Worlds smallest diesel engine....

[GrowleyMonster]

It would be nice to see a practical 5HP, 2 cyl naturally aspirated water cooled diesel, with replaceable liners and such. A 6hp outboard pushes my boat just fine. A diesel about that size would be a great replacement for my Atomic 4. If such an engine sold in the neighborhood of $3k it would find a solid customer base in the under 30 foot market. Might be good for a small genset, too. A 5HP diesel would be great for turning a 3 to 4 kw generator, dontcha think? 5hp theoretically equals 6.7KW so maybe 5KW. A good handy size for a lot of small cruisers. I would get one for a genny and one for propulsion. Wouldn't it be cool to have parts interchangeability between generator and main engine? Maybe these highly skilled hobbyists could come up with something useful and still pretty cool. Sort of an open source engine. All drawings and dimensions free to use, by private or commercial builders. Am I dreaming a stupid dream, or one that isn't so impossible?

[44'cruisingcat]

Got your conversion the wrong way round. 5 hp = about 3.7 kW.

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Got your conversion the wrong way round. 5 hp = about 3.7 kW.

Ah. Right. Thanks for that.

[msponer]

Have you seen the cute little 2 stroke diesels that folks use in Borneo? No idea how many hp, but probably around 5 given the size of canoe's they are on.

[GrowleyMonster]

They make some very basic small diesels in China, too. I am thinking of a 4 stroke and water cooled, for less noise and cleaner exhaust. Replaceable liners for easy rebuilds. Sturdy long-lived crank bearings. Two or more cylinders. So on and so forth. I actually was considering one of the Chinese engines because they are REALLY cheap, but discarded the idea due to dependability, long term maintenance, and noise issues. As it stands now, I am better off just keeping my raw water cooled Atomic as long as it keeps running. A good replacement, new, and meeting my requirements, for under $4k and DIY installable, would have me whipping out the credit card, I think.

Actually this is starting to turn into a thread hijack I think, so I will butt out now.