33 FBC Family Fishing/Cruiser?? Newbie

[browny0386]

What are great place for specific input, thanks. There has been a lot of input from the peanut gallery, on trying to be a somewhat knowledgeable newbie. It's a nightly question from my wife, "what are you doing"? To which that answer has been the same, "reading about Bertrams"....

I do agree that the diesel will be more to repair, but shouldn't repairs be less often? Are there certain components on marine diesels that will need to be replaced/repaired more often than big blocks? One things I told myself after my last 7.4L with Rochester 4 barrel carb, was that I was DONE with carb'd big blocks..... but how easily we forget lol. The diesels just seems to run, from my experience. I'm going to try to stick with the Cummins 6BTA's as the feedback on those engines in the 33's has been nothing but great. Also, those engines in particular have phenomenal reviews, from every part of the internet it would seem.

My experience, however, is not on marine diesels but farm equipment. I grew up on a small beef cattle hobby farm. All of our tractors, diesels, just literally ran and ran and ran and ran, you get the point, and are still running the same today with 2500-3000 hrs on them, with almost nothing done to them. Seriously, oils changes, coolant maybe once or twice... that's it.

I also can see how diesel would get stinky, and quite honestly have no idea how my wife would do with it. I'm probably, almost certainly, not going to ask - HAHA. I think the only time it would really be an issue would be trolling with a following wind. I can see that being a bit smelly but diesel fumes have never bothered me, at least not yet. When my wife would be on the boat, it would mostly be heading somewhere, so underway it shouldn't be as bad.

One thing I've tried to research the death out, of but haven't found much on, is cruising on a 33FBC. Has anyone taken theirs on an extended trip? How do well/not well are they for traveling vacations?

[Rick]

I definitely agree on the Carb'd big blocks, I have a friend who has a '29 Blackfin w/ 454 Crusaders w/ 4 Barrels...constantly trying to adjust & clean them. But I will say for gas engines, Crusaders are far better than Merc's. I had the choice in 2000 but Crusader was up for sale and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get parts.

When you look at them, it's almost like 6BTA's are made for our boats. They fit like a glove and the power & fuel burn are a dream. No, I don't think they need much maintenance at all. Probably just Raw Water impellers and filters, but I'll let those guys chime in.

If I were to go on a long vacation in a 33, I'd want it to be a FBC. Much more room in the cabin. When you're in a pre-86 SF and it starts to rain you either have to have a good book, a clubhouse or pack up and go home.

[dougl33]

Here's my $.02 on diesel maintenance cost.

Yes, if you do have to repair something it could cost a good amount of money, but if the engines are properly maintained, the chances are that fuel pumps, turbos, and after coolers on diesel engines should not have to replaced for the life of the engine (several thousand hours). Water pumps can be pricey as well, but those last for quite some time as well.

Rick,

Are you saying that the previous owner of my engines replaced one of the fuel pumps? If so, it was not Bosch. My engines are early 6BTA's and have Nippondenso pumps.

As for the smell, I've never had any complaints and I can honestly say I've never smelled it when I've been on Ron's, Bill's, or Frank's boats.

[Rick]

Doug,

Don't take offense to my comment(s). I still think the 6BTA's are the best engines for our boats to have.

No, the Doug that had your engines prior to you put Bosch's in his 370's. I am downwind from his boat in our prevailing SW wind and he's the kind of guy who will start his engines at the dock and run them for 30 mins (for what reason I'll never know) and without question, the Bosch's didn't help him much. Guy right next to him has a set of Yanmar's on a 38' Rampage, he has to warm them up for 15 mins and they are far worse. If my windows are open, I have to leave the boat.

The boats I fish on are Cabo's & Tiara's and it's not bad, especially for only a few hours. But when you go offshore for a full day, then it gets to be too much for me anyway. Some guys it doesn't bother at all and I think that you just get used to it. I'm on a diesel boat maybe six times a year and I'm just being honest about what I sense.

Ironically the only diesel boat I've been on or near that didn't expose the exhaust was a 50' Carver that had the Volvo IPS system

[dougl33]

Rick,

No offense taken.

Not sure why any of those guys are letting their engines warm up. It's just not necessary. Prolonged idling is not good for diesels.

I have block heaters that are on all the time. When I'm ready to go, I hit the starters (they're running a half second later), throw the lines, and go.

It takes me about 10 mins to get to the end of the no wake zone and the engines are at 180 degrees when I get there. I'm pretty sure that Bill D and Frank do the same thing, though I believe they both use air heaters and not block heaters to get their's going.

[browny0386]

What horsepower 6BTA's are you all running? It appears that most of the repowered 33's out there have 330hp in there but I see they're also available in 370hp.

I assume 330hp is sufficient?

We're trying to set up some time(s) to look at a few on the east coast, but it I'm not sure if it'll be worth it. Even if things open up to travel to see a boat, we're not sure when we can get it home. The NYS canal system is closed with no opening date, really screwing us in the Great Lakes.

[franklyprice]

Doug, I also leave mine plugged in just to keep them dry and it's always nice to have them sort of warm when they start. I don't have as much block heat as you though so I taker a little longer than the mouth of the harbor to warm up.
Browney,
Funny thing about those horsepower ratings on the 6BTA's. The 370's make the extra power at a higher RPM so in effect , you're cruising at say, 25 or 2600 RPm Vs 2400 RPM with the 330's , so I could never figure out why I'd need the 370's, since I can just cruise at 2500 or so and get the same result.I also know that there are no differences internally between the two engines , it's pretty much different settings on the injection pumps and a slightly different turbo. I also can see on the pyrometers that these like to run a little faster than 2400 anyway, the exhaust gas temps come down a bit and they run a little cooler overall.
If you can make it out here , there's a few to look at in Salem and I'm sure you'll have no problem getting a few rides.

[Rick]

I'm still interested in his other question: "what do you do for maintenance ?".

It's got to be far less than my 454's...

1. Remove Exhaust manifold's and clean the build up every 2 years.

2. New Plugs, Cap & Rotor every year.

3. New Spark Plug wires every 2 - 3 years.

4. Raw Water pumps every other year

5. New Coolers every 10 Years

6. Tranny fluid every two years

Then there's always the alternators and other accessories that come & go.

[dougl33]

Maintenance is:

Fuel filters - every year
Oil and Oil Filters - every year
Engine Zincs (1 in each heat exchanger and 2 in each aftercooler) every year
Impellers - every 2-3 seasons
Water pumps - as needed, but hopefully not more than than once every 5-7 seasons (all depends on when they start to weep)
Pull After coolers and clean every 3-5 season

[Rick]

Yep, Fuelk filters every year for me too...just forgot to include. Add it to the list !