diesel outboards
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gunnerlove
Well-Known Member
These are being driven by US special forces requirements to move away from gasoline. Hard group of users.
Birdsnest
Well-Known Member
This concept, not a new one, makes total sense to me. I drive a diesel truck for the great towing performance and towing power. While boats are not towing the forces are similar and I can't imaging NOT enjoying that kind of power on my boat. I recently saw a OB diesel 300hp(research/demo) and it was quiet and very smooth running. It had lots of power and lets face it, why have an inboard diesel when you can have an outboard. I'm not meaning to start a IB/OB pissing match here but inboard diesels are very expensive to work on compared to the OB.
TheBigGuy
Well-Known Member
Don't get me wrong I'm not slagging these new Merc motors. I think I'd have to see the price point in Canada first before I'd even consider a purchase. I've owned many different manufacturers power plants over the years from mercs, yamis, Hondas, Johnsons in both outboard and I/O. They all have proven the to be good motors, but I've only once jumped on board on a brand new departure from old tech. I bought one of the first larger displacement 4 stroke outboards that Honda came out with. It was a 45 hp 4 stroke and up till that time no one was manufacturing 4 stroke outboards over kicker sizes. Honda has a long solid reputation with their 4 strokes, so I thought I'd gamble on repowering with unproven technology. As it turned out it was a great decision. The first models in larger sizes they came out with were very cheaply priced to get people to buy their as yet unproven technology. I got a 45hp Honda 4 stroke for like $3500-3700 pre tax dollars way back when. The prices started to escalate very quickly once people started to fully accept the new 4 stroke technology in larger size outboard models. I got a great motor at a great price because of the cheap introductory pricing. It could have gone far differently though as not all new technology has all the bugs worked out before it is introduced. To me if the pricing is right on these motors it might be worth chancing that your their beta testers. If there's no big savings, I'd say wait till there's a bunch of feedback on the reliability. But that's just me.
High compression and turbo charging is where a lot of the vehicle diesel fuel savings and power comes from. These are low compression, normally aspirated engines, with a spark ignition. Totally different technologies.
Do as you wish with your hard earned purchase dollars, but I'd suggest doing a bunch of research first. Just my opinion.
High compression and turbo charging is where a lot of the vehicle diesel fuel savings and power comes from. These are low compression, normally aspirated engines, with a spark ignition. Totally different technologies.
Do as you wish with your hard earned purchase dollars, but I'd suggest doing a bunch of research first. Just my opinion.
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TheBigGuy
Well-Known Member
I believe there are a few lesser known makers that produce smaller size diesel outboards. Not sure how annoying the fumes would be if used for trolling though.
gunnerlove
Well-Known Member
Evinrude makes multi fuel out boards for the US military. Safer and eliminates one fuel type that needs to be stored.
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