Life of a Diesel?

[Paul Annapolis]

May I take a different approach? This is a sailboat, with an auxiliary diesel engine. The real engine of the boat are the sails, spars, rigging, winches, sheaves, etc. etc. This type of question has often been posed online and the answers are remarkably uniform--which is amazing for a boating forum (just try it on anchors or any other equipment), but it is telling. The question is almost always posed in the same manner as well...engine, engine, engine and answered with "engine hours are not as telling as maintenance and a diesel can last many thousands of hours etc etc. " I suggest you take a step back first and ask lots of questions about and determine the condition of the rig and sails. How come nobody else recommends that? Are you getting a rigging survey? When was the boat re-rigged? Have you inspected the mast step? Gone up to the masthead? You can spend more to re-rig a boat than to rebuild the engine. You can spend more to replace a mainsail than to do an injector and valve job. A new winch can cost more than a new heat exchanger and alternator. I believe that many sailors place sails and rigging in secondary or tertiary order with engine in first place. That is likely wrong IMHO. So yes--get a diesel survey but don't forget a full rigging and sail inspection as well. The key word is "auxiliary" engine. An engine is not exposed to the constant atmospheric elements as are sails and rigging (diesels are made to function with lots of heat and pressures and are constantly lubricated because diesel is an oil but the are not exposed in the same way to UV, salt, wind etc). An engine problem is more likely than an engine catastrophe which is exceedingly rare and is unlikely to ruin your day whereas a rig failure or catastrophe is probably more likely to occur---and can do a lot more than ruin your day.

[Americanrancher]

Originally Posted by Roniszoro

I am considering the purchase of a sloop where the engine hour meter does not function. The seller says the engine, a Volvo, has 3800 hours, but when he got the boat the meter was not working. So he is basing the hours based on what he was told by the former owners. How does one go forward or does one just pass? It is expensive for me, at about $150K, and rebuilding a Volvo would be both very expensive and time consuming.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Haha! If you buy any of the stories from previous owners about the engine hours and condition I have a bridge for you! It's owned by a Prince in Nigeria that only needs $10,000 to put in a toll booth and will pay you back 10X in a month!

Many posters have said that Volvos are reliable engines, BUT some of the WORST marine engines that have ever been built are Volvos. What model is it? How many years old is the engine?

I have read posts here of boat buyers that have said if a prospective boat had a Volvo they would automatically assume it needed a new engine and reduce the offer price accordingly. Can you afford to not be able to sell the boat except with that perception of a buyer (------$$$$$)?

My bottom line is I would run, used engines are very expensive risks in the best of circumstances. This one is obviously a can of worms, if they couldn't fix the hour meter they probably couldn't be bothered to change the oil or do other maintenance nor do they care about maintaining the boat anywhere else.

You said the boat would tap you out, can you gamble on not being able to use the boat because you need a new engine and can't afford big $$$$$$ to replace it? BTW you do NOT want to rebuild a Volvo, outrageous parts prices, uneven quality of rebuilds, stigma of a Volvo.

[mkinney716]

We had some friends that had a 35’ sailboat and a Volvo engine. Their logbook showed many time to get it fixed in South Pacific and had problems with not only the parts but finding a mechanic that would work on a Volvo. They started referring to the engine as a “GDV” (God damned Volvo. They finally replaced it with a Perkins.

[AndieKay]

Originally Posted by Roniszoro

I am considering the purchase of a sloop where the engine hour meter does not function. The seller says the engine, a Volvo, has 3800 hours, but when he got the boat the meter was not working. So he is basing the hours based on what he was told by the former owners. How does one go forward or does one just pass? It is expensive for me, at about $150K, and rebuilding a Volvo would be both very expensive and time consuming.



Thank you for your thoughts.

My first thought was that this doesn't strike me as a well taken care of boat. It could be that this is the one thing that has been neglected, but it seems unlikely.

[Dockhand]

If you have any negative thoughts before you purchase it, it won’t get any better after you purchased it and will always be in the back of your mind.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by mkinney716

We had some friends that had a 35’ sailboat and a Volvo engine. Their logbook showed many time to get it fixed in South Pacific and had problems with not only the parts but finding a mechanic that would work on a Volvo. They started referring to the engine as a “GDV” (God damned Volvo. They finally replaced it with a Perkins.

mechanic told me recently that the newer volvos are basically a perkins painted green...

cheers,

[NCWDave]

Have a Mechanic evaluate it. Read up on it and do your own assessment. If it has reasonable blow by and the oil report comes back clean the only likely gremlins left are injectors and IP. Of course run it at sea trials. 15 min of full power well tell you a lot. easy peasy