[TheForge] costs of ownership question

Bob Ehrenberger eforge at centurytel.net
Tue Sep 11 16:03:51 EDT 2012


I know nothing about marine diesel, but when faced with junking the whole 
ship there aren't many options. Depending on what each rebuild costs $40 to 
$80K may still be the right choice.

Robert Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo.
eforge at centurytel.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ries Niemi" <ries at riesniemi.com>
To: "Bob Ehrenberger" <eforge at centurytel.net>; "Blacksmithing List Sponsored 
by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 1:38 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] costs of ownership question


The problem is, this is on a ship. Not a little boat, either. Swap out is 
probably in the range of $40,000 to $80,000, depending on speed and 
horsepower. But that wouldnt include fitting it in, plumbing, or any other 
misc attachments that needed replacement because they were incompatible.

A medium sized new Yanmar diesel, which may or may not be big enough to do 
what he needs, is easily thirty grand.

Boats are funny that way.

And lots of times, you are talking about an engine where there might only be 
a couple hundred of them still in existence in the world- so parts are 
basically custom made.

You wouldnt expect any other industrial equipment from the late 40's early 
50's to still be feasible in an industrial setting, like, for instance, a 
dump truck or a sawmill- but people keep marine diesels alive for 
unbeleivable amounts of time. I recently helped a museum in NYC salvage a 
head from a ship being scrapped in Seattle- and the head was 12' long and 
weighed 3000-4000lbs. There might be a dozen of these still in existence in 
the whole world. Obviously, its easier to swap out a remachined head than 
essentially rebuild a whole ship. But neither is cheap.

ries



On Sep 11, 2012, at 10:40 AM, Bob Ehrenberger wrote:

> Terry,
>
> When my truck was burning oil, I discovered that most shops around here
> don't do rebuilds any more.  They swap out for a factory new or factory
> rebuilt engines.
>
> You should get more than 500 hours from a rebuild, so there is probably a
> bigger problem.  If you can get a new engine it would probably be worth
> replacing. If you can't, you might want to get a new mechanic that will 
> look
> for a deeper problem.
>
> Robert Ehrenberger
> Shelbyville, Mo.
> eforge at centurytel.net
>
>
> From: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>
> Subject: [TheForge] costs of ownership question
> To: theforge e-mail list <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> hello;
>
> what do others use as part of their decision making process when
> deciding that the cost of maintenance[1] of a piece of equipment has reach
> the point of searching for a replacement piece of equipment that has a
> lower maintenance cost[1]?
>
> preventing corrosion by painting, oiling, coating with spray on coatings
> like pickup bed liners i do not consider part of the cost of
> maintenance. that falls under "normal wear and tear"
>
> having to rebuild an auxilary diesel engine every 500 hrs I consider
> excessive. by rebuilding i mean pulling out the cast iron sleeves and
> have to install new ones because the sleeves have worn unevenly causing
> the cast iron sleeve to become more oval in shape internally. this is
> causing a serious lose of compression. machining the cast iron sleeves
> is not an option since the amount of machining required results in a
> cast iron sleeve bore for which oversized pistons, rings, etc are not
> available.
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> TheForge mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:TheForge at mailman.qth.net
>
> TheForge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoworks.com
> Login: blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> Password: anvil
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html




-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2437/5262 - Release Date: 09/11/12



More information about the TheForge mailing list