volvopaul
Well-known member
Kubota based, some larger HP units are Mitsubishi based units, same engine painted red. Might be a good move, what boats it in?
Golden Arrow marine
- Thread starter chrishelen
- Start date
Kubota based, some larger HP units are Mitsubishi based units, same engine painted red. Might be a good move, what boats it in?
chrishelen
N/A
Tamar 2000.
Tranona
Well-known member
Also look at Nanni. Same base as Beta but different (and arguably better) marinisation. Very similar pricing, and most importantly painted blue rather than red. Either is a good choice, but I chose Nanni as the heat exchanger was not aluminium. However, think Beta have now improved their HE.
chrishelen
N/A
Thanks guys, really appreciate the advice.
Latestarter1
New member
Production of the Shibura based Perkins units at Peterborough ended last year when CAT moved small engine production to China, feedback regarding quality following this change of production base has not been positive.
No parts commonality between M30 and D1-30 engines are of different displacement and Shibura design configuration.
Kubota appears to be the only kid on the block these days, Mitsubishi small engines are pretty much throw away motors.
volvopaul
Well-known member
I'd agree just what I thought, on stripping a few down they all seem to suffer piston blow by and poor valve seating blocking the inlet manifold. Best left alone.
TwoHooter
Well-known member
Our previous boat had a Beta engine. Good bit of kit. When we bought the boat I needed some advice about what tools to carry and phoned the factory. Spoke to a very friendly chap who answered most of my questions from memory, except one (largest size of spanner/socket), went on to the factory floor to measure up, came back and told me. Amazing service - made me go all misty-eyed remembering how things used to be. Another thing, in the Westerly Owners Association magazine there was a report about a Beta engine that had been fitted incorrectly (by a Beta approved installer) and had been wrecked by sea water ingress. Beta supplied a replacement engine and paid for fitting it. The owner was full of praise for their attitude and service. Another anecdote - the water taxi at Mersea in Essex uses Betas, does huge hours, and told me they think they are the bees' knees. Final bit of info - in all the years I was running civil engineering plant the Kubota engines were the least troublesome and the easiest to fix when anything did go wrong. Edit: I opened an account with the Beta factory, got all service items and carry-aboard spares direct from them, everything always arrived within 24 hours, never any mistakes, prices very reasonable.
All very unscientific of course but if long-term back-up, repairability and service are important to you the Beta might be the best bet.
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benjenbav
Well-known member
Sorry can't contribute re the engine, but wondered about the use to which it is put. 3,000-4,000 hours a year equates to 10 hours running of a 30hp engine each and every day, which seems a lot to me. But what do I know?
chrishelen
N/A
Just had a really great response from the service manager at Golden Arrow. He emailed me a detailed description of what I could expect on a rebuild, and crucially whether it would be feasible. He also sent details of replacement engines I could use at very competitive prices.
Great service. I would probably go for the Yanmar 30 which has a longer warranty than the volvo d1-30
Great service. I would probably go for the Yanmar 30 which has a longer warranty than the volvo d1-30
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chrishelen
N/A
The boat runs 7 days a week. 12 hours a day or more this time of year, and all the daylight hours in the winter.
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sailorman
Well-known member
Go for the polyvee belt, option the adjustment on my Nanni 4150 is real 1930s stuff & the thing needs constant tightening.
The 4150 had no anodes until last yr when i had to fit a new alloy exhaust elbow (in place of the CI one) that now has an anode buy 10mm a rod anode from solent anodes & make your own for pennies
grumpy_o_g
Well-known member
Beta have a pretty good rep amongst raggies, partly because they're generally very good but also because they try and supply "drop-in" replacements for Yanmar, etc. and make the re-engine as easy as possible (easy is a relative term here). Not many reliability issues I've heard of but even raggies don't do your sort of hours. A post on Scuttlebutt should get you a good response if you ask for opinions on Beta - 30hp is a pretty common size too - pretty sure all the 20-35HP I have seen are Kubota.
benjenbav
Well-known member
I gathered that much: I didn't think it was a misprint! What I was wondering was what the boat does, assuming not a secret.
chrishelen
N/A
The engine must be running on borrowed time, I have put nearly 10,000 hrs on it in three years. The guys at Golden Arrow did such a great job of rebuilding it originally hence my op. But of course nothing is straightforward, now I have new engines being thrown into the mix, but I can't see a new engine lasting 10,000 hrs. I guess the secret is regularly servicing the thing every 250 hours engine, every 100 hours gearbox . The boat is a taxi.
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aquapower
New member
Nanni and Beta are the most popular amongst hire boat operators on broads, canals and French waterways, when I was involved with hire boats we had some with 6500 hours that had had nothing other than regular servicing, these were all Kubota base engines and not showing any signs of giving up in the near future.
TwoHooter
Well-known member
We have a Yanmar 30HP as our wing engine, and we had a Beta 30 on the previous boat, so I have a foot in both camps, but looking at the cost of parts for the Yanmar and the absolutely outstanding service from the Beta boys if it was me I would buy a Beta.
chrishelen
N/A
Great service off Golden Arrow Marine today. The service manger has sent a detailed email giving parts to be used and costs if they find nothing to seriously wrong with the engine. I think a rebuild is going to be on par with a new engine cost wise. So just need to decide on the engine.
Tranona
Well-known member
You should have no problem with getting high hours out of any of the new engines. They are much better in your sort of use than in the typical yacht use of 150 a year made up of short runs at light loads and lots of time sitting mouldering!
The base engines are commonly used in things like mini diggers and dump trucks where, like yours they run all day long at good load. Clean fuel and regular oil/filter changes are the key things for long life.
The base engines are commonly used in things like mini diggers and dump trucks where, like yours they run all day long at good load. Clean fuel and regular oil/filter changes are the key things for long life.
TwoHooter
Well-known member
FWIW I totally agree, based not on my limited boating experience but on civil engineering. If you want to gild the lily fit a dual Racor fuel filtration system, watch the filters like a hawk, and make sure that you have a pump-out facility for oil change - if you make the oil changing as easy as possible with no mess you are never tempted to miss an oil change. And buy the best oil. But you probably already know that.
chrishelen
N/A
Guys in my earlier reply I explained that I changed lube oil and filters every 250 hrs abs gearbox oil every 100 hrs. It's not rocket science. Fuel filters also at 250 hrs. I am very strict on this regime.
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