Cat 3208 Question

Wait to run her WOT until you're just about home at your home dock, no sense on blowing something up many miles from home. The one I manage cruises at around 14 knots or just above, but she's dry and solid. The new owner is doing some changes to her and updating a few things, but the boat itself doesn't need anything structurally. The old owner did have to have the aft deck hardtop made because the old one had water intrusion as did some of the side decking......

I was informed by a previous 3208 TA owner that running those engines at wot will blow head gaskets. maybe the owner had the governor set back to prevent that in future ?? That instance was in a 43 ft Hatteras .

Hi,

The likely hood that the blown head gasket came from running the engine WOT was probably influenced by something external to the turbine casing outlet.

By this I mean overloading of the engine and or excessive back pressure which in itself can be influenced by overloading of the vessel.

Interesting...just to add to the discussion, a friend of mine who runs a water taxi biz, was considering a repower with those 3208 ta's and he also discovered in his research that head gaskets were an issue when these engines are run at wot and being a water taxi they need to run fast from cold start, so he passed and went to Volvo's instead, very expensive switch but apparently a good one so far.

And I had a friend who said he kissed a mermaid. I didn't understand his logic either but he is happy also. And as long as our friends are happy........

Cat engines have been around a long time. Any engine will have some personality issues but the 3208 family is pretty dependable less abuse.
I'm not a heavy CAT mechanic but have been around many CAT boats for many years. Like any manufactures package, if it's abused or run out of specs, something will fail.
Properly installed, setup and maintained, you can expect a lifetime of pleasures from the CAT 3208's.
Properly installed, setup and maintained, you can expect a lifetime of pleasures from the Volvo's.
Properly installed, setup and maintained, you can expect a lifetime of pleasures from the Detroit's.
Properly installed, setup and maintained, you can expect a lifetime of pleasures from the J D's.

Looking for a capable tech to do a survey for me in Northern Michigan.
Any recommendations?

You usually cannot go wrong if you use the engine manufacturers dealer.