Next Boat : Volvo , Yanmar or Perkins

kevingreystones

kevingreystones

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Starting to think about our next boat , we currently have a great Nimbus 26 Nova ( wonderful safe sea boat ) and are thinking about either another Nimbus possibly the 320 or maybe a Mitchell 31 Mark 3 or 4.

The Nimbus seems to be fitted either with the Volvo D4 or the Yanmar inboard diesel on a single shaft . The Mitchell seems to be fitted with a Perkins 225 or 300 hp .

Any thoughts from the forum ?

Regards


Kevingreystones
 
Nimbus would have Yanmar 230hp 4LHA which are a good lump but parts are expensive.

You know my view on a Mitchell's & Perkins Sabre. Not many MkIV's built, there is one for sale in Largs, been on the market for a while, a nice thing. The MkIV had the 300hp Perkins Sabre, a friend has a pair of 300's in a Lochin, owned for about 10 years and swears by them. Later Mk1III & MkIV I believe all had squared off bilges so not some much roll... not that it bothers me.

But you know the nimbus brand, a 320 will appeal to SWMBO far more than the Mitchell... a shame really.
 
Firefly625 said:
Nimbus would have Yanmar 230hp 4LHA which are a good lump but parts are expensive.

You know my view on a Mitchell's & Perkins Sabre. Not many MkIV's built, there is one for sale in Largs, been on the market for a while, a nice thing. The MkIV had the 300hp Perkins Sabre, a friend has a pair of 300's in a Lochin, owned for about 10 years and swears by them. Later Mk1III & MkIV I believe all had squared off bilges so not some much roll... not that it bothers me.

But you know the nimbus brand, a 320 will appeal to SWMBO far more than the Mitchell... a shame really.
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Yes I have been monitoring the Mitchell in Largs nice boat !!!
 
We cruise at anything from 7 knots to 12 knots, max speed 16knots. We use tides to our advantage. You get used to a slower speed very quickly, and it's quite nice. The mitchell also has a great range.
 
kevingreystones said:
Yes I have been monitoring the Mitchell in Largs nice boat !!!
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Euroyachts always pitch price very high, boats can take a year/years to sell. They seem to be reluctand to advise clients to reduce price although that Mitchell was reduced from £105k but has been on the market for about 18 months (ish)
 
kevingreystones said:
Starting to think about our next boat , we currently have a great Nimbus 26 Nova ( wonderful safe sea boat ) and are thinking about either another Nimbus possibly the 320 or maybe a Mitchell 31 Mark 3 or 4.

The Nimbus seems to be fitted either with the Volvo D4 or the Yanmar inboard diesel on a single shaft . The Mitchell seems to be fitted with a Perkins 225 or 300 hp .

Any thoughts from the forum ?

Regards

I used to be ambivalent toward the Perkins Sabre motors, however my experience over the last year has left me with a distinctly negative view of the engines. Production of genuine Perkins Phaser derived engine ranges wound down at the end of last year. Peterborough now only produces engines with base designs from either IVECO or CAT, RCD2 killed off the mechanical marine engines.

Two Perkins Sabre dealers have failed to call me back when attempting to source parts.

The Bosch VE pump on the so called 225 is of an old generation with no KSB cold start device and the 265/300 used to have a nice Bosch MW inline fuel pump until this was discontinued and Perkins replaced it with a horrible MW clone from somewhere in former Eastern Europe and parts are virtually impossible to source.

Removing a fuel pump for servicing involves draining the coolant due to the daft location of the coolant circulating pump on the front gear cover.

Around 2005 the conn rods were redesigned taking out the big end bearing tangs to take two bob out of the cost, Phaser will now on occasions spin a big end bearing wrecking the crank. The older per-redesign rods, pretty much 6.354.4 rods had very slim cross section and a very slight hydraulic lock bends the rod. A serious lock will bend the rod to such an extent that it will not come out of the bore without aid of a gas axe.

The heat exchangers appear to be undersized for the application and when engines get older they suffer all manner of cooling issues.

A trip to the Western Isles last year was very informative...........May have been just the dire weather which jaded my view!

The little Yanmar 4LH is a great little motor spoiled by bonkers parts pricing, leaves D4 as pretty much the only kid on the block.

Ho hum





Kevingreystones
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I am looking at the Nibus 320 with twin 125 yanmar S against a Mitchell MK111 signal engine 225hp ?
I would like to know of any good and bad points they may have ?
Including what they are like at sea in rough weather ?
Fuel consumption ???

Many thanks
 
Salty.savage said:
I am looking at the Nibus 320 with twin 125 yanmar S against a Mitchell MK111 signal engine 225hp ?
I would like to know of any good and bad points they may have ?
Including what they are like at sea in rough weather ?
Fuel consumption ???

Many thanks
Click to expand...


Cant really comment on Nimbus, but I can on Mitchell as I have one with a Perkins sabre 225. Excellent sea boat when it gets really rough (better than a nimbus... sorry nimbus owners but you know its true), economy 13.5lph we achieved in 2017 (over the entire year)

Only downsides are once you own one you will never find a replacement boat less than 40ft long with similar size cockpit, and it only has one cabin plus wheelhouse.
There are many Upsides, most important is they were all custom built by British boat builders to a very high standard for mostly commercial work, mine took 10 months to build and as a result even at 20 years old she still gets mistaken for a new boat and everywhere I take her discerning people admire her.
 
The Perkins produces its power from 6 litres and 6 cylinders, the Volvo from 3.7 litres and 4 cylinders. Which one will last longest . ?
 
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