Vehicle engines versus purpose designed marine engines.

[haydude]

I wish I had a Fiat Punto Multijet engine fitted on my boat. What a fantastic engine that is! More than 100,000 miles and all I do is change the oil and filter every six months because of the high mileage. The camshaft is driven by a chain instead of a belt, so no worries at all about that too. Fiat and IVECO Diesels have the best technology and reliability of all. They are fitted too on Vauxhall cars and vans. I would not know about the costs of spares because I have never had to buy anything other than consumables.

If I had the luxury of providing the specs for a new boat I would definitely ask to marinize and fit this Multijet engine.

 

[prv]

However, they are small, light, refined, run for 8000 hours and don't pee oil all over the place.

Mine does, a bit

Haven't been able to find where it's coming from, but the boxed-in space under the engine (D1-30) does slowly fill with oil over a few tens of hours' use

Pete

 

[fisherman]

So much marinising kit is made with the object of making a compact unit. Provided you can get an exhaust manifold and gearbox adapter plate I don't see why you shouldn't use any mix of heat exchangers and oil coolers, mounted away from the engine. Mind you, when I researched getting an imported Otosan Ford, cost only £2200 in 1998, to replace my Dover, it was pointed out that the marine version doesn't use the same injector pump as the road version. Apart from that it was a bolt-on job, I think.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I wish I had a Fiat Punto Multijet engine fitted on my boat. What a fantastic engine that is! More than 100,000 miles and all I do is change the oil and filter every six months because of the high mileage. The camshaft is driven by a chain instead of a belt, so no worries at all about that too. Fiat and IVECO Diesels have the best technology and reliability of all. They are fitted too on Vauxhall cars and vans. I would not know about the costs of spares because I have never had to buy anything other than consumables.

If I had the luxury of providing the specs for a new boat I would definitely ask to marinize and fit this Multijet engine.

Surely the main problem in fitting a modern common rail engine like this is going to be getting (and programming) an ECU suitable for marine use? Every installation is likely to be slightly different, and of course, yachtspeople commonly want to do things like change propellers, changing the load on the engine. I understand that these days, most vehicle engines are tightly integrated with the entire drive chain and electrical set up of the vehicle, and changing for a radically different drive chain and (comparatively) primitive electrical system is going to be difficult, to say the least.

One of the good things about old-fashioned diesels is that they can be made to run without electricity. Given the propensity of electrical components and connections to degrade in a marine environment, this sounds like a good thing.

 

[cryan]

I wish I had a Fiat Punto Multijet engine fitted on my boat. What a fantastic engine that is! More than 100,000 miles and all I do is change the oil and filter every six months because of the high mileage. The camshaft is driven by a chain instead of a belt, so no worries at all about that too. Fiat and IVECO Diesels have the best technology and reliability of all. They are fitted too on Vauxhall cars and vans. I would not know about the costs of spares because I have never had to buy anything other than consumables.

If I had the luxury of providing the specs for a new boat I would definitely ask to marinize and fit this Multijet engine.

Alfa Romeo versions are marinised by FNM Marine. Sold in the UK by Mermaid.

 

[Tranona]

I wish I had a Fiat Punto Multijet engine fitted on my boat. What a fantastic engine that is! More than 100,000 miles and all I do is change the oil and filter every six months because of the high mileage.

That is true about almost any modern diesel. Nothing special about the Fiat engine. However, totally unsuitable for marine use which is why nobody bothers to marinise it. Too high revving, too much power and electronics needed to run it. Displacements speed boats do not require that kind of power and the industrial engines most use are fine.

 

[haydude]

Alfa Romeo versions are marinised by FNM Marine. Sold in the UK by Mermaid.

Thank you! I did not know about FNM/ Mermaid!

Amazing they have done it already! This is the one:
https://mermaidmarine.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/HPE80SD-2013.pdf

This is the engine I want for my next boat!

 

[geem]

We have a wonderful Perkins M92B. 86 hp, flat toque curve. Max revs at 2400 rpm. 4.4litre. We run it at about 1200 rpm most of time. It will run at 900rpm and give us 4.8 kts in flat water and 2.2 litres/hr consumption. It's mechanical injection pump and 500 hours between oil changes. Cheaper than similar hp Yanmar and very robust. A very impressive Perkins engine. I can't imagine anything converted from a car or truck by marinising parts to be anywhere near as good

 

[PCUK]

I agree about not needing electricity to power normal diesels. But they will soon all be gone as common rail entirely takes over due to emission regs'. I'll stand on my own regarding the suitability of standard truck and car engines being highly suitable for marinisation as that is what I have used for many many years without problems at a fraction of the price of a badged marine version.