Nomad Willy
Guru
32 NT is my favorite!
You know, Volvo must know of this problem they have of perception of their product. I guess it hasn't bitten them hard enough for them to change it. I know some folks who have newer Volvos and are happy with them but they don't puft huge hours on them to not have to work on them much. Like someone said, down the line is where it bites people. I guess most people who buy new boats don't keep them long and pass the problem on.
Kevin
I agree that access to the 44's valves for adjustment is a pain, removing the injector tubes etc. But after my 1998 vintage 44's second adjustment, at 600 hours, in another 17 years and ~6,000 more hours of use, the valve adjustments have needed almost no tweaking. Per one of Volvo America's traveling tech wizards, every 600 hours or so should be plenty. Another mech recommended every 1,000.Volvolla is a few model of good and strong designs. Earlier boat had 2 x kad44 supercharged engines. Work flawlessly, but maintenance work difficult vs qsb cummins. For example, every 200 hours valve adjustment. Need to take off the oil filter to the foot, all fuel pipes, that allows you to adjust the valves (24), there's a not fine line.
Professional maintenance man to spend a long day engine rooms for about 10 hours with 2 hours of adjust the valves. In addition, it is a lot of money.
After cruising the East Coast/Caribbean for three years on my PDQ 34 I sold it and have come back home to the Left Coast. I've been looking for a NT 32 for several months and have to admit a Volvo engine eliminated a few possibilities. Yes, it's a bias, and I know some people who are pleased with their Volvo engines, but I have to feel comfortable with my choice, even if there's a bit of irrationality involved. Part of that irrationality is my history with 3 Volvo cars in the past. I kept wanting them to hold up to their reputation, but all three cars ended up being problems.
So this week I bought a 2010 NT 32 with a Cummins engine...
...
John Deere service is hard to find....
I have had several boats and must admit that the engines remain a mystery.
I have heard:
Volvo parts are expensive.
Cat 3100 series have bad blocks
Yanmars are wound too tight.
John Deere service is hard to find.
I have heard: ..............................
Far too much brand loyalty out there. And where does it come from? Out of thin air?
Most seem to agree if you don't get a Cummins you're gonna die. And then there's 5 or 6 other engines like Volvo and Lugger. I have an industrial engine (Mitsubishi) most often found on tractors and back hoes. But it does get marineized by at least Klassen, Vetus and Westerbeke. Don't know anything bad about the Mitsu. It's been excellent for me. And there are probably several to many other engines out there. Why not talk about them, buy them and run them?
Volvo parts are expensive but hardley ever need parts. What is bad about any engine? Can one actually buy the wrong engine? Is there a bad engine out there? For that matter is there even a bad car engine? Don't know any.
My guess it's the marineazations.
Far too much brand loyalty out there. And where does it come from? Out of thin air?
Most seem to agree if you don't get a Cummins you're gonna die. And then there's 5 or 6 other engines like Volvo and Lugger. I have an industrial engine (Mitsubishi) most often found on tractors and back hoes. But it does get marineized by at least Klassen, Vetus and Westerbeke. Don't know anything bad about the Mitsu. It's been excellent for me. And there are probably several to many other engines out there. Why not talk about them, buy them and run them?
Volvo parts are expensive but hardley ever need parts. What is bad about any engine? Can one actually buy the wrong engine? Is there a bad engine out there? For that matter is there even a bad car engine? Don't know any.
My guess it's the marineazations.
Same here. Except mine is painted Volvo green. The same engine can be purchased in CAT yellow, Perkins blue, and whatever color New Holland paints theirs...That's why I have Perkins!
My Volvos suffered three rebuilds on two engines due to piston failures caused by faulty parts that Volvo knew about but hid in a service bulletin. I can deal with issues, it happens in the mechanical world. I can't deal with the shoddy way Volvo handles it, or more to the point, did not. Also disagree with the way Volvo leaves all of their customer service to dealers and shirks any responsibility of their own.
I'll never, ever, own another Volvo product. Ever.
That is a D2-75. Max rpm is 3,000. I know because I put on in my Nordic Tug 26.Having started my boating life in UK the Volvo Penta engines have a reputation for being long lived and very reliable. They have been making large marine engines for a long time. ( don't confuse with Volvo cars , different beasts).
Volvo actually bought out Albin motors to improve their range of small diesels.
I think you will find the choice of engines used is often based on the cost to the manufacturer. As I remember , and it's been a while , Volvo offer a good deal to manufacturers and perhaps make up the price in the long run with part and service .....sound familiar GM , ford etc!
But Volvo did have some duds particularly in the smaller 2-4 cyl range based on the wrong base engines in the 80's.
I was luck enough to recently spend a week on Puget sound, on a Nordic 26, '84 with a fairly new D3-75hp engine ,(500 hrs) 4 cyl with a turbo but not even a hint of turbo whistle. ( in fact I had to look hard to find it had a turbo!)
It had the full electronic fuel control and was a dream engine to run.
Low reving max about 32-3400rpm, we ran about 15-1800 at 6.5knts very quiet and smooth. Best part was the fuel economy 11.9 gal for 29 hrs motoring. About .4/ hr. Magic.
I Bet a similiar engine would work great in the NT 32 as long as you didn't want to go 10-12 knts.
I really liked the 26NT and the 32 looks perfect for my latest plans...... but the 200 hp Cummings ( or more!) in most puts me off, you just won't get much less than 2 gal/hr base in their own fuel usage charts at any speed. Cummins do look like great durable engines though.
Shame the 4 cyl version is not considered very good.....so I've heard......
Cheers, interesting thread
Warren.