Do we over think, over analyze and stress too much over our boats/engines?

I wouldn't say I obsess but, I don't want to endure the tow of shame behind a pontoon with a boat full of friends and family because something broke that could have been prevented. So any preventative maintenance I can do, l will. If there are repairs or parts that need to be replaced and I don't have the time or patience I happily hire my mechanic for those. But I make sure I know what he is doing and how he is doing it in case I need to be able to repair/replace any parts that may fail in the future.

I don't obsess about diesels anymore. But when I owned a trucking company I sure did. Those "professional drivers" broke sh!t faster than my mechanic could fix it.
 
Got to agree with ttmot. No diesels but never needed a tow. Knocking wood! Guess thats why its been on blocks 3 months replacing everything i can think of. When it launches I want to know its right.
 
ttmott said:
One person's obsession is another's calamity and yet another's passion. My boat obsession is a love/hate passion.
BTW - I hug and pet and caress my diesels...... They are good to me.
Click to expand...
Yes. I hug my 496 every time I open the hatch. She has been faithful and reliable. And I only use Rottela T6 to keep her happy.

But I am not obsessed or anything...
 
I always wish I could just use the boat and not worry about it but the reality is I worry about every little noise, rattle, vibration and change that I hear when I am running. The boat has QSM11s so there are a lot of all those things constantly so I am always on guard.
 
I guess my main thinking is do we all avoid "those" engines with known issues, the 4bta that was over propped from Carolina Classic and Albemarle, never buy a 435hp 3208, avoid all 3126, don't look at a boat with Cummins 450ce, stay away from QSM 11s due to various reasons.

There has to be hundred of thousand of owners out there with the above mentioned engines that are happy as a pig in sh!t and don't worry about all the things we do.
 
SeaNile said:
I guess my main thinking is do we all avoid "those" engines with known issues, the 4bta that was over propped from Carolina Classic and Albemarle, never buy a 435hp 3208, avoid all 3126, don't look at a boat with Cummins 450ce, stay away from QSM 11s due to various reasons.

There has to be hundred of thousand of owners out there with the above mentioned engines that are happy as a pig in sh!t and don't worry about all the things we do.
Click to expand...
To your point, QSM11s have a dry exhaust and have been notoriously over propped and as a result tend to warp exhaust manifolds due to high EGTs. It is remedied by taking out pitch and getting the fuel burn to a level that the engine can handle. Once that is achieved then they are very reliable engines.
As stated in a previous post, each engine has it own set of issues. Know what the issues are and get ahead of them and then they are not a problem. For the most part the issues are all avoidable with adjustments and/or proper maintenance.
 
Little Ducky said:
Thumb's up for Travelers Mechanical Break Down Coverage...... it pays.

Just make sure you keep up with your maintenance because they ask a bunch of questions.
Click to expand...

they wouldn’t quote me mechanical breakdown, said it is not available on vessels >15 yrs of age.
 
ttmott said:
One person's obsession is another's calamity and yet another's passion. My boat obsession is a love/hate passion.
BTW - I hug and pet and caress my diesels...... They are good to me.
Click to expand...

You are very lucky. My 3126s growl and threaten me with physical harm when I enter the engine room. Just checking the oil levels is like being in a cage with two wild lions.
 
As said, every engine and setup has it's quirks. Boats tend to live an an environment completely hostile toward them, much moreso than cars or trucks. During normal operations they are also running under a much higher load than a land vehicle, so have more stress. I think these two factors are why there's more maintenance, and problems are likely to surface.

It's also a matter of perspective. There are lots of different kinds of owners. Right or wrong, here's how I tend to categorize them in my mind.

Type 1: I looked at a Back Cove that was owned by a guy that had no clue about maintenance. It was not old by any means, but had a leaking shaft seal, misaligned shaft, grumbly transmission, broken shower sump that overflowed into the bilge, and mildew all over the engine room. Plus the top side was just dirty. Turns out the guy was completely inept with any kind of mechanical stuff whatsoever; he either hired it done or his wife did it. This is the kind of owner that is clearly NOT obsessing about maintenance, and is just using it up.

Type 2: My dad. He was a mechanical engineer and professional engineer that graduated from the USNA, was an engineering officer on ships, oversaw ship refits, designed labs for Western Electric, was a fire prevention and safety manager for AT&T, and owned a home inspection business where he advised buyers on operating and maintaining homes. You'd think he would be all about preventative maintenance, but you'd be wrong. He didn't bother to check / change the oil on the family's Buick station wagon and the engine seized. He routinely coasted into gas stations because he ran out of fuel, and later carried a 2 gallon gas can for when he did run out of gas. He never did any PM on our tractor, lawn mowers, chain saws, etc.; more often than not they didn't work when needed. He certainly was not sweating the details on maintenance.

