Halcyon Yachts
Well-known member
Pete
What is the best marine engine ever made
- Thread starter Nostrodamus
- Start date
Pete
Rowana
Two steps lower than the ships' cat
It seems that not everyone shares your enthusiasm for steam turbines. Most of the modern container ships are diesel powered -
http://www.wartsila.com/en/references/Emma-Maersk
Whitty
New member
Gardner 4lk 1963 sold that boat ten years ago and still going strong and sweet,now Perkins 4236 from 1972 superb just as good.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
The Volvo 2000 series are purpose built marine engines.
Tranona
Well-known member
Does not necessarily mean they are any good! Volvo ditched them pretty quickly when they got access to better industrially based engines.
The reality is that many so called marine engines were never really satisfactory because the constraints of using seawater only for cooling and the low volume of production meant they could not keep up with developments in small high speed engines. Unlike Yanmar who also started with engines cooled by seawater, they did not develop variants for industrial use to increase the volumes and justify R&D costs.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Mine is fine after 25 years operation; YMMV! And the only real moan I've seen on here is the cost of parts; see below.
Main annoyance is that I can't get low-cost parts meant for an equivalent automotive or industrial engine. And Volvo charge silly money for gaskets! Yes, I know about Keyparts.
To me, raw-water cooling always seems more sensible than fresh-water cooling. It is a simpler system, with far less to fail; I seem to have seen more posts on here about heat-exchangers failing than corrosion problems in raw-water cooled engines. Engines meant for raw-water cooling (like the 2000 series, NOT marinized engines) are designed with ample metal in the block so a little internal corrosion isn't fatal, and of course, have appropriate protective anodes designed in.
Of course the 2000 series engines have faults - the notorious problem with the splines on the drive-shaft, for one, and the tendency for the waterways to get blocked with time. But on the whole, they are reliable, if rather heavy, engines.
westernman
Well-known member
What is the best marine engine now (for the kind of boats we play with - not the engines used for super tankers or aircraft carriers) if you were buying a new engine to go in a new boat?
I.e. you have to meet the current regulations and pollution requirements.
I.e. you have to meet the current regulations and pollution requirements.
B58
Member
Gardner or Kelvin without doubt!
brianhumber
New member
Not too keen on the top line one which is a Doxford but the bottom engine is a B&W development of the old Harland and Woolf opposed piston 2 stroke. Lovely engines to run but all those extra bearings and eccentrics in the Crankcase could be pain. I once started one on Standby with an Indian Cleaner sitting on the piston, he was not amused. They were very well balanced you could get one moving and started using almost no starting air at all.
Happy Days
Brian
brianhumber
New member
I still have my combined Steam and Motor first class Chiefs ticket in a drawer somewhere. Having sailed on both I would say Turbines never gave a lot of trouble ( unless you were on the QE2 when new) it was the ancillary plant which literally wore you and the engine room crew out. Don't remind me of single casing D type boilers, Weirs TD feedpumps and Caird and Rayner Evaporators please, they should be left forgotten and buried.
The best 2 stroke Diesels were the uniflow Sulzer RNDs, no inlet or exhaust valves to worry about, sweet simple and reliable.
Lister Blackstone ERD took some beating these were on the old Lymington/Yarmouth Ferries, far better than Polar and Gardners are excellent.
Back to smaller engines - Ronhilda still has the original 1987 Ford 1.6 416 XLD fitted. Ultra reliable and economical. I am now onto my third timing belt. Yachts around me using Volvos Betas etc seem to have to replace their engines every 10 years or so.
Brian
penfold
Well-known member
I'm not sure this is true; I understood Perkins bought/licenced the MD200x series from a japanese company and produced it for VP, although unlike the MD20x0 series I don't think it was ever sold as a Perkins.
I'm not sure supercritical steam will ever make it into a ship's engine room, unless perhaps there's another crazy shipping boom where China and Korea's ability to build ships outstrips their ability to build slow speed diesels; that's the only reason more steam ships were built in the last decade than in the previous 30 years(ignoring warships).
Last edited:
Tranona
Well-known member
The Volvo 200X is indeed a Volvo engine, specifically made only for the marine market.
The MD20x0 series were originally the Perkins Perama engine and were made by the Perkins/Shibaru joint venture in Japan. The latest D1 range is also a Perkins engine, some made in Japan and some in UK.
The point I was making earlier is that Volvo stopped making dedicated marine engines and switched to Japanese style industrial engines nearly 25 years ago.
dancrane
Well-known member
I was looking at Northern Lights generators this morning...they still push heavily-insulated, 1500rpm engines as the best way to get power without intrusive noise/vibration levels.
Isn't there a yacht-auxiliary manufacturer which prioritises the weighty, bulky luxuries of smoothness and near-silence?
Isn't there a yacht-auxiliary manufacturer which prioritises the weighty, bulky luxuries of smoothness and near-silence?
scottie
Well-known member
Most gen sets run at 1500 (although a few at 1800 ) to suit alternators
Northern lights use the same base unit as volvo Perkins as above
Woodlouse
New member
Yup, but if that's because in the past steam turbines weren't particularly efficient. If they can now operate at 50% efficiency then they will be an attractive choice for the future.
westernman
Well-known member
The steam turbine on its own is not that efficient - but it is very useful to use with what would otherwise be wasted heat. For instance state of the art power stations (e.g. http://www.energy.siemens.com/hq/en...series/scc5-4000f-2x1.htm#content=Description) are often gas turbinesfollowed by a heat recovery plant and steam turbines. The same is sometimes done with diesel engines as well.
dancrane
Well-known member
Northern Lights run at that speed, but generators by many other manufacturers run at double that speed. Northern Lights claims the benefit of slow-running is mainly reduced wear.
Couldn't that same benefit (and reduced noise and vibration) be enjoyed by yachtsmen if their auxiliaries worked at the relaxed rate which these engines evidently can run at?
Woodlouse
New member
Makes sense.
Tranona
Well-known member
If you have ever been on the receiving end of most old style diesel engines running at low revs you would welcome the smoothness and quiet of today's (relatively) high speed engines! Petrol engines are a bit better - the much maligned Stuart P55 is wonderfully smooth and quiet running at 1000rpm, but apart from the smart green paint and bronze fittings, that is where its good features end!
One of the reasons old style heavy long stroke engines were used on boats was that the shape allowed them to be mounted low down with their long gearboxes in the narrow trough under the cockpit. The shape of the boat also allowed the use of large slow turning props which had the advantage of getting the blades into clearer water not so disturbed by big lumps of keel.
Compare that with the shape of modern boats where the difficulty is getting a big enough prop to clear the bottom of the hull. Engines are usually mounted at 10 degrees down, so you can see the advantage of having a small short engine. Just to give an example of the difference, compare a Yanmar 1GM with a Sabb. Similar power output but 1/3 the weight and half the bulk.
As to life, it is worth repeating that for a sailboat auxiliary, you will rarely get anywhere near the limits of life of the basic modern engine. 8000 hours is 50 years or so of typical usage!
dancrane
Well-known member
Cheers Mr T, I'm persuaded. When the times comes I'll buy new and treat the engine's maintenance schedule & handbook like a list of holy commandments.
