Aircooled Diesels?

[Dymaxion]

hello all,
I have a 28' Viking with a Yanmar 1GM10. A friend dropped off an aircooled diesel, in need of minor rebuild, thinking I might want it as a spare engine. Nothing at all wrong with the Yanmar, but it got me thinking... so:

Is anyone running an air cooled diesel in their boat? Or seen such? The bonus could be ducted hot air for cabin heating, like old VWs. Tx

[flyingfin]

Air cooled diesels are only meant for outdoor applications,,,,like Deutz farm tractors. Would need some huge fans to keep one cool in enclosed spaces

[Flod]

I had an aircooled Lister diesel engine in my lobster fishing boat. It was enclosed in a soundproofing box. Worked great for many many years

[Compass790]

We had an air-cooled Lister 6.5hp diesel in a 24 ft keeler. Engine worked fine but was hellishly noisy as it wasnt in a sound retardant box.

Put it this way, it was a huge relief getting our new boat with a raw water cooled ysm8 Yanmar which would be similar to your 1gm10. In no way could the ysm8 could be described as quiet but way better than the Lister.
Yes the air-cooling will warm the cabin but you dont want to be in the cabin without ear protection when the engine is running.

[NSboatman]

Had an air cooled deutz 60 hp for a few painful years on an old classic yacht. OMG was that thing loud! But- it was reliable and simple.

That said, I’d never do it again. Ever.

Water cooling isn’t that hard or complex, and it just works. Water is a wickedly good heat transfer medium- orders of magnitude better than air.

The fumes and noise are simply not worth it.

[Chotu]

I am all for using nontraditional things and land based things in a boat, but this makes no sense. It’s OK to have a non-marinized diesel. Where you could put the radiator outside or something.

But to have a completely air cooled diesel inside a boat is just not going to work. Noisy, hot, difficult to cool. Not some thing you want on your boat. Maybe if it was an open deck boat. Even then, you need some soundproofing