Trouble with boatdiesel

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TBill36

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Joined
Sep 26, 2020
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Anyone else having trouble accessing boatdiesel. I know it went down a couple of weeks ago, but then it came back up. Now it's down again for me. Is it my brouser, or is everyone else unable to access it also?
 
I let my subscription pass for boatdiesel a couple years ago. Seemed to me the most helpful members moved on to other places like sbmar. The only benefit to that site was the historical information. The structure of the website is prehistoric as well.
 
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I gave up on boatdiesel a number of years ago following Tony Athens’ falling out. I wrote several articles for boatdiesel during that period and one article referenced Sbmar as a source of specific information on servicing aftercoolers.

The owner of boatdiesel, can’t remember his name, wouldn’t publish my article unless I removed the reference to Tony Athens’ Sbmar.

I refused and gave up on boatdiesel after that. Good riddance.

It is sad, because at one time it was the go to source for marine diesel info. Now Sbmar’s forum covers Cummins engines thoroughly and it now looks like their forum doesn’t cover other makes.

So, I don’t know where to go for current advice on Yanmar’s, Volvos, Cats, etc.

David
 
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Boatdiesel is still down as of Oct 24, 2024. They were operating again for a couple of weeks but have disappeared again.
It was a darned good site. Too bad.
 
I gave up on boatdiesel a number of years ago following Tony Athens’ falling out. I wrote several articles for boatdiesel during that period and one article referenced Sbmar as a source of specific information on servicing aftercoolers.

The owner of boatdiesel, can’t remember his name, wouldn’t publish my article unless I removed the reference to Tony Athens’ Sbmar.

I refused and gave up on boatdiesel after that. Good riddance.

It is sad, because at one time it was the go to source for marine diesel info. Now Sbmar’s forum covers Cummins engines thoroughly and it now looks like their forum doesn’t cover other makes.

So, I don’t know where to go for current advice on Yanmar’s, Volvos, Cats, etc.

David
I think the owner's name is Peter Compton.
I also left boatdiesel around that era because of the Tony Athens incident. I can't even come close to describing how valuable Tony's advice was during my repower project on the old Mainship.
I might add that my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife a couple years ago here in Florida as he owns a home about 50 minutes north of where I live. We had a couple of drinks and a nice lunch. This post reminds me that I have to email him and see how the property made out thru the recent hurricanes.
 
I also left boatdiesel around the time of the Tony Athens rift. A real shame since up to that point, they were the source of authoritative engine info on many brands and models.
 
Anyone remember the cause of the rift? I vaguely recall it was because Tony wanted to commercialize his contributions and Peter wanted it all for himself. Or maybe they had a profit sharing agreement and Tony wanted to carve out a piece for himself separate from the shared profits.

All I really know is that after Tony left, Peter was obsessive about totally removing Tony, his contributions and his name from boatdiesel.

As they say, money is the root of all evils or is it sex? Probably both.

David
 
I've read every single tech note on Tony's SBMAR website pertaining to Cummins engines, they are great. Such a huge help if you are a DIY guy and want to make sure you keep your engine in top condition. SBMAR is my go-to place for most parts as well. Tony and his guys provide great feedback on the forum as well. Even though Tony can come on a little strong at times and certainly doesn't "suffer fools" very well it's an overall great operation and resource.
 
I'm a Cat guy so BD is still helpful, but not the same since Tony left. You can't even mention his name or it gets blocked. I thought I read where Peter wanted to charge more for access to certain areas and Tony didn't. It's been down for about 2 weeks. Wonder what's going on?
 
The rift between Tony Athens and Peter occurred several years ago, approx 1917 or 1918. We were trailering south and upon our return home Tony and Peter I learned had separated. That homeward trip told me something was haywire. Took a bit of time to find out what had happened. I may be off a bit for timing but the rift was about then.

The current Boat Diesel downing apparently has to do with computer program changes. This was from a posting , now several weeks ago, that indicates a programing problem between BoatDiesel and the internet provider, (???)

Peter had sent out an Email to all supporters at that time. Lasted about 2 weeks and now it is gone again.

Regardless of the rift between Tony and Peter I was a member and frequenter and learned a heck of a lot not only from Tony but from all the other members who were expert or at least EXTREMELY knowledgeable in their own fields.

I hope Peter sorts it out so B.D. is back online.
 
Greetings,
Mr. C. "...several years ago, approx 1917 or 1918..." Hmmm...Several indeed!

1730229006139.jpeg
 
Has anyone managed to get in contact with boatdiesel.com? Doesn't look like she is coming back any time soon at this point, which isn't great for someone that just bought a 50yo Hatt with DDs in it! At least I managed to download the manuals before the site packed it in.
 
Sheesh , YUP a long time ago. I meant 2017 or 2018. My memory is worse than I realized. Uh, what is a memory?
 
Anyone remember the cause of the rift? I vaguely recall it was because Tony wanted to commercialize his contributions and Peter wanted it all for himself. Or maybe they had a profit sharing agreement and Tony wanted to carve out a piece for himself separate from the shared profits.

All I really know is that after Tony left, Peter was obsessive about totally removing Tony, his contributions and his name from boatdiesel.

As they say, money is the root of all evils or is it sex? Probably both.

David
I remember reading a comment by Tony stating that he had left BD (Peter) because Peter wanted to charge a subscription for members and Tony wanted the site to remain free of charge, and therefore established the sbmar site.
That was how I remembered it anyway.
 
The second thing to go is one's memory. I'll be dammed if I can remember the first?
 
RIP Boatdiesel.com. I found the site very useful and valued Tony's input. Too bad Peter and Tony couldn't reach a workable arrangement. It's been a few months now and I'm not sure I will bother ever renewing even if it comes back now. It was my go-to website for troubleshooting and repairing my diesels. The only way I would go back is if Peter and Tony were to come to terms..... - certainly, the pie is bigger with both of them instead of splitting off.

I recall many awesome contributors that helped me solve troublesome issues with my diesels over the years....Cummins, Caterpillar, Perkins and even an old V6 GMC Toro-Flow. It's a shame all that information is in jeopardy of being lost. I (as well as others) often took the time to reply after a repair to confirm the diagnosis and add more value for those researching the website in the future.
 
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