Kubota

[Stede]

I'm looking at a sailboat that her auxiliary has been re-powered with a 30 hp Kubota diesel. Model# 1105. Is anyone familiar with the Kubota diesels? Any opinions either good, or bad?

[btrayfors]

Good engines. Very robust and reliable. Parts available worldwide. Used in tractors and many other applications.

On boats, you usually find Kubotas powering gensets.

Bill

[skipmac]

Kubota makes diesel engines for tractors, etc and is generally a good, basic engine. But for a boat it depends on which company did the marine adaptation. Beta is one company.

Do you know who did yours?

[roverhi]

Most all sailboat auxillaries are marinized industrial or small tractor diesels. Kubota is one of worlds bigger tractor manufacturers and their motors have been increasingly popular for marine conversion. After market companies take the Kubota engines, add a heat exchanger and a few other things necessary or nice to have on a marine engine and then resell them under their label. These Kubota conversions seem to have a pretty good reputation. One benefit is that any non marine parts on the engine can be purchased at any Kubota dealer world wide at tractor, not marine prices.

[capngeo]

I have one on a genny with 3500+ hours... good motors!

[daddle]

In my experience with both, Beta marinization is great, Universal is trash.

[Stede]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the information. I was a little familiar with the link to the Kubota tractors, but your comments expanded on that quite a bit. The resounding "good engine" makes me feel a whole lot more at ease while I negotiate purchasing a boat that has a fairly new Kubota on board. I'll see if I can find out what company did the marine adaption of the engine.

Stede

[Maxs]

Is easy, if it's white, is a phasor marine engine, gold or light blue is a Universal, and if it is red, is a Beta...
There could be more options, but these are the ones that I know.
I have a 30 year old universal with lots of hours that hasn't been overhauled yet. Very reliable and heavy duty engines.

[Chief Engineer]

I have never had a Universal Diesel with a major meltdown.

The most common thing I have had is blown headgaskets due to owners filling the cylinders by over cranking the engine.

I am not real fond of the raw water recirculating setup.

I like water out the exhaust ALL the time....not just burps

[Jim Cate]

You can add Nanni to the list of folks marinizing Kubotas... also good engines.
And they are blue!
Cheers,

Jim

[Target9000]

We just ordered a Beta Marine 38hp. I spent hours searching the web for negative thoughts on Kubotas and Beta Marine before we pulled the trigger. I found very very few negative comments and an overwhelming amount of "pleased" comments.

[Marksman]

I have a Beta 28. Love it, all the maintinance items are on the front of the engine in easy reach (excluding the heat exchanger zink), as well as an intigrated oil change pump.

[daddle]

My problem with the Universal was not the sweet Kubota engine. That is a beautiful thing. It's the shoddy design and work by Universal. Had that "shadetree mechanic" look. Inch hardware. Crummy paint job over dirty parts. Hack transmission adaptor plate. Oil drain hose fell out... Everything they hacked on rusted immediately and fell apart. What trash. That was in the early 90s.

And then there's their parts policy. Heh. Call a slick captive dealer and go broke.

[Stede]

Ut oh....The Kubota adapted diesel aboard the boat I'm looking at is a light blue. From what I've read here, that indicates it's a "Universal" adaption. I've read one good, and one bad opinion here concerning the Universal adaption. How could a company named "Universal" be bad? The name just means the engine can be used on other planets and stuff, doesn't it?

[redcobra]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Kubota makes diesel engines for tractors, etc and is generally a good, basic engine. But for a boat it depends on which company did the marine adaptation. Beta is one company.

Do you know who did yours?

Nanni is another (I have that one)