Unveiling the Powerful Cox Marine Diesel Engine | BoatTEST

foreign [Music] test.com and today I'm going to do an interesting performance evaluation and features inspection not on a boat but on an engine an outboard engine and more importantly a diesel V8 this is the cx0300 by Cox Marine [Music] now there's nothing new about diesel outboard engines variations of the concept were used in the 1930s and in the 1960s we saw units that resembled ours today in the 1985 Myanmar introduced 27 horsepower and 36 horsepower diesel outboards then EPA emission requirements scuttled the few diesel Outboards on the market now 25 years later a new generation of EPA compliant diesel Outboards has arrived and the leading brand is the 300 horsepower Cox V8 diesel It's a 4.4 liter 60 degree V8 with direct fuel injection from a high pressure common rail double overhead cams with twin turbochargers and an aluminum alloy block it produces up to 100 amps weighs 866 pounds and has a five-year warranty it's EPA tier 3 compliant and meets all International emission standards this remarkable engine was designed from a blank piece of paper and developed over 10 years at a cost of 124 million look at the major specs of this engine and you can see that it was purpose-built for marine use it is not a warmed over automobile engine one of the first things I noticed when I started this engine no diesel smell certainly no gas smell but no diesel smell and it didn't have that knock knock knock knock that you usually expect from a diesel engine it was smooth and quiet running what I found in the seat conditions that we had today was that there's an abundance of power I was not lacking for anything at all and more importantly when I was coming around in hard turns where I was burying the boat into those turns that's where every other 300 horsepower engine in fact any gas engine is going to develop a loss of RPM loss of power did not find that in here the RPM never wavered at all so it has incredible torque that you need for a condition like that now another way to look at that torque aspect is because we have such beefy internal components in this to handle all of that torque we can also put beefier props on here to handle that torque we can go up to a 16 inch prop and a 28 inch pitch this is also available in 25 30 and 35 inch shaft lengths so how much power are we talking about and what kind of power is more important horsepower or Torque and what exactly is torque anyway torque is a rotating Force produced by an engine's crankshaft and its power is measured by the number of pounds of force acting on a lever theoretically one foot from the shaft Pivot Point the metric measurement for torque is Newton meters and the more force that is applied by combustion and the higher RPM the more foot pounds of torque are applied to the crankshaft horsepower measures time and power telling us how rapidly work is accomplished one horsepower is the power required to lift 33 000 pounds exactly one foot in one minute we can thank James Watt for coming up with this formula in 1783. if you want to maximize fuel economy and range and have a heavy boat that needs lots of torque at low RPM then nothing beats a diesel engine this chart showing torque at the prop shaft explains why these numbers are the actual torque curves and foot pounds taken from dynamometers for the two engines we are comparing a Cox 4.4 liter V8 300 horsepower diesel in glue and a 4.6 liter V8 300 horsepower gasoline outboard in red the numbers along the column are the foot pounds of torque with a low at the bottom of 50 and a high at the top of 800. along the bottom are the engine's RPM where the data points were taken the Blue Line curve at the left is the Cox 300 Diesel's torque curve you see that starts at 319 foot-pounds at 1000 RPM and then shoots up rapidly hitting 647 foot-pounds at 1500 RPM and it Peaks at 736 foot-pounds at 1700 RPM as the RPM goes even higher the torque naturally backs down but stays above 600 foot-pounds until 2600 RPM which was the end of this measurement to the right we see the dreadline torque curve of the popular 300 horsepower v8 gas outboard we start tracking its torque curve at 2500 rpm where it's 474 foot-pounds note that the gas outboard's engine torque curve has a slight increase every 500 RPM until it Peaks at 531 foot-pounds of torque at 4000 RPM it holds that torque through 4500 RPM before it naturally backs down to 447 foot-pounds at 6000 RPM so what does all this mean first and foremost is the gap in Torque from the gas outboard's peak of 531 at 4000 RPM to that of the Cox diesel outboard at 736 at 1700 RPM that means the Cox diesel engine has 39 more Peak torque than the gas V8 second the Cox Peak torque kicks in at 1700 RPM when you need it to get on plane quickly not 2300 RPM later at 4000 RPM for the gas engine now you know why it's so hard for outboard gas engines to get a boat particularly a heavy one on plane when I'm doing boat tests have you ever heard me say don't be shy about quickly giving the boat lots of throttle to get the bow down and get her on plane well this chart graphically explains