Buck Marine Diesel

Fred, I don't recall saying this engine would be pricey OR intended for the "big boys."

If I have said anything about price it would have been that these will be priced competitively in the market for engines of this output.

Also, our family of engines (the 3,4, and 6 cylinder engines) will range from 150 to 650 Hp. I'd say that would fit anything from 20 up to 70 feet or so.

 

Hi Tim,

Fred may be a bit of a cynic, but there is a valid point raised there- as much as an engine builder tries to make the "perfect" engine, there will always be some applications where it's necessary to add accessories. An offshore cruiser might want to mount an extra, giant alternator. A boat with active stabilizers might need a big load-sensing hydraulic pump (although these often mount to the transmission now, it seems). When you get a chance, would you be able to elaborate on what provisions the Buck diesel includes for aftermarket accessory installation? That is to say, are there places to mount extra brackets, can it handle an extra crankshaft pulley that might be sapping as much as 10-15 hp, etc.?

 

"I don't recall saying this engine would be pricey OR intended for the "big boys."

"The 3-cylinder will be priced around $25,000."

Compared to an OTS truck or earth mover block it certainly isn't going to be inexpensive.

Should it be able to create 400hp for 24/7 rated use the price looks better .

Should the weight be 1/2 or 1/3 the OTS competition , or the fuel burn far better , $25K would probably be great!

FF

 

Ok, but compare it to another 3-cylinder marine engine block.

I won't lie and say it can make the power forever without breaking down. We haven't tested that yet. When we get some solid longevity numbers, I'll let you know.

I can tell you now that the 6 is roughly 1/2 the weight of any other 650 hp model that I know of. I'll have to do some checking around but I'd say the 3 should follow suit pretty closely.

 

can 6 run on fewer than 6 cylinders if so how few?

 

It would be possible but NOT recommended. The biggest issue is one of balance. When you remove a cylinder, you lose all the reciprocating mass of the piston and rod.

 

may be the difference of getting back

 

Actually this raises an interesting issue for this engin. Since it is so easy to remove one cylinder would it be preferable to leave in a blown one or take it out to limp home.

On a similar note since i lost an injector this weekend, what would be the recommended procedure to limp home on due to the twin injector system?

 

"Actually this raises an interesting issue for this engin. Since it is so easy to remove one cylinder would it be preferable to leave in a blown one or take it out to limp home."

"can 6 run on fewer than 6 cylinders if so how few?
It would be possible but NOT recommended. The biggest issue is one of balance. When you remove a cylinder, you lose all the reciprocating mass of the piston and rod."

Since it takes but a few min to remove a cylinder a simple pre-made counter weight ,that matches the piston and rod reciprocating weight and a block off plate should allow the 6 to be reduced in stages to a single , if needed??


FF

 

I'm not sure about dropping it all the way to a single. That is a lot of weight for one cylinder to be pushing around. We have been discussing this for a while and we're still not sure. I'm sure at some point down the road we will try it. I will be sure to let everyone know about the results.

 

Come on now. We all want to sell our products, but two hours is BS.

 

gonzo, how do you figure it is BS? Haven't you watched the video I posted? If we can change one cylinder in 8 minutes, why couldn't we do 6 in 2 hours?

 

Gonzo,

Scroll back in the thread and look for the link to them changing out a cylinder. Including a few minutes talking about what was going to happen,and a few minutes running the rebuilt engine the video of changing out a head was about seven and a half minutes long. Take that times six heads and you get 45 minutes. The video by the way starts and stops with the enging running!

So in this I think there is no doubt that the manufacturers claim of 2 hours is if anything conservative. Heck I would be willing to bet they could have done all six in thirty minutes. This is what I meant earlier when I said that the video may be the best piece of marketing film they could ever create.

 

A fast rebuild time is nice , esp if no specialized tools are required , and any reasonable mechanic could watch a video and do a workman like job.

Overhauls or rebuilds are usually sked long in advance , not done on the fishing grounds between net sets .

GET HOME , ability is of far more concern to most , as the price of a tow may be many times the cost of a new factory engine.
So how it dies , is more a concern than how many minuets to rebuild .

At one time Volvo made a 6 cylinder version of the old MD3B.

They were not exported but did end up on many 40-55 ft sail boats , frequently with CPP as an auxiliary.

I have seen one of these started with all decompression levers , up and 2 BIG guys each with a crank, at either end of the engine.

IT would start , on one cylinder , and run long enough to slowly let the other cylinders be brought on line.

Weather it would actually produce enough power to move the boat was never attempted.

The broke crew was delighted just to get it running!

FF

 

Have you seen the stuff that Capt. Phil has gone through on Deadliest Catch? Scoring a cylinder, having to limp back to port and spend $65,000 just on the repair work, not counting what time he lost by not fishing. Now imagine if he had an engine like ours. He could have rebuilt that cylinder while at sea and been back underway, probably within an hour.