Anybody have any experience/real information on using a MB diesel Turbo or non, in a boat? Maybe it's a good thing--maybe not. I would like to know since I don't need to blow the doors off anything, just get a good economical hull-speed.

Now, Now, if you boat guys start taking all the good spare 617's, what are we going to be left with??? Stick with those Perkin's jobs!

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Orland Park, IL
1985 300SD 215,000 miles

I think that the biggest problem is to find a marine transmission that would easily bolt up behind a MB diesel. Then you would have to figure out how to put a heat exchanger on the MB engine. It might be easier to find a used displacement hull with a Jap. diesel in it. The Jap. diesels do a great job and are very economical. Thus, we would have more engines for our old MB Cars!

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Paul 1987 300 SDL; 2000 ML; '69 MGB; '68 VW Fastback

I know some boats have marinized Mercedes diesels in them but I don't know which models. I would find a dealer in Mercedes Marine engines and talk to them. I'm pretty sure the ones I have seen were in sailboats. Heat exchangers are not that hard to put together.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Kerry Edwards is correct. These engines were pretty popular in the sixties and seventies in larger sailboats (over 25 ft. outfitted for ocean cruising) so there should be a product line available from someone in Europe. I would try looking on the web.

I recall someone I knew back in the sixties who owned a 33 foot ocean going sailboat with a 190D engine. It was quite economical and very reliable. I would guess it is still in the family and still running as it was only operated for several months a year.

Good Luck in your search, Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Well, I guess, at least, someone has done it and, yes, the tranny problem is of significance. Although, Why not use the vehicle tranny? Certainly a tranny cooler could be added. And, a coolant exchanger could be used from many other applications. Leaving the manifold. Why not a welded one? And additional belt driven coolant pumps are very available.Say, you guys are talking me right into this. What a bunch of manipulators.

I've got the vee-drives in the boat. I'd think it would be lighter than the 318 Chryslers that are in there now. Less weight--less power needed. And I'd expect hull speed would need less than a hundred horses total. Anybody heard twin five-cylinder rigs power up with water lift mufflers?

vehicle transmissions and marine transmissions are 100% different... have fun rigging it up!

__________________
Matt
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI 145,000MI
1999.5 Jetta TDI 287,000MI
2001 Suzuki SV650S 26,000MI
2008 Yamaha Vino 125 11,000MI
http://www.crazymatt.org

Do you think that the MB diesels would be lighter than the Chyrsler 318 V8?

__________________
Ed
1981 300CD (Benzina)
1968 250 S (Gina) 266,000 miles!
1983 Alfa Romeo GTV6 (Guido)
1976 Jaguar XJS-saved a V-12 from the chevy curse, what a great engine!
1988 Cadillac Eldorado (better car than you might think!)
1988 Yamaha Venture (better than a Wing!)
1977 Suzuki GS750B
1976 Yamaha XS 650 (sold)
1991 Suzuki GSX1100G (Shafty Gixser)
1981 Yamaha VX920RH (Euro "Virago")
Solex Moped
1975 Dodge P/U camper


"Time spent in the company of a cat, a beer, and this forum, is not time wasted!"

My wife and I lived on our Sail boat for 10 years in the Fla Keys, Bahamas, Great Lakes and Down thru the Carribian.. We had a 240 Mercedes Diesel.. That engine was also used my Thermo King on truck trailers for Referigation units.. So parts were easy to come by as those units were used all over the islands.... You can still get adaptors for glow plugs from them and glow plugs for the older Mercedes diesels for a couple bucks.. I ran them in my 78 300 diesel until I sold it a few weeks ago..

I made a heat exchanger that bolted up under the boat so I ran anti freeze as I never liked the sea water as a coolent... I would also often find a harbor I would like to enter the had a sand bar across it.. I would run the boat in until it stuck on the bar then throw it in reverse and blow the sand out with the 30 inch 3 bladed prop.. and just keep doing it until we moved enough sand to clear a path thru.. I had done that with our older boat and the volvo diesel but ate up water pumps fast as the sand ended up in the cooling system.. I also liked the exchanger in the muddy waters of many rivers.. Plastic bags were always a problem with cooling water but the exchanger made it less of a problem when trying to get into a harbor in bad weather.. Picking up a plastic bag in the cooling sea water about half way in always left you trying to figure if you wanted to loose the engine or boat.. The exchanger still worked until you could tie up and clear the bag ....

There are marine exhaust for the 240 and 300 diesel engines.. .. I used the tranmission that Volvo used.. It has no gears.. forward and reverse is just a cone into a cup and as you put it in forward the prop moves the shaft forward and ingages the cone into the cup.. harder on the throttle harder the cone is driven into the cup.... Reverse works the same.. I can not remember if I bought the adapter from the engine to trans. or made it but seem to think I bought it.. I had a number of friends that ran twin 300 D engines in their fishing boats.. Good service and ran on a couple bucks a day of fuel..

Its been a lot of years ago.. I have lost all contact with my friends in the islands and no longer fuss with boats so have no idea where to look for the stuff.. But do know its around because I used it for years..

Ken

First,Car 54, I agree with you. Second,Ken, I read your comments, especially about the shallow water, and it brought back some not so fun memories! I don't believe that the keel cooler that you describe is used as often any more. That's probably because everyone wants SPEED and the keel cooler will slow the boat down because of added water resistance. I have a semi-Displacement hulled boat with twin four cyl. diesels and the typical raw water-fresh water heat exchanger. The external keel cooler might work well on my boat - except that I would be afraid that I would run it aground and tear off the cooler and/or forget to replace the Zincs and the metal would waste away. ANYWAY- back to the subject. gs, MB is selling marine engines for BIG boats (call them YACHTS) in the U.S. under the name "MTU". So, look up that name and give them a call and maybe they can get some info.. Even MAN is into big marine diesels in this country. Finally, it seems that the Germans are into selling big marine engines and the Japs are into selling smaller marine engines in boats here. Ken, I believe that the Atomic-4 is often replaced with a small Jap. diesel engine when a new engine is needed. Have a nice day. - - - - - - - - "There is nothing--absolutely nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." (from: The Wind in the Willows)

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Paul 1987 300 SDL; 2000 ML; '69 MGB; '68 VW Fastback

Thanks for the replys. i had figured on a keel cooler since I'm not relying on the boat to do any serious planing. And, even if it did, the time spent cruising at hull speed would far exceed planing time anyway. No problem there.

My big interest is getting into a safer situation-fuel wise. i plan to have several of my sons using the boat . No one will be using the boat enough to make some of the procedures second nature enough to risk the gasoline security issue. None of them are incompetant but gasoline problems leave little room for error.

Secondly, economy. I don't need the power--350HP-- to get me where I think we're going and in the way that I envision. These hulls were designed at a time when the seakeeping ability of the round bilge was in competition with the assumed market appeal for power and speed that a planing hullform may have provided. The resulting compromise in an attempt to achieve both goals resulted in overpowered fuel guzzling things that did not really get up on top and go. The hull-speed cruising-in-comfort suffered from having larger displacement engines running at less than optimum efficiency. in 1960 that might not have been as much of a drain on a rich guy's wallet as it is for my thread-bare one. These strong 318's would be a good reliable power source for the right aplication--maybe my 25 footer with a hard chined planing bottom.

Oh, well, just dreaming perhaps, but, that is how all things get started.