Engine Choice: Cat QSM11 vs Cummins C-12 Acert

[scalleia]

Hello,

I am considering the commissioning of a new boat and am vacillating over the choice of engines. The boats details are:

Hull: Semi displacement
LWL: 55 feet
LOA: 66 feet
Displacement: 38 - 42 tonnes (light- full incl engines)

My intended use is towards a cruise speed in the 10 - 12 knots and the ability to push it home when I want around 20 kn. Long range is an important consideration as is fuel economy.

Anyway the choices are twin:

Cat Acert C-12 (705 hp) v Cummins QSM 11 (715 hp)

Can anyone give any guidance on these.

Apart from general suitability to the task I am interested in issues such as fuel economy, Cummins open standard Common Rail technology v Cats ACERT equivalent, reliability, cost of ownership, know issues, etc. Well anything of interest I guess.

For some reason I am leaning towards the cats.

The boat will be based in Australia.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers.

Simon

[klem]

Personally, I would choose the cummins option. Both companies make good engines but I am not a big fan of Acert. It was an attempt to do EGR in the cylinder which worked marginally well but really lowered fuel economy and reliability. You can look on truck forums for reviews on both of these engines as well since they are not that different in the two different applications. Most engines will be common rail pretty soon and cummins system (Bosch) is pretty good. The key to systems like this is good fuel filtration.

Something to consider is who has better service. You may want to look around and see where the nearest parts center is and how much stuff they stock and also where the nearest certified tech is. On the US east coast, I find the Cummins parts guys to be better and there are plenty of techs around if you need them. Also if you already own a lot of engines from one brand, you might as well stick with that to make your life simpler.

[djmarchand]

I would make the decision based on the parts and service support you get in Australia. Both engines are in the same ballpark IMHO.

David