Engine Room

What Does It Really Cost To Drive an Electric Boat 1,000 Miles at 10 mph? Here are Some Answers from Stephens Waring Yacht Design

By Peter Janssen on February 5, 2018 Cruising Life, Engine Room

We all know that electric-powered boats are cheaper to operate than gas- or diesel-powered models, right? But exactly how much cheaper are they? Now the creative people at Stephens Waring Yacht Design up in Belfast, Maine, have come up with some numbers to answer that question. Oddly enough, hard figures are hard to come by. So, Stephens Waring started their research at the Alternative Fuels Data Center at the Department of Energy, which has a lot of drop-down menus with information about cars, comparing the costs of an all-electric Chevy Volt, for example, to the costs of a combustion-engine-driven Volkswagen…

Seakeeper Gets More and More Popular, Expands Production. See Videos of Its Gyro Stabilizers in Action

By Peter Janssen on January 31, 2018 Cruising Life, Engine Room, Gear

Seakeeper is on a roll. Well, that’s a terrible misstatement. Actually, Seakeeper reduces rolling on recreational boats by 80 to 90 percent. It makes boating fun again for many, many people who don’t want to roll from side to side while underway or at anchor. It’s the Seakeeper company that’s on a roll. Indeed, Seakeeper is a modern success story, finding new owners across many diverse boat lines and making more and more gyro stabilizers each year. In fact, Seakeeper is going to increase its capacity so it can produce 6,000 new gyros in its factory in Mohnton, PA this…

Battery Chargers: How To Choose the Best One for Your Boat

By Peter Janssen on January 1, 2018 Cruising Life, Engine Room, Gear

Regardless of the size or quality of your boat, or the number of nautical miles you have under your belt, you’re not going anywhere if your battery is dead. A good battery charger can make sure your battery is charged and healthy and is ready to go. This is particularly an issue if you’re not using the boat frequently. But which battery charger do you need, and then where do you install it on your vessel? Here’s a great story to answer those questions from Boating World. First off, make sure the charger has enough options and features to insure…

How To Care for Your Seacocks: Ignore Them at Your Peril

By Peter Janssen on December 13, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room, Gear, Maintenance

Nothing is more vital to the integrity of your boat than its seacocks. Have a problem with one of them, and you literally could be sunk. Depending on the size and type of your boat, you could have a few, or quite a few, down in your bilge, but you’ll certainly have them for your engine(s), genset, head(s) and other equipment. It’s also a good idea to have a mallet and tapered plugs, sized to fit, ready to go in case one of them totally fails. Here’s a good story from Sea about how to care for seacocks and how…

More Details and Performance Charts for Yanmar’s New 50-hp Diesel Outboard

By Peter Janssen on December 4, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Production has started on the innovative Yanmar Dtorque 111 50-hp, common-rail, turbo-diesel outboard, which the company says is the world’s first viable diesel outboard. The new outboard was developed as a Neander-Shark engine; Neander Motors, based in Kiel, Germany, on the Baltic, specializes in producing small capacity diesels with two con-rods per piston. The new outboard has two counter-rotating crankshafts in a lightweight aluminum block to create a perfect balance, free of vibration. The diesel outboards are lighter and more compact than traditional gas outboards of the same size. The company says they have twice the engine life, up to…

How to Winterize Your Engines, Gas and Diesel, Outboards and Inboards

By Peter Janssen on October 30, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room

For those of us in the north, it’s that time of the year. Unless you’re heading south, your cruising season is ending. Time to put the boat away for the winter, and that means winterizing your engines. Everybody has their own list, and many people simply turn their boats over to their marinas. Even if you do, it helps to know what needs to be done. Here’s a great list from BoatU.S. that at least will serve as a starter. The list covers outboards, gas and diesel inboards, and stern drives, and deals with more than just the engines themselves.…

Mercury Marine’s New Multifunction Display Keeps Track of All Four Engines, Plus Much More

By Peter Janssen on October 24, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Now you can have all the immediate information you need – data measuring 30 different parameters – to keep your boat and all four of your engines running happily, thanks to Mercury Marine’s new VesselView 903 display, the company’s largest and most advanced multifunction display yet. And yes, its bright, high-def glass touchscreen displays information simultaneously for up to four engines, if you have that many. “Our next generation VesselView technology allows boaters the ability to simultaneously display information for up to four engines at a time in an easy-to-use-touch-screen interface,” said Zachary Savage, Mercury Marine’s VesselView Program Manager. The…

Yanmar Launches World’s Smallest New Dtorque 50-hp Turbo Diesel Outboard

By Peter Janssen on October 3, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room

The trend toward diesel-powered outboard engines just got stronger, as Yanmar Marine joined forces with Neander Shark, a German manufacturer, for global distribution of the new Dtorque 111 twin-cylinder, 50-hp turbo diesel outboard. Yanmar says this is the world’s smallest diesel outboard with common-rail fuel injection, providing class-leading range, fuel efficiency, exhaust emissions and noise levels. The new compact outboard has an engine life of at least 10,000 hours, according to the company, more than double the lifespan of a comparable gas outboard. The diesel is smooth and quiet, delivering 50-hp at the prop with a torque output of 111…

Volvo Breaks 1,000-hp Barrier with New 13-Litre Engine

By Peter Janssen on August 3, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Volvo Penta just introduced a new 1,000 hp-engine, its largest ever, at the boat show in Sydney, Australia. The company says the new 13-litre diesel has both higher performance and a longer life than any of its previous engines. The new inboard, and its equivalent from Volvo’s IPS range, the D13-IPS1350, have been designed for use in yachts up to 120 feet, although the IPS version was tested in a 68-footer. “This is hugely exciting for us to create our most powerful engine yet,” said Johan Wasterang, VP for product management at Volvo Penta. “It’s truly a landmark product for…

Coast Guard Tests Diesel Outboards on Small Boats. Is a Diesel Outboard in Your Future?

By Peter Janssen on June 19, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room

In a move that could make your cruising life easier, the Coast Guard is testing diesel-powered outboards on some of its Fast Rescue Boats. If the tests are successful, and more diesel outboards move to the recreational boat market, it could mean that you wouldn’t have to carry separate gas on board for your RIB or dink if you have a diesel-powered cruising boat. It’s also possible that diesel outboards will become more popular as the primary engine(s) on larger recreational boats. The Coast Guard test involves 175-hp Mercury Optimax outboards, as well as 200- and 300-hp units, and will…

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