who here works for cat?

[DeepRoots]

all of our boats are changing the detroits and emd's to cats.
the company has officially bought the engines, so in the next 2-4 months we'll be installing and running them.

as the guy who has to maintain them offshore, I'm a little put off by how vastly different they will be.
going from two stroke 100% mechanical to 4stroke computer controlled will be different.

Cat assured us these things need little service and their techs will be here to do any major work.
This is nice, but when 600miles from land, the sat phone dies, and an engine shuts down at 3am in ten foot seas, I'd like to have a clue.

I guess what I'm asking is, where can I go to learn about these engines? manuals would be fine too.
What spare parts would you keep stocked?
I havn't heard which engines these will be, but they will have to be in the 1,000-1500hp range.

thanks alot
Drew

 

[towcat]

there's CAT school.
see if your boss will throw for it.
it's worth it.
I went to school for 3116, 3126 & 3406
don't use the knowledge much anymore other than bringing back up a motor to limp home.
If you don't have a good CAT dealer near you, Peterson CAT is a good source for getting training

 

[DeepRoots]

awesome. I think there is a cat school bout an hour away.

I should go talk to them, it'd be worth taking the classes even if I pay for it.
only problem is my 28day at work 14 day home schedule.
I'm sure I can work something out.

thanks
drew

 

[69dieselfreak]

why is the company getting rid of the old 2 strokes

 

[DeepRoots]

epa

 

[69dieselfreak]

figures dirty rotten ********

 

[DeepRoots]

well despite my reluctance to changing, there are many benefits.

extra 800-1000hp, better fuel economy. etc etc.
the 16v149's are 900hp a peice 1800 combined and burn about 2000gallons of diesel a day. If we can get 2800hp great.
Plus really for long haul, two strokes are great, we do alot of assist work, and sometimes idle for 10-20 hours a day.

I can see both sides of the coin. but I'll sure miss that sweet sound, when 32 cylinders go wide open.

 

[Gary79F250]

I USED to work for Milton Cat, based out of Milford, MA. Cat has lots of different classes basicaly it has to do with the engine group. I am certified in the following groups, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, C-series. the 32 series also covers the 1160, ect. Mostly I did marine and ended up leaving because I am a comercial fisherman and we all banded together to file a class action law suit against them for failure to provide waranty parts in a timely manor. This is where my dislike of cat comes from. Southworth-Milton Cat Sucks, there management Sucks, there marine engines Suck, and Cat as a company Sucks, they promise you the world and deliver 0. I would not be suprised if they do the same to you when your 600 Nm offshore. BTW I feel you would be better off with the old 2 strokes, you may go deaf prematurley but at least they will not leave you stranded.At least DD stands behind their product with support and parts.

 

[DeepRoots]

i hear ya gary.
Unfortunately it's not up to me. We have two boats that already have these engines. One is fine, the other is a nightmare.
We've gotten home with detroits with vice grips, wire ties, and duct tape keeping them running, you can't replace that sorta thing.

the different series of engines... what do the numbers signify?
I mean, detroits are easy, as it's just cylinder arrangement and displacement.
like what does 3516 mean?

 

[69dieselfreak]

35 is engine class i think 16 means how many cylenders
3208 8 cyl
3406 6 cyl

 

[Gary79F250]

35 is engine class i think 16 means how many cylenders
3208 8 cyl
3406 6 cyl

Yeah, What he said...

Sorry to be so bitter, I understand your position tho.

its like detroit in reverse

in detroit speak it would be a 16V35 for a 3516

there is an older numbering system also it is a 3 digit series, I can explain it and convert to the newer numbering system if necessary. Do not get me wrong, Cat has some excelent engines out there but there product support is dog $hit. As there waranty is written for certian applications they promise 24 HR parts replacement WITH LABOR, tell me how in gods green earth are you going to do an in chassis on a 3126 that you have to un shoe-box a 35 Duffy to pull the engine? With there wild a$$ claims of any engine any boat is where they got themselves into hot water. Or compensate me personaly for 33 DAS on a 42 DAS permit. All of us in the fisheries trade know how hard it is to renew a federal multispecies when you cannot post catches and blame it on equipment failure.


Sorry to rant but as you can see it kinda touches a nerve just a CH

 

[Gary79F250]

BTW I run a Volvo now, No complaints and the Volvo is a hell of alot better on fuel I went from a 3126 420HP to a Volvo Tamd73P 380 HP with a Twin disc 507 With the Cat I would get 21 Kt in the corner and with the Volvo 20 KT. Cat 22GPH to the pin Volvo 17GPH to the pin. Go figure oh BTW Volvo is a 1987 I personaly rebuilt it had 18K HR when I got it the Cat air-conditioned its self at 3256 HR. Noreheast corner tuna wishing 27 Km Ssw of the Hague line long tow back to boston then back to barnstable harbor.

 

[towcat]

I for one can testify the excellent service my family has received from Perterson CAT. There's no doubt about it, CAT is godawful expensive. But they were fully aware they were going up against Komatsu, Hyundai, and whatever other *** brand over in mainland China. Once my dad hung up the phone, they were hard at work getting the parts he needed and getting it "over there". Peterson has always done good for me and was very helpful in giving me all the school I could handle

 

[jackson6.6l]

A pluss side to having that computer is the engine will tell you were it hurts, that is if you have the software on a laptop to do it like the cat mechanics do. As far as service that just depends on what cat dealer you are going through. Best of luck working on them though.

 

[DeepRoots]

I was informed we would indeed have the software.
Towcat, CatMarine and Cat land are two different companies.

I'm hoping that this works well, thanks for the explaination.