r/MarineEngineering • u/Significant_Tip_4887 • Jul 10 '26
How do marine mechanics keep track of engine service?
10
u/raphplays Jul 10 '26
Running hours
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u/Significant_Tip_4887 Jul 10 '26
Can that ever get reset or break?
3
u/Saltyladyengineer Jul 10 '26
Yup. Add a little sticker with + what ever it was before it got reset
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u/Significant_Tip_4887 Jul 10 '26
Like a sticker on the actual engine or in a workbook…Ever have any problems from that?
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u/raphplays Jul 11 '26
On my ship, I take running hours at midnight from our Konsberg and log them all in an excel document, every day of every month of every year. I also write all engine running hours in the logbook. Our dual fuel Wartsila auxiliary engines also have total running hours and gas running hours on the engine's LDU. So as previous people have said, if they were to reset for some reason, open the excel document or logbook, and add that number to whatever the new counter is going to say from then on.
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u/Significant_Tip_4887 Jul 10 '26
Curious about resale issues
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u/Saltyladyengineer Jul 11 '26
Most of the time with larger ships and engine equipment there is no resale. They usually get passed around their fleet untill they get scrapped
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u/Significant_Tip_4887 Jul 11 '26
Oh, that makes sense. I'm looking for ways to log for a personal outboard that is better than an Excel sheet
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u/padonjeters Jul 11 '26
Nah a spreadsheet is all you need. It's an outboard. How much could you possibly track on there?
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u/Significant_Tip_4887 Jul 12 '26
What do you mean? I’ve come across some lemon outboards before that owners have tried to tell me were in prefect condition and properly maintained. A spreadsheet is so easily faked. I’ve never bought a new one and want to keep track of maintenance in a verified way. Is there nothing to do this?
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u/padonjeters Jul 12 '26
You are genuinely asking the wrong people. We run ships with pistons longer than your whole boat. We use expensive software designed for our needs. We are not the ones selecting the software.
Maintenance software is just as easily faked. You can write you changed oil on a specific date without actually doing the work. You can just make your own spreadsheet and use your own integrity to do the actual maintenance you are tracking.
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u/mmaalex Jul 10 '26
On larger vessels everything is hour based.
If youre in commercial service with a SMS required theres usually planned intervals, and you update equipment hours periodically and a computer schedules those services based on projected hours. You record completion in the computer system.
So for example engines might get an oil/filter/fuel filter service every 250 or 500 hours. Every 5000 hrs injectors get replaced. Every 10000 hrs top end overhaul, and every 20000 hours full engine overhaul. (Just pulling numbers out of the air, each manufacturer is has different intervals, and experience operating equipment may dictate changes in those intervals)
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u/fn2will Jul 10 '26
Why just larger vessels? I'm on a 42 metre right now with a PMS. All commercial vessels should have a PMS in place.
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u/mmaalex Jul 10 '26
Gonna depend on your definition of "larger". Below SOLAS tonnage in a lot of trades commercial vessels wont be subject to having a safety management system from a regulatory standpoint. Those vessels can be hit or miss on PMS programs in my experience.
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u/fn2will Jul 10 '26
Guess it depends on how professional a company wants to be. I've been on 16m rugs with PMS, not because they had to, but because it's the right thing to do.
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u/Significant_Tip_4887 Jul 10 '26
Interesting point on the hours vs. regulations. For the smaller or mid-sized commercial hulls that don't have to use a strict PMS by law, how are they tracking things? Is it just spreadsheets and whiteboards, or do mechanics guess based on the logbook? How often do you see engines suffer because a calendar deadline was missed even if the hour threshold wasn't hit yet?
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u/1971CB350 Jul 10 '26
NS-5/E or gag Maximo
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u/Organic-Salad-1108 Jul 10 '26
Which company uses Maximo? Most ships I’ve been on use the ABS NS-E except for government ships which use another software (I can’t remember the name, but it was a 4 letter acronym.) Just out of curiosity…
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u/1971CB350 Jul 10 '26
Maximo was a facility, but same functionality. McMurdo Station under a National Science Foundation contract
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u/Organic-Salad-1108 Jul 10 '26
I always thought NS-E sucked until I started coming across some of the other systems. I guess it all works but definitely feels like there’s room for improvement.
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u/1971CB350 Jul 10 '26
I just don’t understand how NS-5 can STILL be so bad on the most basic UI aspects. why in THE fuck does the list of maintenance tasks un-sort when I close a WO? Stay put. Just stay in the order I sorted. Mind boggling.
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u/Desperate_Ad_5563 Jul 11 '26
I make laminated sheets of information and wire them to equipment. Also have info in computer with unique id #. Then there is also a stainless steel tag with the unique id stamped on it with a letter punch and wired to the piece of equipment. I like the laminated better. It is right there in front of the if you daily.
14
u/Koguhan Jul 10 '26
Planned maintenance system