Ford Lehman V Perkins 4/240 T6354....thoughts, please.

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NealB

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If , like, me you were daft enough to be looking at old trawler type motor yachts (you know, C-Kip, Trader, Cheoy Lee, Edership and their relatives), would the engine type be a big factor?

One boat we like has twin 120hp Fords.

Another, has the 220 hp Perkins.

We're unlikely to be bothered by the power loss (as lifelong, and continuing, sailors, 8 knots is plenty fast enough).

Fuel consumption is definitely of interest, as is spares availability.

Any thoughts will be welcomed.

Thanks.
 
NealB said:
If , like, me you were daft enough to be looking at old trawler type motor yachts (you know, C-Kip, Trader, Cheoy Lee, Edership and their relatives), would the engine type be a big factor?

One boat we like has twin 120hp Fords.

Another, has the 220 hp Perkins.

We're unlikely to be bothered by the power loss (as lifelong, and continuing, sailors, 8 knots is plenty fast enough).

Fuel consumption is definitely of interest, as is spares availability.

Any thoughts will be welcomed.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I had twin 150 Ford 'Mercraft' same engines but turbo charged.Designed in the 60's used in all sorts of comercial vehicles as well as boats.I had the boat for 11yrs in which time they never let me down.My only criticism was the smoked like a b****ard when starting.So bad I always warned any boats around to close their windows.I tried eveything to stop it, turbo's, valve stems, injectors, I even put in a 'Racal' crank case breather system.The spares were cheap and so were the service items.Mermaid will supply parts if you can't get them at the breakers yards.Great engines.
 
We've got Lehman 135s in ours, now almost 25 years old, never miss a beat and very little smoke. Parts are dirt cheap and servicing a doddle. I wouldn't want anything else. However as it is a pure displacement boat even these engines are way over powered for the boat but Ii just run them at between 1600 - 2000 rpm, anything more just wastes fuel.

Unless you plan to go over the hull speed (which will greatly increase fuel consumption) the 220 Perkins will be way, way overpowered.
 
Thanks for the words of wisdom, folks.......some very helpful stuff there.

Shame, really, as the boat with the Perkins is an otherwise almost perfect fit for our purposes.

Ah well, that's boats for you....always compromises to be made somewhere along the line.
 
Hi Neal,

I've had ford and Massey ferguson tractors ( Perkins) and although the Perkins sound rough they are reasonably reliable engines, and both ford and Perkins will both do 5000 hours no problems........my preference......Fords every time!

More important is at least 200 hrs running every year at 3/4 load or more.

Good luck!
 
rustybarge said:
Hi Neal,

I've had ford and Massey ferguson tractors ( Perkins) and although the Perkins sound rough they are reasonably reliable engines, and both ford and Perkins will both do 5000 hours no problems........my preference......Fords every time!

More important is at least 200 hrs running every year at 3/4 load or more.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Very hard to make any comparison beween marine and tractor applications for the very reason you you have quoted, base engines suffer fron underwork, marine bits simply die of plain old age.

Ford tractor engines quite different from automotive Dover Dorsets used in marine applications, the only factor in common is decent bearing area. Perkins did the 6.354 using many machine tools from the old P6, Ford always had crankshaft which made Perkins cranks look akin to a bent paper clip.
 
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