hatz air cooled diesel

[dirtydon]

greeting all first post,seen a sailboat with 53hp air cooled hatz diesal,for sale anybody here have any info on the engine?website seems to be industrial use cant see it gitting enough air for cooling.any thought??

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Dirtydon,
There are a couple of issues with air cooled diesels in sailboats. One is where does the exhaust go? A lot of times the exhaust stack ends up under the sails somewhere which means exhaust stains on sails and associated rigging. The other is, as you mentioned, air flow for cooling.
If both those issues are taken care of then no problem. Air cooled diesels have been in fishing boats for many years.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[dirtydon]

thanks for reply.boat is home built.just started looking into dream i've had for a while,seen it and was wondering about the engine.i deal with air cooled diesals at work but was questioning them on a sailboat,enclosed engine compartment and all thanks will be asking many questions before taking the plunge.

[S/V Antares]

Most if not all "Air cooled" Diesels are actually cooled by the lube oil and also may have some cooling fins on the cylinders (lister, Duetz, Hatz). The industrial versions normally have a large finned oil cooler behind a fan. It is an easy conversion to pass this oil through a traditional marine wet heatexchanger with a small water pump">raw water pump feeding it and a wet exhaust. The most difficult issue is the exhaust manifold temperature before the mixing elbow. Some shielding is needed.

[NCboatrx]

Hello all,

I would avoid an aircooled diesel in a sailboat. I have seen a few over the years and the heat build up is terrible, as is the noise. They were popular in small north sea fishing boats because they were cheap to buy and could keep the cabin warm on cold trips.

The advantages of today's fresh water cooling systems is that we get to run the engines at the correct temperature to get near complete combustion for EPA specs and CE specs. The salt water (raw water) side of the system allows us to use reinforced rubber hose for the exhaust which is easy to fit and because the temperature is kept low, there is little or no fire risk.

If you are serious about this boat, allow for an engine replacement in your offer.

Regards, Stanley

[dirtydon]

thanks to all for the info.starting to look for a boat to fill the dream i've had for years. 2nd divorse.all bills paid up,credit cards payed off loans payed off,48 birtthday next month,20years on job looking to the future want boat now.live se mich. looking for something towards project boat.good with carpentry,deisals,electrical,hyd and got the time.thanks dirtydon

[SkiprJohn]

I don't know where you are located but here in Hawaii there seems to be quite a few project boats.
Kind regards,
JohnL