Boat diesel site worth the cost?

[Kip Anderson]

Thinking about joining the boat diesel.com site and I'm wondering if if worth the subscription cost? There is choice of $25 or $50 subscription. I have a Cummings bt and there seems to be a lot of free info out there.

[smitty477]

"I have a Cummings bt and there seems to be a lot of free info out there."


Have you tried this site?....
Cummins Marine Diesel Repower Specialists

[Giggitoni]

...not until you need it! Seems like I join every year because I can't find the answer I'm looking for on the webs. Most marine diesel questions I've Googled in the past seem to have their answers rooted in Boat Diesel. Probably worth the cost...especially when we consider the overall cost of this past time.

[MYTraveler]

I let my subscription lapse after Tony Athens seemed to stop posting there. If/when he returns, I probably will too.

[dhays]

Originally Posted by MYTraveler

I let my subscription lapse after Tony Athens seemed to stop posting there. If/when he returns, I probably will too.

I have a Cummins as well. I did have a subscription to Boatdiesel and found that it was very helpful. However, since Seaboard Marine created their own forum (they are a reputable Cummins shop) and the ownership of Seaboard Marine seemed to have a falling out with Boatdiesel.com, I let my subscription lapse and have found the forum at sbmar.com to be more useful.

I did find that the interface with boatdiesel.com was terrible. Not particularly user friendly.

For non-Cummins, I think boatdiesel is still probably a great value, but for me, I think that it is less so now.

[Tom.B]

I only re-up when I need something specific. For the vast majority of boating hobbyists, the lowest level subscription will be more than enough.

[chc]

Basic level subscription has been extremely helpful when I have issues with my DD8.2's. Lots of knowledge in the group, as well as real willingness to help out

[Marlinmike]

Great data-bank of searchable information, which can only be done with a subscription, but for general interest you can follow along new posts for free.

[DavidM]

I hesitate (for just a second) jumping in here. Boatdiesel was the primo source for information on recreational and small commercial diesels. Then Tony Athens, who is an extremely knowledgeable guy, had a falling out and started his own site at sbmar.com/community mostly dedicated to Cummins engines. I subscribe and frequent both.

Unfortunately or fortunately for boatdiesel, two of the best Cummins guys: Ski in NC, who posts on this forum, and Paul Foulston, an ex Cummins UK development guy, didn't make that trip and stayed with boatdiesel only. So the Cummins expertise is split between the two forums. Also Tony no longer posts a lot on his own site. Rob Schepis does and he certainly is qualified.

So if I had a Cummins engine I would visit both sites and probably would not subscribe to boatdiesel as Tony's site has tons of Cummins info, but not much on other engines. But if I had a Yanmar, Volvo, Cat, Perkins,.... I would post to boatdiesel and probably spend the $25 per year membership fee so I could use the on-line calculators and access their pdf library of engine datasheets and manuals.

David

[seasalt007]

In my recent boat search I found Boat Diesel to be worth much more than the $25. Someone above said...not until you need it...and I am glad I joined when I needed up to date information on the boats I was considering. I actually took to survey two boats with Cummins QSC 8.3's, and one with a John Deere 300 hp. One of the Cummins had coolant in the oil so I rejected it. The John Deere overheated on sea trial and the seller refused to do anything about it. I bought the boat with the other Cummins 8.3.

I considered two other boats enough to make an offer on but did not do a full blown survey. One had twin Cat 3126B's with the old style aftercoolers. I checked on cost to update them to the new version and walked. The seller was clueless. I also walked on my offer of a boat with twin 600 Yanmars because of the same aftercooler issue. Both of the sellers were oblivious and had recently had a so called mechanic give them an acid bath. I learned from Tony Athens that an acid bath will not clean the air side of an aftercooler and actually may do more harm than good.

From Boat Diesel I learned what to look for and what to expect for future maintenance. The Cummins came out on top in all categories.


I got my money''s worth in spades.

[Ken E.]

I've subscribed to boatdiesel.com for many years and I also have Cummins. I still think there's a lot of good information to be had there, but it's different now with Tony Athens gone. As mentioned above, Ski at NC (Eric) is a great Cummins resource at this site. I'm going to continue to subscribe to boat diesel just to hear lots of voices on engines in a general sense.

[IRENE]

We own a Volvo Penta D4-260 and subscribe to boatdiesel. Before IRENE, I had not owned or operated a VP diesel, and I have learned a great amount from their site. One feature I like is receiving an email when a new thread is started in my chosen subject (engine and/or drive). The site is complimentary to a reputable shop and talented technician.

Good Luck

Jeff

[Nomad Willy]

I did BD several years ago and didn't join to save myself or get a degree in boat diesels but for interesting conversation.
Did'nt quite get $25 worth of reading enjoyment. Thought the site was not very comprehensive .. focused on too few individuals and too much emphasis on certian products.
Didn't "re-enlist".
This TF is far less interesting that it used to be too.

[FlyWright]

Tony Athens is here on TF, too. Just ask him if you have a question...

[DavidM]

Originally Posted by FlyWright

Tony Athens is here on TF, too. Just ask him if you have a question...

The best way to reach Tony Athens is to post on his website at sbmar.com/community, although you are more likely to get a response from Rob Schepis. BTW there is no charge to join, unlike boatdiesel.

And to be fair, you can post on boatdiesel without joining, but you can't see pictures or use the other resources of boatdiesel without joining.

David

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Like Mr. NW, I found the information was a bit too specific for my uses. I found very little information on Lehmans although it may have changed in the last 10 years.

[g8rmac]

Go to Sbmar.com. Tony who used to be the guy at boatdiesel.com is there. No cost and if it's Cummins he knows it!

[Nomad Willy]

Originally Posted by RT Firefly

Greetings,
Like Mr. NW, I found the information was a bit too specific for my uses. I found very little information on Lehmans although it may have changed in the last 10 years.

RT,
Don't know the purpose of the site but it appears we went there for very different reasons and both struck out.
It may be that it's industry connected.
People like David (djmarchand) and Sunchaser (or others)
that have spent a lot of time there may know the answer to that question.

[Antares]

I found BoatDiesel very useful when we were looking for our current boat. Being new to power boats, it was more than helpful to be able to do research on the various engine packages in different boats we were considering. I found the information to be first hand and the tone of the replies positive and on topic. There were enough threads on the different engines to help separate the various problems into engine specific issues or more generic problems any engine could likely experience. It also set clarified what problems were historical and cured.
BD helped me rank the many engines from the most desirable to "I don't even want to go there". It has been worth the cost of admission for me.

[DavidM]

Boatdiesel definitely focuses on the 300+ hp engines. That is probably the nature of what goes wrong with recreational engine. Nothing significant goes wrong with Ford Lehmans, Perkins 6.354s etc. That isn't because they are great engines, although they are. It is because low stressed, NA engines don't often go wrong.

Cummns, Yanmar (higher powered), Cats, DDs, Volvos all have their specific spokespersons on boatdiesel. The lower hp Lehman and Perkins have people who speak up for their issues: our own Ski in NC and Clark Leighs jump in where appropriate.

For those older, NA engines, Trawler Forum might be as good a resource as boatdiesel. We have many owners but fewer professionals on this forum who know these engines well.

David