TAMD 63P Engine Hours

[andy59]

I am considering looking at a boat fitted with a pair of TAMD 63P,s ........BUT , they have done 4500 hours in 9 years . Should i steer clear or give it a look .What would you do . Thanks in advance .
andy

 

[volvopaul]

It must be the fairline phantom 38 owned by the UKSA, id say that at that money its a gift as it will have been maintained by the book.

You could also buy it and have the motors fully overhauled and still have change in your pocket compared to others, and its got a white hull.

 

[asteven221]

That sounds quite a lot, but if they are well maintained, look in good condition then I don't think that the hours figure alone is necessarily a problem in itself. I would recommend spending a bot more time and money doing checks like oil analysis, oil pressure, service records, compression test maybe......etc.... and if all checks out okay and the price is right then it should be okay. Don't forget the gearbox, prop gear, stern gear etc...as they will have obviously done the hours as well. People often say that these engines wear out with lack of use, never over use.

 

[andy59]

Thanks guys , you have confirmed my thoughts , a good going over ( turbos , injectors etc ) and a bit of retrimming and she could go another 4500 hours .I wonder what the record is for one of those engines , only because i was talking to delivery driver the other day and his truck has done just over a million miles !!!!

 

[spannerman]

About 12 yrs ago we had a humble TAMD 41 motor in a commercial boat which had done 9000hrs without any major repairs, the only reason we took it out was that he wanted a bigger engine, so we sold it as was to someone who wanted a 2 hand motor.
Its well known that diesels thrive on being used, we have a 70ft 30 yr old Benetti with 2 180hp Gardners and they have spent their life plodding around the Med and are still going strong without and overhaul.

 

[Latestarter1]

There are a number of comments here that disturb me regarding engine hours.

#1 Ultimate life of a marine diesel engine in properly installed in marine leisure applications has zero bearing on base motor. Heat exchangers, raw water pumps, all the marine hang on's govern the the engines ultimate life.

#2 Engines designs can be broken down into distinct durability classes, LDA (Light Duty Automotive) Mid Range, Heavy Duty Mid Range, Heavy Duty and High horsepower. Without reference to the class into which a certain engine fits engine hour discussions are worthless. For example, 44 tonne trucks use Heavy Duty engines in the 11 to 16 litre class. Gasps of amazement at one million miles demonstrate show how out of touch people are. Morrisons Supermarket used to have a benchmark of two million Kilometres life to overhaul, which engines met on a regular basis.

Volvo old D6 is in Mid Range category. I was asked to look at some container straddle carriers powered with D6's a little while back. Operator was evaluating re-powering the machines as opposed to replacing them. In this arduous duty cycle, hydraulic drives pulling 80% load D6's were giving 12 to 14 thousand hours life to overhaul. In a marine application I would expect anything between 12 to 15 thousand hours to be a totally reasonable engine life to overhaul for a Mid Range motor. Remember we are talking Durability NOT Reliability.

#3 Buggering about with potentially sound engines "a good going over (turbos, injectors etc)" Stop right now.

Get competent technician who KNOWS the make of engine he is dealing with to do engine survey with sea trials, should require blow by test with decent load on vessel which will tell you everything you need to know about health of the base engine. You need the technician to review vessel service history with you looking for the serious omissions, for example aftercooler servicing.

Spend carefully targeted £££ up front rather than screwing around afterwards. I have seen far too many perfectly good motors messed up by having new parts thrown at them creating problems which never existed in the first place.

Unless lube samples have been taken regularly and you have some trend data, forget them. One shot wonders raise many questions provide few answers. If you feel the need to do oil sample look for just one tell tale, Sodium. Also request TBN/TAN level.

 

[andy59]

Thanks Latestarter , points taken , i suppose they are either working or not working , and if not you mend them . Just trying to get an idea if you would spend more time fixing than cruising

 

[Pennpromo]

Phantom 38

At risk of getting into a bidding war ... I too was interested in that boat, as you say got to be good value for money, just got to get rid of the current one first ...
Thinking about UKSA as the owner; many of the hours would have been slow one would have imagined, in and out of gear practising manouvers for Yachtmasters ?
I guess that the service history is the crucial thing as Latestarter says.

 

[andy59]

At risk of getting into a bidding war ... I too was interested in that boat, as you say got to be good value for money, just got to get rid of the current one first ...
Thinking about UKSA as the owner; many of the hours would have been slow one would have imagined, in and out of gear practising manouvers for Yachtmasters ?
I guess that the service history is the crucial thing as Latestarter says.

Agreed , service history is important but SWMBO has directed that it would have to have all new trim / carpets / exterior cushions & bedding and added to that possible gearbox and engine overhaul , then the numbers are not looking so good .Personaly i am not to bothered about trim (long term process of replacement ) but i would want complete faith in the mechanicals to do some long distance cruising .Best of luck selling yours BTW

 

[Pennpromo]

Lots of hours

Bamboleo,
Tend to agree with you. SWMBO will want it all done NOW ! Patience sems to be slightly lost on the better halves ...
I guess everyone else who has thought about that boat is working along the same lines hence it has not sold.
Got an offer on mine, but just waiting for it all to happen, might then have a look around for a winter project.

 

[dabsolute470]

what ever happened with this boat, was it a good purchase in the end ??

 

[andy59]

Someone beat me to it , as usual i spent to much time pondering . Maybe pennpromo bought it , it seemed to be good value . I bought an F36 in the end .