616 as a marine engine?

[bgkast]

I've been looking at sailboats in the 40 ft range recently. Most of these use diesel inboards with about 40-60 HP. Seems to be that a 616 would be a good engine to use if a re-power was necessary. What do you think?

[FamilyGuy]

My 1st concern would be all that saltwater. Marine engines are built around boats, boats have different cooling systems, it might be tricky to adopt a car engine to the marine environment.

Also the 616 engine is probably much heavier than a marine engine with same kind of HP output.

Where is Haterasguy, he might chime in on this better then I could

A closed circuit cooling system is a must. I can imagine what salt water and untreated lake water could do....

[bgkast]

Yes a closed cooling system would me mandatory. I think that closed systems are fairly common in these applications.

[BenzDieselTuner]

i would totally try and use a Benz diesel as a marine engine.......MB used to make marine engines, aircraft engines, and car engines after all....

OM636 (170D) Marine engines: http://www.west-4x4.demon.co.uk/om636/

The boat

It's Mercedes OM352A (5.7L), 210HP turbocharged powerplant

[BenzDieselTuner]

SWEET!!!!!!!

[Motorhead]

Of all of the Mercedes engines, the 616 and 617 would fare the best if you had to cool with salt water. All cast iron.
But knowing Mercedes, they would have a fresh water system with a salt water heat exchanger.

[Hatterasguy]

MB did make marine engines, you run across them in old Euro boats every so often. They are a rare bird in this country though.

As far as marinesing a 616 I think that would be throwing good money after bad. I have never seen an automotive engine successfully marinised.

Most sailboat auxiliaries are good for several thousand hours, so buy accordingly. You can probably re power yourself for $5k-$10k when the time comes. For example Mack Boring sells rebuilt Yanmars at very good prices.

Don't forget that space is very limited and the 616 is much larger than most of the engines it would be replacing.

[Whiskeydan]

It the turbo exhaust housing water cooled? Its hard to tell in the pic.
I wonder what type of drive they are using? It looks so clean/simple compared to my boat.
I would love to MB diesel power my 24' cuddy.

[rg2098]

Originally Posted by Whiskeydan

It the turbo exhaust housing water cooled? Its hard to tell in the pic.
...

Volvo did water cooled turbos, and they last 200,000 + on a gasser.

Somewhere in the archives here there is a story about re-powering a boat with dual OM617s. Anyone want to try and find it?

[kerry]

I'm pretty sure I've heard of 616 marine engines as OE but it's a number of years since I've looked at the site that talked about them.

[skydivetoday]

I did a lot of checking before re-powering my 1977 Hinckley Bermuda 40 sloop. I had my original 40 hp diesel re-powered with a 75 hp Yanmar diesel saildrive and now I have something I love.

If you are looking at 40 foot motor/sails, it means two things: a) you got the money to do it right; b) you will be going far, far away. You do not want surprises far, far away.

The bigger question is are you sure you want that hole in the water?

[bgkast]

I'm looking at them for a living aboard now and increasing long cruising over the next several years. Good point about surprises while far away.

Hole in the water or hole in the land....every thing costs money.

Originally Posted by rg2098

Volvo did water cooled turbos, and they last 200,000 + on a gasser.

Yea, and they are always corroded to all hell and virtually unrebuildable.