ensuring your marine diesel system is safe, reliable and robust
Marine Diesel Basics 1, 2nd ed.
omplete Marine Diesel Maintenance Guide for Sailboats, Motorboats and Canal Boats – 144+ Essential Tasks with Clear Drawings & Easy-to-Follow Instructions
Take control of your boat’s engine maintenance with this comprehensive, easy-to-use guide designed for owners of sailboats, motorboats, and narrowboats. Whether you're a seasoned sailor or a beginner, this book is your ultimate resource for keeping your marine diesel engine in top shape. Packed with 144+ maintenance tasks, clear drawings, and simple explanations, this guide ensures you can handle essential tasks for maintenance, lay-up, winter protection, tropical storage and recommissioning with confidence.
Key Features:
- 144+ Maintenance Tasks: Covers everything from basic checks to more advanced repairs, providing a full range of maintenance options for all skill levels.
- Clear Diagrams: Visual aids to guide you step by step through every task, showing you where to look and how to fix it.
- Compact 6 x 9 Format: Perfectly sized for your boat’s storage space, so you can keep it handy for quick reference.
- Comprehensive Task Lists: Never be unsure what to do, or when to do, all the essential maintenance tasks to keep your engine running efficiently at all times.
- More than 9,000 copies sold worldwide: available in English, Chinese, French, German, and Portuguese.
- Companion to the value-added Maintenance Logbooks: available for Single and for Twin engine installations.
What other sailors say about Marine Diesel Basics 1
“. . . The best guide on the subject I’ve seen, this book has a place on every diesel equipped boat.“ – Sail Magazine
“Essential material for anybody just starting out on diesel engines due to its clear illustrations...I highly recommend it.” – Good Old Boat
“As good a guide as you’ll get.” – Australian Sailing
“Clearly knows the subject intimately and has the rare gift of being able to transfer his knowledge to the reader in an extremely easy-to-understand manner." – Sailboat Cruising


The Value of this Book
My book treats marine diesel propulsion as a single system in which all the components – fuel, engine, lubrication, breathing, electrics, transmission, drive train – work together to reliably move a vessel in all conditions.
The aim is to ensure your marine diesel system is reliable and robust.
None of the tasks is difficult; time and effort invested in routine maintenance and proper lay-up and recommissioning help safeguard the entire system against sudden breakdowns, accelerated wear and catastrophic damage.
Complete:
• all basic maintenance tasks of the marine diesel system – fuel, lubrication, cooling, breathing, electrical, and drive train (coupling, shaft, stern gland, strut, propeller)
• all the tasks to lay-up the complete diesel system of a vessel for winter (freezing conditions) and for tropical storage (high heat and humidity)
• all the tasks to recommission the diesel system before a vessel is relaunched