Engine Questions - More to come...

Yeah, some engines raise fish much better then others. Diesels also raise a lot more fish IMO then stern drives and outboards. I think CATS and DD's raise more fish then the MAN's at least the ones that cut off one bank of cylinders (pre-common rail). I haven't raised many fish with Yanmars either.

OK, 12v92- Detroit Diesel 2 stroke engine, 12 cylinder 92 series (size of cylinder). The later versions around 1993 and later had DDEC. These stopped production in 1999

12v2000- 12 cylinder MTU engine, mated to DDEC electronics (detroit diesel engine controls)

16v92- DD 2 stroke engine 16 cylinder, 92 series some of the later ones had the DDEC. These stopped production in 1999.

16v2000- 16 cylinder MTU engine mated to DDEC

CAT 3412- 12 cylinder CAT of which a C30 is based on the same engine (pretty much) with newer electronics and some revisions. This is an engine they've made since 1978 block/heads I believe.

C32 is an overhead cam motor that does not use the same engine/block as the C30, and is (I believe) totally a new design. They had a huge issue with the first 150 sets coming apart which CAT replaced right away no questions and haven't had issues since. Fuel consumption is about 20 gph more for a pair, but you're making a lot more HP then 3412's

Advantages depend on physical size of the engine, local dealers, where the boat is travelling to, and general maintanence. MAN's seem to have the highest maintanence costs. The heavy maintanence is based on years or hours, not just on hours like CATs, so on a recreational boat you might only do heat exchangers and stuff on CATs every 4 years instead of 2 years. CAT has the largest worldwide dealer network and the maintanence parts are cheaper.

That sounds right. I was told by the Pantropic Cat engine startup guy that the C30 is based on the 3412 (not the C32), and that is a block/cam/and heads CAT has been using since 1978.

I've never even heard of the C27. But the C32 and C18 I do know are new engine designs in regards to cylinder heads, cylinder blocks etc. The C series C18's I ran were rated for 10,000 hours according to the CAT book, my CAT certified mechanic said more like 6,000-7500hrs, but who knows. I think they're still too new to really tell for sure. I've heard of a few C18's in the Cabo's down at Los Suenos only going 5,000 hours but also heard when the engine run data was pulled up, that they were run pretty hard.

I was also told that the C18 has the cheapest maintanence costs for it's HP of all of the other diesel companies. Take that with a grain of salt.

I would have to say that a Genset should see less wear then an engine in a sportfish if the genset is running 24/7 with a load on it. The Sportfish engines will see a lot of idling, then running at cruise, then idling again, then cruise again. So they get coolant temperature variances. They'll also have a lot more cold startups then most generators that are run all of the time. I haven't seen a C18 personally in the recreational side of things that has needed a rebuild yet. But I think they're the best running C series CAT in the lineup. I've run the C7's, C9's, C12's, C15's (I think), C30s and C32's. And while all of those run very good, clean, and strong. The C18 feels the smoothest, seems to run the cleanest, and doesn't have any issues that pop up (from what I've seen). I've run a lot of different sets of them, both in a sportfish and motoryachts and really like them. Everyone of the C18's I've run didn't use a drop of oil, ony thing they have a tendancy to do is pop the dipstick out a 1/2" and send a little oil splatter out of it over a long day. But every set I've run has had less then 1,000 hours at this point

Whats really weird is I looked at the specs on the C27 and it makes the same power in the C configeration as the C18 (1015hp). So I don't know if it's coming out to replace it, or what they designed that engine, but it's a V12 according to the spec sheet. Very Strange.

According to this, it sounds like it was designed to be used in equipment because it's a V12, yet makes the same HP as the C18. So I would assume being a V12, that it makes more torque then the C18. Also a severely detuned C32 would have more longevity.

What engines does it currently have? C18 would be a nice replacement for 12v71's or 12v92's
Cat C18= 1015 HP
Cat C30= 1500hp (not sure if this is still in production but was in 2005)

DD 12v2000 would be a third choice but I don't like how they stand behind their products.

i really like the 1400 hp 3412E ... now C30 or C32 ??

note that Cats specify maintenance interval in hours OR gallons burned, which makes a lot of sense.

never ran/owned Manns, but from what i "hear", maintenance costs are often higher than cats.

Yes, that is true. With Man's you have to do the maintanence every 2 years. To do it on the 1050s it runs about $26k for the pair, regardless of how many hours