Catalina [Unfortunately] Goes Common Rail

[Fluer de Mer]

I was at the Sail Pacific show this past weekend and saw the very beautiful boat of the year - a Catalina 425. It was a really nice thought out boat up to the point where I lifted the stairs to examine the motor and found that it was encased in steel paneling. It was my first look at a common rail motor…which are coming to boats near you in the immediate future and have very significant safety, maintenance, and reliability issues that you might want to read up on because they are intended to become the standard. Said differently, god help you if it breaks down while you are at sea because you can’t repair it: Reasons to be paranoid about Diesel

[Stu Jackson]

Time to call Gerry Douglas and ask him why!?!

[gjordan]

I suspect it has to do with smog laws. The new high-tech diesels are much cleaner (in spite of Volkswagons con job), but much more complicated to work on. I say that from reading. I have never had to work on one, and would not own one. I understand the need for regulations, but boats are such a tiny part of the problem. Oh Well, Grant.

[hobopacket]

Yup. Stricter emissions laws and regulations. Need to work on the real issue, trucks and such.

[a64pilot]

I just sold it but I drove a common rail motor truck for the last 14 years.
Common rail is magic, quiet, smooth and powerful, however the Achilles heel is the injectors, the fuel pressure is incredibly high, and any little bit of dirt will cut an injector tip like a water jet.
Yes there is a computer, but they are incredibly reliable, lightning strikes? All bets are off, who knows

[sainted]

Yep, common rail has been a reality for many years in the over the road market, and as a64 says, over the road common rail motors are better than their mechanically injected forebears by far. And, yes, ECM (electronic control modules) are extremely reliable. Most all of you are driving gasoline engined cars controlled by ECMs every day with very few issues.

The upsides are clear: better fuel economy and lower emissions.

The downside is, unlike the over the road market, which is federally regulated, the marine market is "every OEM for itself". That means that the marine guys don't have to make their engine diagnostics accessible by third parties, which makes diagnostics harder than it should be.

So tell your representatives in Congress to make ODBII (on board diagnostics II) the standard for marine diesels the way it is for over the road diesels. That way you'll be able to by a cheap scanner and figure out whats up with your engine when it gets gimpy.

Oh, yeah. I'm an ASE certified master technician who's worked on lots of light truck diesels.

[rmesfo]

I was also at the Pacific Boat show in Richmond. The 425 is a really, really nice boat and the price was very reasonable compared to the rest of huge buck boats. Also, the wind really came up on Thursday and damaged about 60 percent of the boats. Kinda sad.

[roverhi]

Electronics which make the common rail diesel function are reliable and efficient in a car/truck on the road. The question is, when was the last time you drove your car in a salt sauna or even doused the engine with a bit of salt water. These new engines will run fine till the little electrons stop functioning well together. That's something that is sure to happen sooner than later on a boat.

Originally Posted by sainted

Yep, common rail has been a reality for many years in the over the road market, and as a64 says, over the road common rail motors are better than their mechanically injected forebears by far. And, yes, ECM (electronic control modules) are extremely reliable. Most all of you are driving gasoline engined cars controlled by ECMs every day with very few issues.

The upsides are clear: better fuel economy and lower emissions.

The downside is, unlike the over the road market, which is federally regulated, the marine market is "every OEM for itself". That means that the marine guys don't have to make their engine diagnostics accessible by third parties, which makes diagnostics harder than it should be.

So tell your representatives in Congress to make ODBII (on board diagnostics II) the standard for marine diesels the way it is for over the road diesels. That way you'll be able to by a cheap scanner and figure out whats up with your engine when it gets gimpy.

Oh, yeah. I'm an ASE certified master technician who's worked on lots of light truck diesels.

[01kiwijohn]

Yes, they're scary for the mechanically ignorant (or should I say "uninformed"?)
They burn cleaner, run longer and require somewhat different repair and maintenance practices so I'd suggest we all adjust to this new reality and move on.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Electronics which make the common rail diesel function are reliable and efficient in a car/truck on the road. The question is, when was the last time you drove your car in a salt sauna or even doused the engine with a bit of salt water. These new engines will run fine till the little electrons stop functioning well together. That's something that is sure to happen sooner than later on a boat.

About 5-6 months of the year in the Northern states. The salt percentage is huge following a plow in slush with the entire engine bay constantly wet in those conditions. Much worse than any boat's engine room. Also, check any vehicle manufacturers corrosion testing.... it is a salt sauna bath.

The ECM can and should be moved out of the engine bay and into a more secure area of the boat.

Matt

[soerencarlsen]

roverhi !
I see you are in Hawaii yes not much salt on the roads there i guess. But take the commonrail engine in a car in northen europe there is plenty of salt on the roads mixed with water and snow that gets ind everywere but very very little problems with electronics
I for one drive a vw with CR diesel has run for 466000km on the odometer never hav any problems.

[ranger58sb]

Lots of power boats have been running common rail diesels for lots of years now.

Lots more trucks have been running common rail diesels for even more years.

No big deal.

-Chris

[denverd0n]

Honestly, I equate this to many decades ago when it became completely impossible to buy a car anymore that had a distributor with real points in it. It bothered me a little. My father, on the other hand, thought it was absolutely the end of the world. No more being able to fix a spark problem on the side of the road.

And it's true. I cannot fix a spark problem on the side of the road anymore, for any of the cars that I have owned in the last 40 years. But then, I haven't needed to. None of the cars that I have owned in the last 40 years has HAD any spark problems that needed fixing!

It's called "progress" folks. I know, progress for the sake of progress is not always a good thing. But we adapt, get used to it, learn to move on. We will do the same as modern marine diesel engines evolve and change.

[Jason Flare]

The article linked in the OP is excellent and I recommend everyone read it.

[Boatguy30]

I'm sure there were lots of folks worried about reliability of the wheel when it came along. A bunch of moving parts to fail in those days.

I'm pretty sure those Catalina's still come with sails in case the engine fails?