Project idea

[somebodyelse5]

K guys i have been thinking about trying to drop a cummins diesel into an old Inboard as a project next summer with my dad. Id like to use an old I-drive tige, but would pretty much go with any brand as long as its a direct drive. Would be a fixer up project/experiment.

What are your guy's thoughts?
If you see any great deals on some boats (especially something with a blown motor) please let me know! its not totally off season yet so all the looking has been unsuccessful so far.


At this point its just an idea, nothing is set in stone, and I would definitely be open for some input.

Thanks guys

[Ewok]

Sounds very doable. There is a silly debate on WW about how to add a diesel option to a wake boat and they were arguing about gearing and rpm but they forgot the easiest way to gear the boat for a diesel, the prop. To keep it as smooth as possible I would try to fit an inline 6 into the engine bay.

[Ewok]

Might be able to find a 24v in bad shape to put it in. There is a guy here in Altus who took an old direct drive nautique and turned it into a v-drive, it turned out very nice, but he owns a metal fab shop in town.

[91Terminator]

I may have a 90's area pro star for ya.

[urbanstd]

A four cylinder cummins can be turned up to nice power levels and would be about the right weight and length.

[petrey10]

would be an awesome project!

I don't see the problem in gearing.. you can gear it however you want..

weight a problem? we are talking about a wake boat here... bring on the weight

You would have better fuel economy, more towing power, and the engine would last a ton longer... seems reasonable (with inline 6 or 4)

[turbonine]

A four cylinder cummins can be turned up to nice power levels and would be about the right weight and length.

I would go with the 4BT also vs. the 6BT.

[Timmy!]

Sounds like an awesome project!

[IDBoating]

Note: MasterCraft already offers a diesel in a couple of their larger boats.

Nautique is also looking into diesels as an engine option. Nothing soon.

I'm a HUGE fan of diesel engines and think this is a great idea. Might require a custom prop, though, unless you did some ratio work in the transmission/V-drive.

[da.bell]

From my understanding, I thought MasterCraft put the VW diesel engines into the boats.

From what I hear, the diesel engines that they did put into the boats were crappy engines from the start and the reason why they haven't continued along the diesel engine path.

However, this would definitely be an interesting off season project.

[IDBoating]

From my understanding, I thought MasterCraft put the VW diesel engines into the boats. From what I hear, the diesel engines that they did put into the boats were crappy engines from the start

I didn't say they chose wisely, only that diesels were available. The diesels they offer are surprisingly low HP for the boats in which they are available.

Cummins makes a marine version of the inline six in my truck, for example, that is VERY popular. It would easily fit in the 25+ foot hulls MC is using. Probably way more expensive, but quality isn't cheap.

and the reason why they haven't continued along the diesel engine path.

They are listed in their current catalog as an available option. Whether the catalog reflects reality, I have no idea.

However, this would definitely be an interesting off season project.

Agreed!

[zad0030]

I think Mastercraft discontinued the diesels because they weren't reliable at all. Also it was a lot more $$$.

Horsepower is negligible. Especially for towboats it's all about the torque, even more-so for wakeboats.


Great idea. I can't wait to see the finished project.

[Fiveflat]

I was always surprised that more diesels aren't in wakeboard boats particularly.

As much weight goes into these boats high HP gasoline wouldn't do as well as mediocre HP diesel with a bunch of torque. Simply re-gear with the prop. Granted you may not be able to go 40mph, but I wouldn't care...

[Joeprunc]

This Brazilian made a boat and used an inline 6cyl Mercedes diesel motor.
https://www.wakeworld.com/news/featu...05-44-503.html

[somebodyelse5]

So if I did this I would definitely use a the 4BT cummins. thanks for all the responses guys.