Haulouts, bent shafts, and other fun stuff!

[rustybucket]

I have enjoyed reading your posts,especially on the engines . Some people seem to think that the 8V92 engine is a hand grenade with the pin already pulled , sounds like you are getting good performance

Eh, they def have a bad rep in some circles. It's definitely 'cooler' to have the new electronic high hp engines, but I'm here to tell you, they break just as easily (more easily in some cases) than the detroits. Detroits are fairly simple engines compared to modern diesel engines in the fact that all they really need to run is air, oil and fuel. Of course new engines need all that stuff, but they also need an ECU, 50million sensors and a mile of wire.

They are heavy, some are loud (mine aren't bad at all) and some smoke and leak oil. I used to believe the old saying about all detroits leak oil and if they didn't they were out of oil, but several other owners on this site have proven that to be dead wrong. All engines can and will leak oil. It's about staying on top of the leaks when found and addressing any maintenance issues along the way. I was in a practically brand new viking with v16 mtu's a few months ago and they had diaper rags in several spots where the practically brand new engines were slobbering and leaking oil.

Detroits are not perfect, but there aren't many engines that are. New engines have their benefits and their drawbacks. The biggest benefit to newer engines is the amount of hours some guys are getting between rebuilds. A long lived high hp detroit may be 3k hours while a long lived cat may be 5-10k hours.

I used to think you should run away from a boat with detroits, but now I'm more inclined to run away from boats that have not been properly maintained, or ran overpropped/overloaded no matter what power they have.

Bottom line, any engine could live a long, healthy, happy service life, or it could blow up tomorrow. bent rods know no brands.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I think engines tend to treat you about the same as you treat them.

That said, there are some rotten apples in the historical barrel. If anyone remembers, those small GM diesels in the 80s, I think. Cat 3116s and 3126s. But GM and Cat have both built plenty of good engines, too; I would go offshore in a boat with 4312s or 3406s any day. And GMs Series 60s and 2000s were excellent from all I've heard.

If I had a big enough boat, I'd have 3412s or C32s, I guess they are now. All the power of Mans but much less maintenance cost. Mind you, Mans are reliable, too, if you do all that maintenance.

 

[VieEnRose]

Do you have a picture of the internal strainers for newbies like me?'


Love your posts, definitely my favorite boat on this site.

 

[rustybucket]

Do you have a picture of the internal strainers for newbies like me?'


Love your posts, definitely my favorite boat on this site.

Thanks for the compliment! But I don't know if it's the nicest, some killer rigs on this site.

Here is everything that came out.

The raw water entered the external scoop/strainer, through a seacock, 90deg, through the internal strainer, 90deg, then into the oil cooler. So the water made 2 90deg turns PLUS the two 90 deg turns it has to make to go through the internal strainer, then about 3' of hose to loop around and enter the oil cooler.

With the new setup the water goes through the new external strainer, through the seacock, and a straight 17" shot into the oil cooler.

The new setup shows visibly significantly more water flow out the exhaust on both engines. It's hard to quantify how much, but it is quite a bit, maybe 30-40% more flow at idle speeds if I had to guesstimate.

 

[dar636]

Nice post, work and boat! Very good sir!

 

[jim rosenthal]

Years ago, I took the internal strainers out of my boat and added the external strainers and screens made by Buck. They have been great. Much easier to take care of and better water flow.

 

[bostonhatteras]

We did install them, I did not ride in the boat prior to installing them. Everything I read about them was positive and i have been happy with them.

Thank you for the reply. It’s surprising to me that the smartrail isn’t more popular. All the people I’ve spoken with that have them answer positively concerning the claims the inventor chris hodges makes about them.