Diesel Mechanics

[msatwood]

I am trying to find some type of instruction for basic diesel mechanics. I would like to learn basic maintenance, trouble shooting, and how to diagnose simple, run-of-the-mill problems as well as how to fix them. A one or two week course would be great!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Malcom

[Tellie]

Were do you live?

[Badsanta]

Annapolis school of seamanship has basic and advances 2 day classes
Mack boring has classes in several places 2-3 day
Wooden boat school in Maine has a week long stay on site class.

I only took an hour seminar with mack boring. But they were very good.
I took the others but really enjoyed the Maine class as it was a vacation lots of hands on and had some time to sail in maine great place and nice people.
I'm sure there are more these are the ones I know of.

[gonesail]

if yours is a yanmar .. get the Seloc book and read it in your spare time.

[NW Craig]

I'm by no means a diesel mechanic, but have found these two books to be a great resource:

Troubleshooting Marine Diesels by Peter Compton and Marine Diesel Engines: Maintaince and Repair Manual by Jean-luc Pallas.

Have you checked out the community colleges in your area?

craig

[hanschristian38]

If you are looking for training - take a look at Mack Boring. Lary Berlin is the instructor. Mack Boring & Parts Company - The Power Behind The Power

I found it worth the time and money.

[S/V Antares]

How in depth do you want to go? Getting truly familliar with you specific engine could be a matter of a few onboard lessons with a good mechanic. If you are looking for general knowledge or theory on all engines one of the schools mentioned would be best.

[gs41escapade]

The Nigel Calder book: Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair is pretty good. Used as the 'text' for the Annapolis school of seamanship course. This course is also pretty good. I just finished the Basic class and felt it was worthwhile.

[Chief Engineer]

I have spent about 4-5 hours with new owners of vessels instructing them in the care and feeding of their diesel.....I also go thru basic troubleshooting, bleeding and maintainance. Since each vessel is a little different each lesson is tailored a little difeerently.

It has paid off-----for them-----when they have had a problem in a "foreign port" all they had to do was call me and we got the problem resolved over the phone.....and they weren't (or didn't become) victims of parts exchangers

I am currently working on a curriculum for a one day seminar in the Fall/Winter.

[Roni]

If you're near NC, try the NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort. North Carolina Maritime Museum - Homepage

They have 1-2 day classes on engine, electronic, sail etc repair, as well as wooden boat "stuff". The courses run around $75.

[virginia boy]

Good lord! Why is it that every class or seminar related to boats is hundreds and hundreds of dollars a day? If I were to take a class in all the different areas I need I wouldn't have any boat money. If I had that kind of money I'd just hire someone to sail me around the world. Mack Boring wanted $730.00 for a two day course that covers some very basic stuff. Oh, but the prerequisite for the two day course is the one day class at $530.00! I figure that since the class size is limited to ten people, they're making $12,600.00 in three days. What a racket! I'm sorry, but no teacher on the planet is worth almost 13K for three days of teaching! Maybe they have a stress management class I can take for another $1000.000 cuz I'm gonna need it watching money fly out of my bank account that fast. I'll stick with home study thank you very much. Eric

[Chief Engineer]

Mack Boring Classes are usually for people in the trade.

I have taken a few of them...not the best....not the worst....

Customers of mine have paid for 4 hours on a smallish boat up to 35 feet.

On boats over 50 feet dual engines and gensets it can be an 8-10 hour day sometimes. Usually about 5-7 hours does it.....depending on how much the owner wants to learn

[theonecalledtom]

In SoCal Orange Coast Coastal have a diesel engine overview, which is a pretty reasonable price.

Introduction to Diesel Engines | www.occsailing.com

I would suggest trying to find a more general overview on diesel and trying to map it to your own engine before getting a professional to look at it with you, that way when they talk you stand a better chance of understanding what they are talking about.

[kellyp08]

I found Jon Bardo's 1 week long basic diesel engine course ("Making Friends with Your Diesel Engine") given by the Wooden Boat School (WBS) in Brooklin, Maine was an excellent introduction to diesel mechanics. It is truly a "hands-on course" and I believe that it is given on two occasions during the summer months. WBS has living and dining facilities and a pleasant venue for "going back to school". And they have moorings in case you want to live on your boat while you take the course. Check it out at Marine Diesel Engine.

[Boomp]

There are 3 weekend diesel courses coming up soon on the South Shore area of Massachusetts. I took it a couple of years ago...it covers everything from winterizing to bleeding, oil changes etc. Go to JayWay Enterprise and check it out. Its in Scituate, Mass. IF you are near the area...