My wife does the same thing.
As for spare parts I can only thing of getting them at time of the sailboat
purchase.
I thing I can benefit a lot in taking a diesel maintenance and repair
course.
I have notice that the renown blue water cruising sailboat builder
Hallberg-Rassy are installing Volvo diesel engine in all of their sailboats.


"Beth" wrote in message
oups.com...
We had trouble with our yanmar constantly but it was older. Friends
with a volvo diesel were quite happy with it but told us that parts
were expensive and hard to find.
I dont bother with the inboard, its my husbands job to maintain it and
run it etc etc etc.
Beth

Kubota tractor diesel mechanic in our are is very good and fast.
Last year when I lost my engine far away from home the only mechanic I could
get was the Kubota mechanic.
We were in the middle of hay time and the mechanic drove about 50 miles to
get to my boat.
After proper examination his conclusion was that my Yanmar diesel crankshaft
was broken.
Although the Kubota mechanic was unable to get the diesel running I was
impress by his fast response.
Later when the engine was stripped apart it was concluded that the
crankshaft was broken in two parts.
The only place for me to buy a Beta engine is from British Columbia or the
US. I only wish we could get Beta diesel engine in Eastern Canada
"Gordon Wedman" wrote in message
news:Fetxg.132449$A8.43380@clgrps12...

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
ink.net...
wrote:

Now it is time to upgrade
my boat and I wonder why Volvo is not as popular as Yanmar?

Think Beta, they are Kubota based.

Lew


Think Beta, they are Kubota based.

Which is a tractor engine converted by several manufacturers (Universal,
Westerbeake, Sole) to a marine engine.
This may not necessarily be bad however I would prefer an engine
purpose-built as a marine engine. One thing with the Kubota, you can get
some parts cheaper by going to the tractor dealers as opposed to the
marine dealers.

wrote:

The only place for me to buy a Beta engine is from British Columbia or the
US. I only wish we could get Beta diesel engine in Eastern Canada


Still better than getting sucker punched by Volvo, IMHO.

Lew

wrote:

I have notice that the renown blue water cruising sailboat builder
Hallberg-Rassy are installing Volvo diesel engine in all of their sailboats.

Both are Swedish, I wouldn't expect anything less.

Lew

It makes sense blood is thicker than water.
However I wonder where Volvo are getting their castings and other pertinent
parts?

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
ink.net...
wrote:

I have notice that the renown blue water cruising sailboat builder
Hallberg-Rassy are installing Volvo diesel engine in all of their
sailboats.

Both are Swedish, I wouldn't expect anything less.

Lew

Lew Hodgett wrote:
wrote:

The only place for me to buy a Beta engine is from British Columbia or
the US. I only wish we could get Beta diesel engine in Eastern Canada



Still better than getting sucker punched by Volvo, IMHO.

Lew


Lew...
have you talked to these people?
http://www.eastcoastpowersystems.com/frames.html

I wonder if Volvo Penta's head office are fully cognisant of the present
impact of their pricing and network structure? Maybe they are making enough
profit the way they are operating now or the Swedish tax payers foot the
differences.

Here the only dealer we have is fully servicing the lobster fishermen.

They do not argue about the cost of servicing and parts. Price is no object.
Failing to pick up the lobster pots on time means a big money lost.

The dealer stated that time permitting he could order Volvo parts for small
sailboat diesel engines.

With today's communication and shipping it could be faster and cheaper to
buy parts directly from Volvo in Sweden.




"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
ink.net...
wrote:

I have notice that the renown blue water cruising sailboat builder
Hallberg-Rassy are installing Volvo diesel engine in all of their
sailboats.

Both are Swedish, I wouldn't expect anything less.

Lew

Thanks for the information. I have just sent an email to
http://www.eastcoastpowersystems.com/frames.html asking about the Beta
diesel engine. Should this turn out to be positive it will suit us very
well in Atlantic Canada.


"Don White" wrote in message
...
Lew Hodgett wrote:
wrote:

The only place for me to buy a Beta engine is from British Columbia or
the US. I only wish we could get Beta diesel engine in Eastern Canada



Still better than getting sucker punched by Volvo, IMHO.

Lew


Lew...
have you talked to these people?
http://www.eastcoastpowersystems.com/frames.html

wrote:

I wonder if Volvo Penta's head office are fully cognisant of the
present
impact of their pricing and network structure?

My dislike of Volvo goes back to the late 70's when my dock partner
lost the entire summer because he couldn't get Volvo parts in a timely
fashion which translates to almost 30 years.

I have never considered Volvo acceptable for anything since.

Lew

What you are saying only reinforces what I have been hearing since 1982.
I do not know how can Volvo Penta remains in business. I have talked to
many surveyors and they concluded that Volvo is a good diesel engine but
their distribution network is poor and their pricing structure way too high
for the engine and the parts.

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
ink.net...
wrote:

I wonder if Volvo Penta's head office are fully cognisant of the
present
impact of their pricing and network structure?

My dislike of Volvo goes back to the late 70's when my dock partner lost
the entire summer because he couldn't get Volvo parts in a timely fashion
which translates to almost 30 years.

I have never considered Volvo acceptable for anything since.

Lew