Engine Monitoring Service

Hi,

Most main stream engine suppliers also provide a monitoring package as well if you take that option.

3rd Party ones tend to be a good way for the engine builder to blame the control/monitoring system and vice versa.

I think if you simply follow the manufacturers maintanence schedule, they're all pretty well laid out by both hours, fuel burn, or time (years), it's really not that hard to follow it.

The OP is asking about monitoring and fault diagnosis not long term maintenance.

Not much point changing the oil if there is a rod hanging out the side that had been returning high metal in the SOS for months and the engine had been vibrating a lot more than normal is there now?

Oh boy, I could write a really long response to this one ...

The technology exists, it has for years and has been used to great benefit by many commercial operators.

Where it benefits those operators is the data goes directly to a person in the operator's office who is knowledgeable enough to interpret the data and has the authority to act on it with the full cooperation of the master and chief engineer onboard.

Owners or operators of the small yachts that might gain some benefit cannot or will not pay for the service and are very unlikely to have anyone on the receiving end who can interpret the data. Sending it to a 3rd party adds costs. If that party is also the maintenance provider, that relationship might create a conflict of interest.

The master and Chief on large yachts that almost certainly could benefit by remote monitoring may resent the "intrusion" and see 3rd party and management oversight as reducing their own authority.

If a manufacturer required remote monitoring with the authority to schedule maintenance as a condition of warranty I suspect the monitoring equipment would be prone to frequent failures.

Hi,

I would say the biggest problem is those who get the data don't know how to interpret what they are seeing.

Too much automation has led to a bunch of button pushing telephone engineers throughout the yacht industry.

Some of the engine manufacturers have rather extensive offerings. MTU has standard systems like their Bluevision and further integrated systems like their Callosum system. Caterpillar has gplink.