why that's necessary for all outboard gas powered boats this chart tracks the horsepower curves of both the Cox Diesel and a popular V8 gas outboard both Motors are rated at 300 horsepower but that's the only thing that's equal about these two engines look at where the max horsepower is developed the Cox Diesel's horsepower is in blue and the gas V8 engine is in red when we pick up the dyno reading for the V8 gas engine at 2500 rpm it's developing only 129 horsepower at that RPM the Cox V8 Diesel has already developed 300 horsepower that's 133 percent more power when you need it to get the boat on plane the gas engine doesn't develop its peak horsepower until the engine is screaming at 6000 RPM where you don't need it when we view these two engines torque and horsepower occurs together we see exactly why Gauss outboard engines have to have the hammer down to get on plane their Peak torque doesn't come until around 4000 RPM where the horsepower output is just 230. now you know why both Builders have to put two three four or five Outboards on a transom of a boat just to get them on plane gas Outboards simply takes that many cylinders burning gallons and gallons of gas to harness enough energy to lift heavy boats up on plane and reach high speeds finally there's the matter of gear ratios employed by Gauss Outboards and Cox's diesel because gas engines have relatively weak power the crankshaft they have to have a high gear reduction ratio to increase their torque typically all gas upwards do that by having a reduction gear of 1.75 to 1. that means the drive shaft must turn 1.75 rotations to revolve the prop shaft just once here you can see how it works with a 2.01 gear ratio where the drive gear makes two complete revolutions to turn the drive gear once that's what gives it much greater torque but to gain torque gas engines have to give up something and that is Advance rate here we see an 18 inch diameter by 12 inch pitch prop theoretically with every 360 degree Revolution the proper Advanced 12 inches or one foot at 1000 RPM theoretically it will advance 1 000 feet but when you see 1000 RPM on your gas Outboards gauge with a 1.75 to 1 gear ratio the props turning only 571 times a minute or theoretically advancing 571 feet likewise with a 1.46 to 1 gear ratio the same prop on the Cox engine will turn 684 revolutions and theoretically Advance as many feet or 20 percent more than the gas engine our test front runner 26 had an empty weight of 5500 pounds and with test power have fuel and four people on board we had an estimated test weight of 7460 pounds with the cxo 300 turning a 16 by 19.53 bladed Mercury Eco prop and run up to 3 800 RPM our speed tuft out of 44.1 miles per hour best cruise came in at 2600 RPM and 26.7 miles per hour but those numbers aren't as important as the efficiency we realized with this big diesel outboard we found our fuel efficiency went from 2.3 miles per gallon at Full Throttle to 3.3 miles per gallon at Crews now let's compare the Front Runners performance with another center console boat that's about the same displacement with nearly the same beam but there are two big differences instead of a 300 horsepower diesel outboard this boat is powered by a 400 horsepower gas engine and instead of being naturally aspirated it is supercharged boat B had a top speed of slightly over 47 miles per hour three miles per hour faster than the Cox's 44 but it did that at tremendous cost getting just 1.2 miles per gallon at wide open throttle compared to the Front Runners 2.3 miles per gallon looking at best crew speed for both boats boat B got 2.2 miles per gallon compared to the Cox's 3.3 miles per gallon or 50 percent better fuel economy with both P going 33.5 miles per hour and the front runner clocked at 33.7 miles per hour she got 2.9 miles per gallon 0.7 of a mile more than our comparison rig an oppressive 32 fuel savings at a trolling speed of 6.5 miles per hour and 6.7 respectively the diesel engine proved to be 79 percent more fuel efficient let's see how these fuel consumption percentages work out in terms of range with a 150 gallon load of fuel for example let's say we're going to take the front runner 26 from Miami to Nassau and back which is a total of 372 statute miles 33 miles per hour is a comfortable speed to travel across the Gulf Stream and the tongue of the ocean on a decent day whether we have a gas or diesel outboard the ride will be about the same what won't be the same is the distance traveled on one tank of fuel the Cox diesel-powered boat will be able to make it over and back with over 60 miles to spare the gas-powered boat will only be able to make the trip over and back to Bimini before running out of fuel with this added range any boat will take on a completely different character no longer is she a high-speed gas hog now with a diesel outboard engine she becomes a serious vessel intended for more useful work let's look over some of the features of this Innovative engine here's a cool feature when you talk about multi-engine installations you don't have to worry about left hand or right hand rotation counter rotating