Page 6. MAINE COASTAL NEWS July 2011 GASOLINE OR DIESEL ENGINE, THAT IS THE QUESTION
BELFAST – Choosing an engine is not a simple process. There are a number of different manufacturers and each as a number of different models. One interesting argument, and probably the first question that needs to be answered, is whether one should put in a gasoline or diesel engine. For years I have heard the arguments from several boatbuilders. Recently I sat down with Glenn Holland of Holland Boat in Belfast to get his insight into this issue. One must consider the size of their boat and what they are going to use it for. Holland explained, “You take a 38, and a diesel makes sense, but if you’re taking something like this 32 and down, I sometimes cannot understand why they do it. One of the first questions I ask them is “what kind of speed are you looking for?” Of course I ask do you want gas or diesel. Some of them get right huffy about it, “Oh my God, I have got to have the diesel; I don’t want gas.” Well why? Two thirds of them really don’t have a real good reason for putting a diesel in other than the fact, which I called yacht club snobbery. They want to be able to set there, have a drink talking to their buddy, I’ve got a diesel in my boat I don’t have a gas engine. I’ve got
diesel. Big deal. Most of them really don’t have a real good reason for putting a diesel in. Some of will say “Oh, the resale is better.” Well, granted it is, but you spend a hell of a lot more money for the boat when you build it.
“Take that 32 for instance,” added Holland, “I priced an engine for the guy just a little while ago. It was a 300 horse Cummins and by the time you got everything put together and the engine in you are looking at about the middle $30,000 range. Whereas a 340 horse gas engine, which would do virtually the same thing, you’re looking at $16 or 17,000. Half the cost. The difference, we’ll just take round figures, $20,000 will buy one hell of a lot of gas even at today’s prices. Diesel fuel is actually more money. ‘Well it is a lot safer.’ Well yeah I suppose if you’re an idiot, it is safer. Nine times out of 10 the guys that blow themselves up have done something stupid. All you have to do is use a little common sense and you will be all right. If there are fumes in the bilge do not start the engine. Most of the boats that have a lot of problems blowing up are those sneaker type boats. The engine is absolutely buried down there in the bilge, sealed right up just as tight as they can get it. A boat like this 32 and things are a little more open.
Holland continued, “My boat originally had a gas engine in it and I put a bilge sniffer down there. If there is any gas in the bilge the alarm went off and told you. With the BARON we just kept the sea cocks closed all the time when the boat was on the mooring. So you go out there in the morning to get the boat you have got to open up the hatch and stick your face down in the bilge to open the seacock and if there are fumes in there you are going to know it. If you smell a lot of fumes in there don’t start the engine up, stupid.”
“Three or four years ago, a guy came in here on this very subject, and after he left I got thinking about it. Buying a new gas or diesel engine, and again we were talking roughly around 300 hp Cummins, which was about $30,000 at that time. You still have to feed the diesel and a lot of people forget that. You are only talking the difference in the amount of fuel you are using, maybe two or three gallons an hour if that. So I figured it out. If you put a diesel in just for the fuel savings it was going to take about 50 years to break even. In 50 years now I ain’t going to give a shit. I’ve got a couple engine sitting right here on the floor and I have been figuring out what it would cost me to get one of those in a boat and it would take me over 100 years to break even.
“What I asked them is ‘are you going to use this boat for any real long-distance high- speed running?’” continued Holland. “If they say yes, well in a case like that you are better off with a diesel. Like this 32 for instance, if you want to drive her consistently for hours at a time over 20 knots, it is going to get expensive with a gas engine. A diesel will do it hell of a lot cheaper. Fisherman really need the diesel, because they are putting in the hours on them to make it worth it.”
When asked how many yachters actually put enough hours on their boat Holland said, “They don’t. I have asked them and most of them would be hard-pressed to put 100 hours a year on them. If you are looking at it just to purely save money on fuel it ain’t worth it. The safety factor is a little bit better; and resale value is a little bit better. It gets back to that yacht club snobbery thing.
I have actually had some of them look back at me with a blank look on their face. They really couldn’t come up with a real good honest reason why. Some of them want to keep the boat just as quiet as they can; well you are not going to get any quieter than a gas engine. If you are not doing any kind of long distance, if you are only going to stay in a 10 mile radius and you are content to run along at 15 to 16 knot range, put a gas engine in.”
Looking back at the boats that Holland finished off and what they were powered with, his first hull was a 30 foot Repco and she was powered with a 455 Oldsmobile gasoline engine. About two years later he put his first diesel in a Webber’s Cove 34. The next diesel did not get installed for another two or three years after that. Holland said that he for every four or five boats that he was finishing off he was putting in one diesel engine. He added that probably by the mid-1980s it was pretty much all diesels and has been that way ever since. Although recently he has had more people discuss putting in a gasoline engine. Even some fishermen who fish inshore realize that they just would not save enough by putting in a diesel to offset the cost.
So if you are looking to power or repower a boat, think about the return on your dollar. To some a diesel makes perfect sense, but to others the obvious choice is gasoline. Make the right choice.
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