Type 3: Me. Scarred by the experience of having to do chores with equipment that was constantly broken, I am a firm believer in preventative maintenance. I winterize all my power equipment, change oil, plugs, etc so it works when I need it. I do all the required maintenance on my boat engines, equipment, etc. The boat gets washed and engines flushed after every outing to ward off salt related issues. I carefully monitor my equipment and get it checked if I detect a problem. I'm not obsessing over the details, but I have maintenance schedules, do the work. Sometimes I'm a little lazy and may push off something. I tend to do a lot of research about products in a effort to avoid buying a problem, then try to make a rational decision. I've made many an Excel table to make a quantitative decision.

Type 4: People that are completely obsessed with every minute detail of their car/boat/whatever. Knowledgeable enough to get into the details and understand the impact of various nuances of mechanical systems, and gets immense pleasure from discussion of such. I think other types may see this kind of discussion and take away that every mechanical system ever designed is hopelessly flawed.

Type 5: The person that means well, tries to avoid any issues, sees every mechanical burp as a condemnation of a product and therefore thinks all systems are fatally flawed. Yes, there is truth that some systems were poorly designed or built (Cummins dropping valves, soft block Cats, Volvo outdrives), but these are rare. It's be said you don't hear about engines that are running well; I certainly don't want to jinx myself by saying everything is peachy.

Are these perfect fits? No. But it just illustrates a range of owners and ways of thinking about mechanical systems.
 
b_arrington said:
As said, every engine and setup has it's quirks. Boats tend to live an an environment completely hostile toward them, much moreso than cars or trucks. During normal operations they are also running under a much higher load than a land vehicle, so have more stress. I think these two factors are why there's more maintenance, and problems are likely to surface.

It's also a matter of perspective. There are lots of different kinds of owners. Right or wrong, here's how I tend to categorize them in my mind.

Type 1: I looked at a Back Cove that was owned by a guy that had no clue about maintenance. It was not old by any means, but had a leaking shaft seal, misaligned shaft, grumbly transmission, broken shower sump that overflowed into the bilge, and mildew all over the engine room. Plus the top side was just dirty. Turns out the guy was completely inept with any kind of mechanical stuff whatsoever; he either hired it done or his wife did it. This is the kind of owner that is clearly NOT obsessing about maintenance, and is just using it up.

Type 2: My dad. He was a mechanical engineer and professional engineer that graduated from the USNA, was an engineering officer on ships, oversaw ship refits, designed labs for Western Electric, was a fire prevention and safety manager for AT&T, and owned a home inspection business where he advised buyers on operating and maintaining homes. You'd think he would be all about preventative maintenance, but you'd be wrong. He didn't bother to check / change the oil on the family's Buick station wagon and the engine seized. He routinely coasted into gas stations because he ran out of fuel, and later carried a 2 gallon gas can for when he did run out of gas. He never did any PM on our tractor, lawn mowers, chain saws, etc.; more often than not they didn't work when needed. He certainly was not sweating the details on maintenance.

Type 3: Me. Scarred by the experience of having to do chores with equipment that was constantly broken, I am a firm believer in preventative maintenance. I winterize all my power equipment, change oil, plugs, etc so it works when I need it. I do all the required maintenance on my boat engines, equipment, etc. The boat gets washed and engines flushed after every outing to ward off salt related issues. I carefully monitor my equipment and get it checked if I detect a problem. I'm not obsessing over the details, but I have maintenance schedules, do the work. Sometimes I'm a little lazy and may push off something. I tend to do a lot of research about products in a effort to avoid buying a problem, then try to make a rational decision. I've made many an Excel table to make a quantitative decision.

Type 4: People that are completely obsessed with every minute detail of their car/boat/whatever. Knowledgeable enough to get into the details and understand the impact of various nuances of mechanical systems, and gets immense pleasure from discussion of such. I think other types may see this kind of discussion and take away that every mechanical system ever designed is hopelessly flawed.

Type 5: The person that means well, tries to avoid any issues, sees every mechanical burp as a condemnation of a product and therefore thinks all systems are fatally flawed. Yes, there is truth that some systems were poorly designed or built (Cummins dropping valves, soft block Cats, Volvo outdrives), but these are rare. It's be said you don't hear about engines that are running well; I certainly don't want to jinx myself by saying everything is peachy.

Are these perfect fits? No. But it just illustrates a range of owners and ways of thinking about mechanical systems.
Click to expand...

guilty of a strong type 4 :)
 
Strecker25 said:
guilty of a strong type 4 :)
Click to expand...

LOL. Specifically didn't mention "changing turbos at the slightest bit of soot" thinking that would be a low blow.

Hell, without your contributions to these threads of your updates and work this site wouldn't be nearly as fun!
 
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