New Engine For Morgan’s Cloud—What We Chose

We decided that we wanted to stick with a simple machine without a turbo-charger or a controlling computer (more on this in a future post). And that we wanted an engine based on a block designed for commercial/industrial use, and to run for at least 10,000 hours without rebuild and with only routine maintenance—this is my third repower (two in this boat and one in the last) and I don’t want another before I retire from offshore sailing!

Finally, it had to be an engine that is available to our long time preferred boatyard, Billings Diesel and Marine, since we were not willing to get into this project with a yard we didn’t know.

The first thing we discovered when we started the search for our new engine was that there were very few choices available that met our criteria. This is at least partly due to new emission controls, which are most easily met by higher revving engines with common-rail computer controlled fuel systems.

Our first choice was a John Deere 4045D, a four cylinder 4.5 litre 80 HP engine with a reputation for reliability. However, the Deer’s mounting points are substantially wider set than the existing beds in Morgan’s Cloud. I’m sure that Billings could have modified the boat to accommodate the engine, but it would have been expensive and access to the lower parts of the engine would not have been good.

The envelope, please.

So we finally settled on a Perkins Sabre M92B, a 4.4 litre 86 HP updated (mainly, as we understand it, to meet the new Tier 2 emissions rules) version of an engine that Perkins Sabre have been selling for years.

I wish I could tell you that we are 100% comfortable with this selection but, as with most decisions of this type, there are things we like and things we don’t.

Thinks we like about the M92B:

• Based on the Perkins 1104C industrial engine that is designed to run at least 10,000 hours. There is even a plate on the engine committing to that lifetime.
• Mount width is the same as the beds in the boat.
• A very simple engine that any competent diesel mechanic anywhere in the world will be able to fix without special tools.

  

• A great torque curve with the maximum point just where we need it.
• Rated Horsepower is at just 2400 RPM.
• The fuel use curve looks very good for a simple non-electronic engine.
• The installation manual is clear and complete.
• An impressive 500 hours between oil changes—probably a manifestation of the engine’s industrial heritage.
• An isolated ground system as standard, obviating the need for the extensive modifications required to most engines for installation on an aluminum boat.
• Perkins have produced a long line of reliable engines going back to the venerable 4-108.
• We have two close friends with boats about Morgan’s Cloud’s size that have had great long term service from Perkins engines.
• The price at US$14,500 was reasonable.
• To date, the distributor, Perkins Power Northeast, has been helpful and responsive to our questions.

Things we don’t like:

• Sabre, a separate company, marinizes Perkins industrial engines and this dichotomy manifests in some awkward compromises. For example, the parts book is for the industrial block and includes none of the parts used in marinizing the engine. I can just see being engine down in some obscure place trying to sort out on the phone which salt water pump fits our engine and then finding that we got it wrong after paying FedEx a king’s ransom to get it to us…you get the idea. Sabre needs to provide a full parts manual.
• Further on the parts issue, I have heard of Perkins owners waiting for as much as six weeks to get a part like a fuel injection pump.
• The fuel stop solenoid, which must be energised for the engine to run and can’t be mechanically bypassed, works on 24 volts on our 12 volt engine. And don’t chuckle you guys with 24 volt boats because on the 24 volt engine the lift pump needs 12 volts. To get around this Sabre provide a 12 to 24 volt inverter in the former case, or a 24 to 12 volt converter in the latter. I’m afraid the only word I can apply to this is kludge. It is particularly worrying in that I asked the distributor for a price on a spare inverter over two weeks ago and have yet to find out what the part number is, let alone price and availability.
• Parts are generally about 30% more expensive than they were for the Cummins.
• When we received our engine we discovered from the serial number plate that it was built in 2007 and has been sitting in the distributor’s inventory ever since. Hopefully this is just a function of low US market penetration in recent years because of the then high value of the pound and not an indication of poor sales for this engine worldwide. I also hope we don’t have problems with dried out seals.

So there you have it, the pluses certainly outweigh the minuses to this point. Did we do the right thing? We sure hope so. We will report again after power trials.

As usual, tell us what you think about our selection in the comments.