Diesel Engine Maintenance Courses - more advanced

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joewads

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HI... Does anyone know of any hands-on education course for marine Diesel engine maintenance, pref UK, or EU in English?

Something far beyond the one day RYA stuff.

Failing that, any particular ‘stand out’ online course, tutorials, Youtubers etc?

I can find plenty specific videos (change the filter / impeller / etc) but would like to find a structured course, before I wade in!

Any views most welcome.

thanks :)
 
Hello and welcome to the forum

What are you planning to do? If a simple winterisation then a local individual with the same engine/boat might guide you through if something more complex perhaps find a good mechanic who is willing to show you what s/he does.
 
The longer/more in depth the course the more the focus would be on larger/commercial engines and intended for those who want to work in the industry. I think the main thing is knowing how to service and troubleshoot the specific engine that you have on your own boat so as long as you understand the basics just being confident enough to have a go, follow the manual & get hands-on, none of it is rocket science. Build up a good quality tool set as you go...
 
Hacker said:
The MCA do a 3 day approved course, haven’t done it but it is more advanced/comprehensive than the RYA one.
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Approved engine course also known as AEC1. Its 5 days. Can be good or bad depending on the instructor and school...I recommend sea regs having done it quite recently.

Most AEC 1 courses are taught on fairly small engines, Volvo's or yanmar 2 3 4 cyl as they fit quite well in the classroom!

It's not going to make you an engineer overnight, but it will give you enough knowledge to take it apart (possibly not to put it back together really well)

All good engine builders have the workshop manual out for reference.
 
I found the RYA course perfectly sufficient to allow me to do all routine maintenance and repair, up to and including taking the cylinder head off. However, previous threads on this topic have suggested that the quality of the RYA Diesel course varies enormously. Its advertised aim is to allow you to troubleshoot and fix common causes of engine failure at sea.

I was fortunate to be taught by a traditional Scottish engineer; the kind born with a spanner in his hand! And he was quite gung-ho about working on engines; the only thing he advised strongly NOT to touch was the injectors and injection pump. With that course behind me, and the workshop manual to hand, I would be perfectly happy to dismantle an engine and be pretty confident I could put it back together again!

Marine diesel engines are NOT rocket science; they are basically very simple things. I am no mechanical genius - many people who know me would say I'm quite the opposite! But the RYA course I attended (and mileage may vary as stated above) gave me the confidence to tackle pretty much any task on my engine that does not require machine-shop facilities.
 
joewads said:
HI... Does anyone know of any hands-on education course for marine Diesel engine maintenance, pref UK, or EU in English?

Something far beyond the one day RYA stuff.

Failing that, any particular ‘stand out’ online course, tutorials, Youtubers etc?

I can find plenty specific videos (change the filter / impeller / etc) but would like to find a structured course, before I wade in!

Any views most welcome.

thanks :)
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There’s a chap called Colin Ryan who mends my boat and also does RYA courses.
The course requires a prop engine so the instructor can point at the various bits.
If you do the course with Colin, once you’ve found the faults the engine will start.
He would do a bespoke, advanced course I’m sure. He effectively does one for me every time he services my boat.
 
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