

Nobody would buy an old style Volvo now and for the last 30 years or so Volvo have been selling Japanese built Perkins engines instead. It's called progress.
 
Tranona said:
The man was telling you what you want to hear. Who is ever going to run 50000 hours. If these things were so brilliant how does that explain all the people posting on this forum asking what they should do with their knackered old Volvo which after 30 or 40 years good service and probably only 2000 or so hours has died and is beyond economic repair.

Nobody would buy an old style Volvo now and for the last 30 years or so Volvo have been selling Japanese built Perkins engines instead. It's called progress.
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Don't you mean Perkins built Japanese engines? [smiley]
 
Caer Urfa said:
I cannot speak for all types of boats but for over 14 years now I do 'Pre Buying Inspection Visits' for people looking to buy a Colvic Watson and many say my report is better than the surveyors, You are right some surveyors just say the type or make of the engine, I want to see the engine start from cold despite if the boat is ashore or in the water, if the seller does not want to do this WALK AWAY!.


However If the owner is prepared to start an engine in a badly supported ie with suspect props not a cradle it says volumes about him RUN AWAY!
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We bought a 2001 boat last year. The Volvo 2020 has 1750 hours on the clock, so I had it checked over by a Volvo engineer. Compressions spot on, one injector a bit loose, but otherwise in excellent nick. No oil leaks, and starts first time every time from cold, with no smoke. As it has been run for some 100+ hours a year on average, this may explain it's good condition - there's little worse for a diesel engine than low yearly hours.
Nevertheless, I'm still joining Sea Start!
 
I have a Sadler 29 for sale with a replacement engine, best investment I made on the boat, PM me if you would like details

Regards. Derek
QUOTE=Spaniard;5187258]Mentioned a while back that I was looking for a retirement boat after a break from boats. Done lots of reading and have a friend who is very helpful in terms of looking at boats and pointing out the potential problem areas. But neither of us knows much about engines and I understand that many surveyors specifically exclude engines from a survey.

So if I'm looking for an oldish sailing boat with a diesel engine, what should I be looking for/worrying about ? Any advice would be really helpful.[/QUOTE]
 
Tam Lin said:
Lots of good advice but I will keep it simple. If you are buying an old boat buy one which has had a new engine. Someone else has taken the financial hit that you will have to take in a few years and you should have a reliable engine instead of an old one that will need work and will be unreliable.

BTW boats with new engines don't seem to go for much more money than boats with old ones!
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This was the principle that I operated under: I bought a boat with a brand new engine with 80hrs on it with all new gear box, propshaft, prop, exhaust system, and fuel system. While the seller didn't get his money back, I was prepared to pay a premium for the boat to have the confidence of having an engine that would see me out. Further, if I had to sell in the next three years, it would still be a 'new' engine.
 
All the boats I bought years ago were brand new so I did not have to worry about the condition of the engines. But after a break from boats and due to financial constraints I ended up looking at 30 year old boats. The engine in the boat which I bought broke down after 5 minutes but in those 5 minutes I satisfied myself that it was worth taking a chance and because I was able to negotiate the price down even if I had to put a new engine in at a cost of around £4000 it is still a cheap boat.
I wont say I am an expert (I was when I had a garage) but if you are not sure pay a Mobile Mechanic to have a listen to the engine for you.
As soon as I had bought my boat I could not make a decision as to putting in a new engine without more information, service history was virtually non existent but the sales sheet from when the previous owner bought the boat said that the engine had been re=conditioned.
So rather than bin the engine I had a mechanic do a Compression Test. (I would have done it myself but I did not have a Diesel Compression Tester) anyway the compressions were perfect, so I decided to keep the engine. I have now had the injectors serviced, new glow plugs, reconditioned starter motor, new alternator, fuel tanks removed and cleaned of gunge, new fuel filters and housing and two new batteries and its ready to go.
So, should you buy a boat and unsure about the engine get a compression test its the only way to really know what the condition of your engine is.
 
KellysEye said:
>Why are you bringing out this old chestnut again. Scrapyards are littered with dead old style Volvos out of yachts, killed by salt water, neglect and failure of now unavailable or expensive ancilliaries.

I
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I wish that was the situation. I have been looking for some time for a volvo 2030 which I can canibalise for spares for my own boat but no luck. Where are these scrapyards?
 
birdseye said:
I wish that was the situation. I have been looking for some time for a volvo 2030 which I can canibalise for spares for my own boat but no luck. Where are these scrapyards?
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That was my comment. Your 2030 like mine does not come into the same category. Kellyeye was talking about the old style Volvo engines of 40 or more years ago. It is these that are being scrapped and replaced with modern engines so providing a steady stream of engines suitable only for spares.

The 2030 is a youngster and it will be many years before they need replacing. You may well find also when they get to that stage little will be reclaimable.
 
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