Marine engine from China

[BlueYonder]

And you don't consider Weichai a multinational corporation? What about their parent, Shandong? Their revenue is over $15 Billion. I might add just since we're on a boat site, they do own the Ferretti Group which builds Ferretti, Riva, Pershing, Itama, Mochi Craft, CRN, and Custom Line. Now they are a Chinese government owned corporation but they are expanding their international presence significantly.

By multinational were you implying that they had to be headquartered somewhere other than China?

I know nothing about their product and as I've said I wouldn't buy it. However, I will not say that they can't build quality.

I wonder how many of the boat manufacturers listed above use Wechai motors?

 

[BandB]

I wonder how many of the boat manufacturers listed above use Wechai motors?

None, but a lot of heavy equipment is manufactured with them. They're bigger than CAT. My point is that this isn't a small Chinese company playing around at making an engine for boats. This is a well established heavy duty diesel engine builder. Not a start up company. In the area in which the OP lives they probably have as much representation as anyone. If a US buyer I'd hesitate as their dealer network is smaller than others.

Now, another bit of information. They aren't even completely new in marine engines. In 2009, they bought Moteurs Baudouin, which had been around for decades. Actually they are a French company building marine engines since 1918. They had declined before the rebirth that came with being acquired by Weichai. They have distributors and service throughout the world. This should answer further the multinational issue.

The OP said he was going to talk to one of their suppliers in his country. That makes sense.

There are a lot of companies around the world that because of where we live, we may not be familiar with. Before criticizing them too heavily, we probably need to do some research. I think we will hear more of them in the US. They've set up a 170,000 sq ft facility near Chicago. They have an engineering staff in the US to help build to this market. They are in the early stages of building their US network of partners, of distributors, packagers and OEM's. I'm not ready to run and go buy one of their engines. We don't have them in our Riva to answer one question asked. But I'm also not prepared to say it's a bad choice for someone maintaining a boat in Ghana, because I don't know.

 

[123]

I wonder how many of the boat manufacturers listed above use Wechai motors?

Users of these Engines supplied by the Dutch representative ABATO Dieselmotoren from Weichai Power;


Royal Bank of Scotland in opdr. van Socomec en Cofely


Type aggregaat:
660 kVA noodstroomaggregaat
Royal Bank of Scotland Amsterdam


Getronics / Spie ICS

Type aggregaat:
600 kVA noodstroomaggregaat.
Datacenter.

RIVM de Bilt


Type aggregaat:
720 kVA generator set < 68 dB(A) 1m.
Autonomie vollast 48 uur.


Bausch & Lomb / Elinex


560 kVA Generatorset.
Beheer op afstand.

Siem Offshore


Type aggregaat:
20 kVA Generatorsets offshore DNV cert.

Cloppenburg, Duitsland


250 kW WKK. Cloppenburg, Duitsland.

Brabant Water


Groot onderhoud 1600 kVA Cummins.

Feadship scheepswerf de Vries Makkum


30 kVA powerpack met 32 kW electrisch inschakelbare hydraulische pomp.
In silent ABATO omkasting en met zeewaterkoeling voor refit Feadship Olympia

Noardvlet Scheepsbouw


4 Cylinder Weichai Scheepsmotor, 102 pk met PRM500 koppeling. Noardvlet Scheepsbouw Workum

Abbott
Bausch & Lomb
Baggerbedrijf De Boer
BAM Techniek
Boskalis
Brabant Water
Burgers Ergon
Cofely
Covidien
Feadship (refits)
FHS Förder- und Hebesysteme GmbH
Heijmans
Gemini Ziekenhuis
Kon. Marechaussee
KPN
Marine Technics
Noardvlet Scheepsbouw
Politie
RBS – Royal Bank of Scotland
Reinier de Graaf Ziekenhuis
Rijksgebouwendienst
Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu
SIEM Offshore
SPIE
Strukton
Volkerrail
Waterschap Roer en Overmaas

 

[Wilson]

Time and time again, I have to learn the hard way that saving money by getting the cheaper version is NEVER the best option, and rarely a good one. Sometimes you have to do it, but you won't save money. In the end you will end up with the better, more expensive gizmo, whatever it may be. And you already paid for the pos. So my advice would be to get the chinese engine, throw it in the garbage, and then get a decent power plant, cause that is whats gonna happen anyway............Just my experience, its worth what you paid for it.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
It seems the prevailing feeling on this thread that a Chinese engine isn't worth the savings that may be had with the lower purchase price in spite of what I see as evidence to the contrary. The fact that China is the world's largest producer of "cheap" goods seems to lead some posters to conclude that "cheap" applies to ALL Chinese goods. I don't think this is so.
Mr. n seems to have been doing his homework and if he is comfortable with the potential savings AND he can readily receive parts and service I'd say go for the Weichai motor. Attempting to advise him whilst using North American norms, standards or customs is not applicable in this case IMO.
How many on the TF site have Volvo engines for example where some parts are very difficult to procure or Perkins engines where some parts have to be custom made because parts are simply not available?

 

[CPseudonym]

Exceedingly well put RT. Nothing more than anecdotal "negative feelings and hunches" offered by those who've neither owned nor examined one.

B&B hasn't had any trouble researching them on Google thus far. The Chicago plant tells me those of us involved with heavy equipment are going to get familiar with them sooner rather than later.

 

[Nomad Willy]

45% is a very big discount.

I was looking at a NT32 a few years back that was powered by a Yanmar that the local distributor could tell me almost nothing about and not provide me w any parts. Passed on the boat. It's still for sale (or for sale again) in Anacortes WA for $89,000. Not much of a drop in price from 5 or 6 years ago.

My own boat has a Mitsubishi 40hp engine 10 years old and I've only needed oil filters for parts. I suspect the Yanmar in the NT could give years of service but one needs a really low price to justify taking a chance like that.

I'd like a smaller engine in the boat anyway so if I could buy it for $65,000 it would make sense but I may see a repower in the future. But the end result would be a really great boat and probably fine on the market when the time came.

But I can't even afford that now. So I'll concentrate on keeping Willy out of hospice.

 

[ulysses]

The marine engine sector of WEICHAI is actually a French firm established in the early 1900's by the name of Moteurs Bandouin. I think that WEICHAI picked them up about ten years ago. Unfortunately parts and service on just about any engine can be troublesome and is heading in the wrong direction (imo)with just in time production, or no production of parts on older models.

 

[FF]

In many items the "builder" simply purchases many parts as can be done under contract from various suppliers.

This is good as it lowers the production cost of the item but can be bad for parts in the future.

In the US the suppliers get the blank or semi finished part with Go - No GO tools to measure the fit.And send it all back to the "builder" at the contract end, including failed pieces.

Unless the builder stocks them, there are NO spare parts unless the same part is still under contract again. Volvo comes to mind.

Where less strict product information and controls are enforced , you can purchase a new Harley , or Chevvy , that is totally not OEM , and is frequently better than OEM.

One reason parts for Detroit Diesels will be available far into the future.

This takes massive volume , a Chinese marine diesel might or might not get there.

I certainly hope them success, our USA diesel engines seem to be WAY!!! overpriced , and can use some price competition.

IF the spark ignition heavy oil engines catch on , their automotive use should bring down marine engine prices to compete with gas engines.

Crusader is the best ,under $10K brand new .

 

[motion30]

A while back on another site, this question was posed. The op did buy the motor with bad results, no manufacturer support. It seems the motor never ran properly

 

[bankerboy1]

Why not? You buy an Asian built boat.....lol

 

[READY2GO]

Why not? You buy an Asian built boat.....lol

Perhaps that is why we now know better.