doesn't matter you can program that into this engine right from the commissioning standpoint it's just a couple of clicks of the mouse speaking of programming this comes with an electronic ignition that also includes a Man Overboard fob this goes in the water the engine stops we can also use this as a remote start now let's take the cowling off and look at some of the features on this engine first and most importantly twin turbo you've got the turbo right here with the wastegate actuator right up on top of it and this is repeated to the opposite side right above we've got a charge air cooler and just in front of that is the fuel cooler and this is all in heat exchange system fed by the water pump in the transmission now if you look at this from the top you can see that it's a V8 design and it's a vertical crank nobody made a diesel vertical crank engine for the Marine markets the engine has an aluminum block to save weight the drive shaft pinion gears and prop shaft are purposely heavy and overbuilt for reliability the Magneto on top of the engine uses the crankshaft and permanent magnets to produce up to 100 amps without the need for an automotive alternator and its belts and pulleys which Rob power and need maintenance there's a high pressure common rail system that feeds fuel to the injectors which are in the cylinder and not in the manifold like gas Outboards and a recent ECM remapping makes gear shifting smooth and quiet now we're talking diesel engines and the objections I usually hear are these that at 866 pounds the engine's too heavy yes it's 266 pounds heavier than most popular 300 horsepower gas Outboards but you're getting 39 more torque and beefy driveshafts and gears to handle that torque and it's 86 pounds later than some 425 and 450 horsepower Outboards that have less torque in many applications one Cox diesel can replace two 300 horsepower gas engines saving as much as 134 pounds and when two Cox diesels replaced three gas 300 horsepower engines the rig is 68 pounds lighter another objection is that diesel engines go too slow and to that we say gas upwards burnt too much fuel so take your pick go faster go to reasonable speed in the mid 40s and increase your range 30 percent or more we also hear that at sixty five thousand dollars it's too expensive but gas engines are expensive too the MSRP of one Brand's 300 horsepower outboard is 38 380 that means the extra 200 pounds of torque two extra years of factory warranty lifelong Fuel and maintenance savings are simply paid for in advance and your boat will sell for more because it has a diesel when you opt to power your boat with one Cox diesel instead of buying two 300 horsepower gas engines you get 83 percent of the torque and save eleven thousand dollars on the purchase instead of buying three 300 horsepower Outboards why not buy two Cox diesels instead they weigh less have more torque and will cost only fifteen thousand dollars more you should get all the investment back and then some when you sell the boat in five years or so in addition to the fuel savings you'll also save money on scheduled maintenance which is at every 250 hours not every year or 100 hours Cox has a five-year warranty so you won't have to buy a service contract then because you won't have a volatile gasoline tank on board and you won't be going as fast as Leadfoot Harry insurance carriers May well consider you a better risk and off you lower rates finally diesel engines are known for their longevity and the Cox diesel is no exception that means your boat will be worth more come resale time so you're going to get some of that money back so let's talk about who this engine is for is it for the average Joe boater in a boat like this absolutely not but look just beyond that boat there's a series of Premium level boats right over there those are the guys that are going to be gravitating to this especially the ones that are going offshore fishing the heavy battle wagons that are outboard powered certainly the yacht tenders so that the yacht doesn't have to carry gasoline to deal with the up charge on insurance this is tailor-made for those guys of course just as diesel engines are the only ones used in trucking construction farm equipment and other applications that need high torque fuel efficiency low maintenance and reliability the Cox diesel is perfect for police and Wildlife Conservation Patrol boats crew boats small ferries and Commercial Fishing where boats are used continually and need long engine life and that is my Full Features inspection and performance evaluation of the Cox cx0300 for bowtest.com I'm captain Steve and we'll see you on the water foreign

Channel: BoatTEST.com

Views: 219,079

Keywords: boattest, boattest.com, cox cx0300, cox diesel engine, cox engine, diesel outboard engines, new outboard reviews, outboard engine reviews, outboard engines, diesel boat engine, diesel boats, cool new outboard, outboards, outboard motors, engines for boats, sustainable engines, cleaner boat engines, clean green boats

Id: EVZRFKjdS7k

Length: 15min 39sec (939 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 07 2023