Mainship 34 w/ Chrysler (Mitsubishi) Engine

I have been loosely in the market for a trawler and have looked at several Mainship34's this summer. There is a mainship 34 recently posted in the classified here that has a Chrysler (Mitsubishi) engine.
Does anyone have info on this engine? Was it a factory option in 1978? Would it be difficult to find parts?

Thanks..

The 6D Mitsubishi engine is a great engine- till you need parts.

We had one, and when the coolant circ pump went TU, Keith at Blue Ridge Diesel wanted $1500 for a new/ $750 for a reman.

I got it repair d for $100, and sold the boat shortly thereafter.

The moral to my story? Get a boat with a well supported engine.

Welcome aboard. Yes, the Mitsu engine can be tough and expensive to get parts for. Depends on what you are paying for the boat. If you get the boat cheap enough you can afford to pay a bit more for the parts. Good luck. The Mainship 34s are a nice boat. Check the decks for wet core.

Five1 said:

I have been loosely in the market for a trawler and have looked at several Mainship34's this summer. There is a mainship 34 recently posted in the classified here that has a Chrysler (Mitsubishi) engine.
Does anyone have info on this engine? Was it a factory option in 1978? Would it be difficult to find parts?

Thanks..

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I doubt it was a factory install. Early 34s were mostly Perkins, with some DD 8.2Ts in later years (ours with 8.2Ts was an '87 Mk III). Don't know of any other engines that were factory...

FWIW, the 8.2Ts don't have a great rep, but ours was fine. There had been a recall notice at one point, increasing size of the (head bolts, I think, IIRC from 13mm to 15mm... something like that). Ours had not been done when we got the boat; we had that done later.

-Chris

ranger42c said:

I doubt it was a factory install. Early 34s were mostly Perkins, with some DD 8.2Ts in later years (ours with 8.2Ts was an '87 Mk III). Don't know of any other engines that were factory...

-Chris

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It probably WAS factory. There were a few that had the Mistubishi 200. Prior to 1980, Perkins only had the 160 HP diesel, so the Mistsu added some HP.
There was one of the first Model IIs at my marina way back that had the Mistsu. They sold the boat when some of the engine castings rotted out and they could not find replacements. That was in the early 2000s.

I would shy away or factor in $$ for a replacement engine and repower immediately. (Cummins 210 re-man).

I had one for 11 years, I know of another in the Honduras still running strong in the dive charter business.

Good, solid, dependable engine, what everyone else has said about parts when you need them. And yes, it was original equipment.

Thank you for all the information. Just so I have an idea, what is the cost for a replacement engine (example - Cummins210 re-man) $20k?

jleonard said:

It probably WAS factory. There were a few that had the Mistubishi 200. Prior to 1980, Perkins only had the 160 HP diesel, so the Mistsu added some HP.
There was one of the first Model IIs at my marina way back that had the Mistsu.

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Interesting, didn't know that, thanks for correction.

-Chris

Five1 said:

Thank you for all the information. Just so I have an idea, what is the cost for a replacement engine (example - Cummins210 re-man) $20k?

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Not sure, you'd better shop around to be sure.
If you can do most of the work yourself, you'll save a ton. I did a repower of an old Model I years ago and did the labor myself except for the actual lifting in and out of the engines. Not all that hard if you are mechanical, just time consuming.

ranger42c said:

Interesting, didn't know that, thanks for correction.

-Chris

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No problem. There was also at least 1 that had an International V-8 diesel, like the school busses had. 200 HP.
That was also in a Model II.

There is a concurrent thread on repowering a wooden GB 32 that may have some relevance to buying a Mainship 34 with an old Mitubishi engine and planning to immediately repower it.

The OP in that thread plans to keep it forever (well maybe his forever) so loss of market value with an expensive engine in a wooden boat isn't an issue for him, but maybe for you.

There is a lot of debate and alternatives discussed on that thread, but if you want an engine that will run "forever" and have service and parts available anywhere in the US, then a remanned Cummins 6BT 210 hp with a full factory warranty is the best bet IMO. That Cummins will cost about $20K, maybe another $3-4K for a transmission and $5-10,000 to get it installed by a yard. So the total is in the $30K range.

If you pay $20K for your boat you are looking at and add $30K to repower it, can you ever resell it for $50K? Probably not unless the hull, genset, electronics and everything else is pristine.

It is almost always better to buy the boat and the engine in the condition that you ultimately want and not spend the money on a "fixer upper".

David

I wonder with the internet if purchasing replacement parts in the country of manufacture could not be done?

With exports there is a lot of handling that raises costs .

djmarchand said:

If you pay $20K for your boat you are looking at and add $30K to repower it, can you ever resell it for $50K? Probably not unless the hull, genset, electronics and everything else is pristine.

David

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Good advice.
When I repowered my old Mainship 20 years ago (wow it's been a while), my NET cost was around $14 K because I sold my running Perkins 160 and had an almost complete spare engine to part out, and I did 90% of the work myself.
Ran the bat "trouble free" for 5 years, went places I could not go prior because it was too slow (for a weekender). That gave lots of piece of mind.
I sold it for a little more than going rate at the time, but it sold in a week.
So there are some advantages, you just need to weigh them.

Jay had the fastest Mainship on the planet, the original MS Attitude Adjustment is the reason we know how fast an original MS can go before the keel makes the handling squirrelly.

A bargain way to do a Cummins repower is to get a junkyard 6BT from a Dodge Pickup and marinize it. Depending on the junkyard (recycler) cost and how good you are sourcing parts the engine can be put together for less than 10K if you can do all the work yourself

Keysdisease said:

A bargain way to do a Cummins repower is to get a junkyard 6BT from a Dodge Pickup and marinize it. Depending on the junkyard (recycler) cost and how good you are sourcing parts the engine can be put together for less than 10K if you can do all the work yourself

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Absolutely, and if you can get an engine from a late 80s-early 90s school bus it will have a coolant cooled intercooler. That will get you close to 250 hp and keep engine room temps down .