why are boat engines so nancy ?

[jimboooo]

how come boat engines are so nancy ? tube heaters , blankets , noo noos , etc etc you dont need to that with your car , so why with a boat ? this bad weather has made me put a blanket and tarp on my outboard , but , not on my car ! !! are we all just paranoid ? why not just make a better engine , surly a boat engine should be better and stronger than a car engine !! after all it is much more scary if your boat stops !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[oGaryo]

i guess one obvious consideration is raw water cooling versus closed cooling with the former needing all that tlc when it gets nippy

 

[sailorman]

how come boat engines are so nancy ? tube heaters , blankets , noo noos , etc etc you dont need to that with your car , so why with a boat ? this bad weather has made me put a blanket and tarp on my outboard , but , not on my car ! !! are we all just paranoid ? why not just make a better engine , surly a boat engine should be better and stronger than a car engine !! after all it is much more scary if your boat stops !!!!!!!!!!!!!

a blanket will stop condensation forming

 

[Frontier]

how come boat engines are so nancy ? tube heaters , blankets , noo noos , etc etc you dont need to that with your car , so why with a boat ? this bad weather has made me put a blanket and tarp on my outboard , but , not on my car ! !! are we all just paranoid ? why not just make a better engine , surly a boat engine should be better and stronger than a car engine !! after all it is much more scary if your boat stops !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The bit that's like a car is ok, it's got antifreeze, but ther other part is like having the garden hose connected to your car engine. If we had that we would all be keeping them warm too

and cos each boat engine costs about as much as a car family car

 

[rafiki_]

It is the raw water that is the concern, whether directly cooled by raw water or indirectly through a heat exchanger, raw water will freeze at considerably higher temp than the sealed cooling system with antifreeze, normally good for -25C.

Also, much as we criticise our cars, they are much more extensively tested and validated, even if much cheaper, as we all expect a good warranty with our cars, even if secondhand. We don't get this with boats!!
There will be few Fairlines/Sunseekers etc that have run the equivalent of 300,000 km as part of their validation, let alone hot testing at +65C and cold at -30C. Most european cars will include this in their validation.