Cummins Diesel Engine, Model 6B5

www.cummins.com and Greg Sanborne, Billings Diesel, www.billingsmarine.com

We have a 120 hp naturally aspirated diesel engine that has proven to be very reliable after some initial problems (see our Gear failures & fixes page). We are religious about maintenance schedules and oil changes but it has rewarded us with reliable service for over 4000 hours. The Maine distributor—Cummins Northeast—and Billings Diesel, Stonington Maine, have given us great service.

Glacier Bay Refrigeration

www.glacierbay.com

If you choose to have refrigeration on your boat, which we do as fulltime live-aboards, there is a price to be paid—refrigeration is a highly complex system. However, Glacier Bay is very reliable and, though expensive to purchase, very low in energy consumption.

Ideal Windlass

www.idealwindlass.com

We have oversize anchors and chain to deal with tough conditions and so require an oversize windlass as well. Though we don’t like the extra weight on the bow, we think it’s worth it to have a reliable, quick way to weigh anchor, especially when a rapid retreat from ice is necessary. The Ideal Company deserves high marks for service as well. This is a truly rugged piece of gear that just keeps on ticking, despite the abuse we hand out to it.

Northern Lights Generator, Model M643 5KW

www.northern-lights.com

Another piece of equipment that just keeps on working. Again we are religious with maintenance and oil changes but are rewarded with reliable service.

Shurflo Pumps

www.shurflo.com

Finally, a pump that can actually work for three years without a rebuild! After years of 6-month rebuild schedules on our other pumps, we were ready for these!

Southworth Milton, SOS Oil Analysis Program

Steve_Ahern@smilton.com

The SOS Services Laboratory provides a great service. Once you have set up an account with them, they will forward special oil sample containers to you that you then fill with a sample of oil taken each time you change the engine, transmission or generator oil. SOS Laboratory will then analyze it. They keep a running record of oil samples from each machine, meaning that any changes in oil content or metal wear levels will show up, potentially catching a problem before irrevocable damage is done.

Tank Tender, Hart Systems

www.thetanktender.com

Our Tank Tender from Hart Systems is 20 years old and one of the few pieces of original equipment left on Morgan’s Cloud. For those of you not familiar with this unit, it relies on hand pumping air down a tube in the tank and then measuring the resultant pressure to determine fuel or water level. Our Tank Tender has helped us manage our fuel and water in some pretty remote places where it really mattered; like the east coast of Greenland where running out of fuel will result in a long and very chilly (we heat with diesel too) trip home. (We have carefully constructed a graph of liquid depth against volume of fuel or water remaining that is surprisingly accurate.)

At the end of our last cruise, the Tank Tender started to get a little flaky—still usable, but not its old reliable self. Even this failure was probably not the unit’s fault since it got drenched with salt water some years ago. We removed it, diagnosed a couple of bad valves and sent it back to Hart Systems.

Three weeks later it was returned (most of that time was for shipping) all cleaned up and in working order with a very reasonable invoice attached. Not only that, and without being asked, Hart included a new manual and a full set of tube ends just in case we had lost the manual (we had) or the tube ends had corroded (they hadn’t).

Sure, we could have replaced the unit with some fancy electronic system, but I wonder how many of those will still be working 20 years from now. Or, even more to the point, how many electronic systems of any type bought today will be obsolete, superseded, and not repairable just five years from now. My guess, based on bitter experience, is most of them. Makes you wonder if new, fancy and electronic is always, or even generally, a better way, doesn't it?

Not only is the Tank Tender great gear, but Hart Systems are a pleasure to deal with: communicative, helpful and going the extra mile by providing the tube ends and manual without even being asked.

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