Its a funny thing about the states, and i hear much the same from friends
who have jeeps.... Diesel versions of them are just never released. A lot
of 4WD vehicles in aus come as diesel and it sure has lots of benefits.....
not very flammable, will run upside down, better servicing intervals, longer
engine life, more torque at lower RPMs etc etc. Probably something to do
with politics i guess ;-)

Ive looked at a couple of diesel outboard, but they seemed outrageously
expensive compared to 4 stroke outboards of the same size, costing 5x as
much or more. They do seem to be reasonably priced compared to diesel
inboards, but thats apples and oranges for me.

Ive seen some weird looking chinese outboards on ebay lately, but im staying
well clear for the moment. They have a range of 4 stroke and diesel
outboards at silly cheap prices, but they're all stationary air cooled
engines sitting on a base with no plastics or covers to protect them from
the weather, with a simple leg bolted onto them. I think the price for the
diesel (cant remember the HP, but might have been 6 or 7) was around
AU$1,000 new. For comparison, that would probably get you, say, a Yamaha
3.3 2 stroke new. It might not be a bad concept, but im sure there'll be
lots of issues with life, spare parts, non stainless fasteners and
protection from weather.

Shaun


If I lived in Oz, I'd probably get:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~minards/ymde_out.html
and just change the boat it was attached to every few years.

The Americans ruined the diesel outboards, here, by pricing them so high
even the rich people refused to buy them. They don't even offer them,
now. I can understand why a dealer wouldn't want you to have one that
didn't require constant replacement and maintenance, like the crap they
sell here.

"Twin Yanmar diesel outboards powered a seacrafi for the first time
across the Pacific from San Francisco to Hawaii; a record 2250 miles of
non-stop running using only 385 gallons of fuel."