The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

A conversation among Whalers
pcrussell50
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The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby pcrussell50 » Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:21 pm

http://newatlas.com/yanmar-dtorque-111-turbo-diesel-50hp-outboard/51675/?amp=true

Says it's lighter than "conventional petrol" outboards... Yet... for it's 50hp it's 385 lbs (175kg). Yikes! I what world is that light for a 50hp motor? That's nearly triple my Yamaha 40 hp, and the same as my Mercury 150hp.

The article doesn't mention the price, but I guarantee you it will reset the bar for pricing insanity.

The (assumed) cost and weight combined are so outrageous, I don't see how anybody would choose it besides military or as a rich man's novelty toy.

-Peter

dtmackey
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Re: The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby dtmackey » Wed Oct 11, 2017 10:53 pm

Outboard diesel companies are not targeting the pleasure boater. They are targeting commerical, gov't, military and larger yachts looking for 1 fuel aboard the "mothership". While the motor you mentioned is branded a Yanmar, this is not their technology (Neander developed it) and I believe the company partnered with them due to their worldwide distribution and the fact that Yanmar previously offered a diesel outboard and it was the quickest way to commercialize the technology. It is pretty cool.

OXE has a larger diesel offering.
http://www.oxe-diesel.com/

The one I've been watching is Cox and they are working on a 300hp diesel outboard that is rather nice.
http://www.coxmarine.com/en/

What is of interest is the true diesel offerings are all coming out of Europe and the U.S. offerings from Merc and Evinrude are Direct injected 2 strokes modified to run on diesel fuel hoping to catch some of the U.S. military sales, while offering little to none of the advantages of a true diesel - high torque, no spark plugs, amazing economy, longevity measured in hours over 5000.

Yes, these will all be out of our reach, but I love seeing new technology as it pushes the marine industry forward.

D-

pcrussell50
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Re: The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby pcrussell50 » Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:28 am

Hmmm... the very first picture shows it mounted to what looks like a garden variety sport boat transom. And how do you reconcile this?
Compared to petrol outboards, the Yanmar is lighter, smoother, more compact,


It simply is not true. In. Any. Possible. Way. Even the most egregiously porky four-stroke-cycle petrol outboards. Admittedly, the article looks like some kind of infomercial puff piece instead of a real article.

-Peter

jimh
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Re: The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby jimh » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:40 pm

I have to laugh at the poorly done graphics in the linked article. The images are all blurry. The cartesian coordinate plots of engine power and RPM have no dimensions labeled on the Y-axis, and the X-axis plot seems to be cut off before reaching the end of the plot. Who makes such sloppy presentations? When I see such sloppy work I think sloppy thinking. I don't really pay attention to sloppy thinking.

pcrussell50
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Re: The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby pcrussell50 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:47 pm

Along with the outrageous claims, that's why I've begun to think that article is more of a low rent infomercial.

-Peter

jimh
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Re: The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby jimh » Sat Oct 14, 2017 9:10 am

There is a much better presentation, very nicely done, with beautiful computer animation, showing the engine. This information was done by the inventor or the engine, not the oddly hacked up article on the initially linked website.

To see how the dual crankshaft two-cylinder engine actually works, watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDANivoB4KE

There are two questions that immediately came to me:

--which crankshaft would be the output power shaft, and wouldn't there be some unequal loading unless there were a third shaft that was completely symmetrically driven by the other two?

--with two connecting rods on each piston, wouldn't there be a tendency for the piston to wobble side to side?


buzzardsbay
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Re: The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby buzzardsbay » Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:13 am

Came across the projected USD price for the Yanmar 50 of around $ 20,000. Not for us mortal recreational people for sure, but as the Navy announced some years ago, phasing out petrol engines, hence Merc and BRP doing light 2 stroke conversions. A guy at my marina some years ago arrived in a cloud of blue smoke, motoring with a Yamaha outboard diesel (sold outside the US).

pcrussell50
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Re: The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby pcrussell50 » Thu Oct 26, 2017 11:38 am

$20,000 for a 50hp outboard is probably no big thing to folks who are ok with $300 hammers and $500 toilet seats...

What I'm more curious about is what it will be used on? I do not know if it's possible to find any current motor in the world, that is so heavy for so little power. What kind of outboard powered boat exists that is designed to take the weight of 150-200hp motor hung on a transom, but yet will perform satisfactorily with only 50hp? Are they going to put it on a planing hull boat and only use it for displacing hull operations? That seems inefficient... But then... Who said state-level activities are efficient? I'm going to say that new boats are going to have to be designed to take that weight on the transom, and still perform satisfactorily with so little power. It's easy enough to do one or the other of course, but both at the same time seems a non-trivial challenge... or to relegate it to displacing hull designs, which should be easy enough.

I'm sure they're not going to be stupid enough to try this, but in a form of comic relief, I picture a team of Navy SEALS, who lug their outboard powered inflatables on certain missions, being told they have to use this pig, straining at the weight... and trying not to complain... and having their little inflatable taking on water at the transom, while stoically bailing it out... and trying not to complain...

-Peter

Don SSDD
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Re: The new Yanmar turbo-diesel 50hp

Postby Don SSDD » Thu Oct 26, 2017 9:03 pm

I would guess its the torque and torque curve that would determine the useful power of this outboard. It makes 82 ft lbs from 2000-3000 rpm, which is where planing occurs. A gas outboard makes about the same HP and torque numbers, so this thing has the torque of say an 82 hp gas outboard.

It might run all day on plane in say a 17 ft Montauk sized boat at 2500 rpm and burn 25% of the fuel a gas motor burns. Who knows, you'd have to try it to see how it would perform. With proper maintenance it also might run fine for 5000 hours, a good diesel will run for 10,000-15,000 hours in a dozer or excavator.

And it might be a piece of junk.
1986 Outrage 18 with 2001 Honda 130 HP
Former Owner 1991 Guardian 19 with 1994 Evinrude V4 140HP
Former owner 1987 Montauk with 1998 Mercury 90HP
Nova Scotia