Life Expectancy of an Inboard Diesel

crossy

crossy

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Bradford on Avon, Boat in Poole
www.horizoncharterboats.co.uk
Dear All,

One of the boats I am interested in at the moment, a Sunseeker Portofino 400, has a pair of TAMD63's in but they have engine hours of circa 1100. Apparently they have both been re-built less that 50 hours ago but to me, 1100 seems an awful lot of hours for a marine diesel (my current engine has about 300 on it).

Is there a typical life expectancy for marine diesels in engine hours and what level of engine hours would be considered the upper limit for re-sale?

I appreciate this is probably a bit of a subjective question but I'd be interested in people's opinions. While the price reflects the use of the engines I don't want to be left with a boat I can't sell on in the future.

Thanks,
Andrew
 
I have 2 of 63p,s

They are a thumping great truck engine, as opposed to a short life marine variant.

Depending on the scope and quality of the rebuild they should do many 1000's more.
 
Quite why a pair of 63s required a rebuild I've no idea , not even run in at that hours!!

I work on engines 30 plus years old to modern day, I will tell you today's breed of motors won't last like the old engines.
No need to worry about this purchase. Of course have them sea trialed and surveyed by a qualified Volvo engineer, but go for an unbiased engineer as dealers don't rubbish there own product.
 
The last boat I worked on ran 16 hours a day, 6 days a week, for years and years.... Not the same as a pleasure boat, but bear in mind older engines are truck/bus derived and will do 1,000,000 miles with servicing.
 
volvopaul said:
Quite why a pair of 63s required a rebuild I've no idea , not even run in at that hours!!

I work on engines 30 plus years old to modern day, I will tell you today's breed of motors won't last like the old engines.
No need to worry about this purchase. Of course have them sea trialed and surveyed by a qualified Volvo engineer, but go for an unbiased engineer as dealers don't rubbish there own product.
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul, i've asked for a bit more info on the works undertaken and the reasons for it, i'll post back with the reply.
 
I would echo the comments already made.

It is, perhaps, unfortunate that the general (but inaccurate) view in the market is that hours on a leisure boat engines are the same as miles on a car i.e. the lower the better. Maintenance is key and as long as this has been done properly I would go for a well used marine diesel rather than a low hours engine that has sat doing nothing except corrode.

The real concern on engines with a few hours on them would be how an ill-informed market views your boat when you come to sell. That said, I would also be concerned about the fact that the ones you are looking at have been re-built....no reason for that to have been done on 1100hrs unless there has been a problem.
 
Last edited:
May I ask how old the boat is.
50 to 100 hours per year would be pretty normal.
But I have seen boats with far fewer hours run.
.
 
Suspect that neglect has done more to require major engine repairs than high hours run in leisure boats.
At our club,half the boats seem to be powered by the engines you mention, all giving good service even after two decades of use or more.
The odd exhaust riser rotting out due to old age appears to be the main cause of unexpected expence.
 
Personally I would be more concerned for the need and quality of a rebuild than the hours. 1100 hrs is nothing if properly looked after on truck derived engines.
 
Not that I'm thinking of selling but it did occur to me as my engines topped 1,100 hours just before the end of the season that there would be a few prospective purchasers who would wince a bit at those hours on a 2001 boat. Personally I hark back to the days when people didn't count or simply disregarded engine hours in favour of a decent engineer's report on the condition. I do think a lot of buyers either get unnecessarily concerned over hours, or simply use it as a tool to get the price dropped, although I do note VPs comment regarding the longevity of more modern engines.

1,100 hours or not, even I was comforted when I recently met up with Dutch owner of a 42cl like mine with the 350hp Yanmar 6LYs who is rapidly approaching 3,000 hours without issue.

Give me well maintained engines with higher hours over ones that have laid idle for months with little or no use any time.
 
Take a reliable and trustworthy mechanic who knows these engines with you and ask for a seatrial - I did this and saved myself £5k. I've PM'd you.
 
Bear in mind that aircraft piston engines (which are based on 1930s design ) typically have a TBO ( time between overhaul) of 2000 hours with 20% extensions to 2400 pretty normal.

These mostly have a top overhaul at around 1000 hours.

Aircraft engines also rot away nicely just like boat engines. Sure some fail before this time, but generally they make time.

1100 hrs is not much really as long as they have been taken care of, and I would hope that in the last 85 odd years since a typical Lycoming engine was designed there have been a few advances in technology.

Time is a killer re corrosion, but hopefully as decent engine survey will be able to find any imminent problems.
 
crossy said:
One of the boats I am interested in at the moment, a Sunseeker Portofino 400, has a pair of TAMD63's in but they have engine hours of circa 1100. Apparently they have both been re-built less that 50 hours ago but to me, 1100 seems an awful lot of hours for a marine diesel (my current engine has about 300 on it).
Click to expand...
I would be asking some very searching questions as to why these engines needed rebuilding at 1100hrs because the 63P has a reputation for being a very robust engine. No, 1100hrs is not a lot of hours. Most marine engines are marinised versions of engines which are fitted to construction machines or trucks and in these industries, the engines might do 2000-3000hrs a year. Yes, marine engines tend to have higher power ratings than construction or truck engines but even so, they should have wear lives measured in thousands of hours if maintained and operated correctly
With regard to this particular Portofino, what exactly is it's history? Was it extensively used as a bareboat charter vessel and therefore, hammered? Are there any maintenance records? Did it suffer a partial flooding or fire? There could be various reasons why the engines needed rebuilding but you need to understand those reasons before buying. You also need to satisfy yourself that the rebuild was done by a qualified company and that the work is warranted. You also need to look for other components that have had a similarly hard life but have not been rebuilt or replaced; a good surveyor is a must for a potential purchase like this
 
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