In article ,
Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:


On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 22:23:34 GMT, "Eisboch"
wrote:



Al wrote in message
. ..


I'm in the process of purchasing a 2002 Cruisers with Caterpiller 3126
engines. Please give me your honest opinion about these engines.
Thanks,


One other item I forgot in the other post:

How many hours on the engines? The Cat people told me in no uncertain terms
that the engines should be serviced by Cat at 250 hours and this service was
the most important one to have done. (post break-in).

If the Cruisers you are looking at has over 250 hours, I'd verify with the
owner that the service had been done, otherwise damage can occur, according
to Cat. Have an oil analysis done also to make sure there are no developing
problems and to establish a baseline for your own records.

There's something that puzzles me about marine diesels.

I assume that these are high revolution diesels much like the one in
my truck. How do boats like that Topaz I'm looking at generate their
speed - gearbox?

Yep. That and the pitch of hte prop. For some boats you have a problme
where the lowest speed you can make is in excess of 6 knots, which is a
problem for trolling. The "fix" for tha tis trolling valves that
intentionally drop the clutch pressure and allow them to slip (controlled) -
they work, but if you come off idle with them turned on, you will destroy a
gearbox in seconds. So they do require discipline.....

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, how does a engine synchro work? I
have an idea, but I'm not sure.

There are two basic systems out there...

The mechanical sync - which Glendinning is known for - works on the tach
drives. Both engine tach cables are run to the unit. WHen it is turned on,
the unit computes a difference between the two tach drive speeds, and uses
that to slew the slave throttle. until the difference is zero. It is
extremely effective and smooth, and is quite simple.

The elcetronic engines can sync electronically, since they're "fly by wire".

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