Stupid question

30 years is my figure. It's a purely nominal idea, like Macbeth's dagger.

Below that, if anything goes wrong, you fix it. Above that, if anything goes wrong, you consider a replacement engine.
 
my Volvo MD2040 is over 25 years old now, and I'm having to replace the sail drive cos of water ingress so was wondering if I'd be profligate in changing the engine as well. To be fair its never let me down . Only issues I've had are calcification of cooling stack (to be expected) sooting up of elbow and alternator falling off.
"I've had are calcification of cooling stack" Haven't we all! :eek:
My boat had a gold seal Layland Daf engine fitted 26 years ago, it has done 24000 hrs, still going strong.
 
15 year old 3YM Yanmar with 4,900 hours, started within a second of turning key at the end of January on a very frosty morning with no preheat, no smoke, seems to run as well as when new. Only know the hours because I'd replaced the LCD in the tacho a week earlier - the LCD had been dead for years. Full service by Yanmar agent every winter, oil change midseason by me. High hours as boat gets chartered.

Yanmar engineer says he services similar engines with 10,000 hours in commercial use.
 
I have just replaced my Volvo Penta at 16 years old. No idea the mileage or hours but it needed a new sail drive seal and a possibly new water pump and had started to smoke a bit so I went for replacement rather than repair. I see the engine as an important piece of safety equipment that must not let you down on that dark windy night entering harbour near rocks.
The one and only time I've had my engine fail while entering a harbour was nothing to do with the engine, and would have happened even if the engine was brand new. A branch floating down the river jammed the propeller when entering Whitby - fortunately I was past the harbour entrance, and could get to a buoy with the way on her. I make sure my engine is in good order, of course, but it's as well to have a plan Z for when everything fails - in that case, it was to get the anchor down, if we hadn't made it onto a buoy.
 
How many boat engines have timing belts?

I have no idea. But I'm sure my 850cc Hillman Imp engine had a proper chain; didn't all cars 50+ years ago? When my company car timing belt broke the car was out of action for a month. (And then another month because Halfords lost the key!)

Mike.
 
Well, apparently there is no straightforward replacement for the Volvo md2040 anyway as the d2 40 is no longer made and the d2 50 is too long for my engine bay!
 
How long does an engine last?
My MD22 has done 3250 hrs in 20 years. I have done about 1200 of those in 10 years. I have just changed the injector nozzles. It starts immediately, uses about 1 litre of oil every year. Is quiet and smooth. I expect it to see me out.
 
Well, apparently there is no straightforward replacement for the Volvo md2040 anyway as the d2 40 is no longer made and the d2 50 is too long for my engine bay!
Two ways of looking at it. Given you have to take everything out and buy a saildrive it's worth finding out what the existing engine is worth - you might get a couple of thousand for it, which might influence the economics on replacement.
On the other hand, I believe the MD2040 base engine is a Perkins industrial unit for which the parts needed for a full recon are readily available at sensible prices. My inclination would be to wait until a recon is needed.
As to engine life, in 2001 I bought a 10-year-old ex Sunsail boat in Greece with 10,000 hours on a Yanmar 2GM. That ran for a further 13 years before it would no longer maintain old pressure (and was leaking oil from the crank) and therefore had to be rebuilt, at a very modest cost compared to re-engining.
 
Our old Yanmar 3GM30 was 30 years old and had done roughly 30K hours and had 2 (partial) rebuilds. We now have a new 3YM30AE and I expect it to last 30 years or 30K as well.
 
It all comes down to servicing. There is a Volvo P1800 car in the US that has turned over 3.2 million miles.
https://www.autoblog.com/2018/11/16...bDvKpNABDpiHX0YqBdv4AnYV1ydTkgFsRq7CNOg0MFrAL
I wonder what oil he used?
I think there is some merit in the idea that it's cold starts and abuse that mostly wears engines, once it's cruising at temperature with clean oil, wear can be very slow indeed.
A yacht engine that has 5 days of rest for the oil to leave the wearing surfaces between being used at weekends is not ideal.
 
Like what Yanmars do?

And R-R Merlins, etc., iirc.

Old raw water cooled engines tend to die of overheating, imho. Yanmar 4JH5E on boat has 4,700 hours; a friend’s similar boat has an earlier model with 9,700 hours and it seems fine. Car has a Ford Transit 2.2 litre diesel and seems happy at 225,000 miles.
 
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Car lasts 150k miles, with average speed of 40mph, so 3750 hours.
Please do not say that, as My Volvo 2020MD has 5000 hours after 16 years . Drips oil from somewhere. But so far only 2 raw water pumps, a couple of glow relays, exhaust elbow, engine mount bracket & alternator reconned twice. Last thing I want right now is to have to buy a new engine.
 
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