Marine Diesel Basics 1: Maintenance, Lay-Up, Winter Protection, Tropical Storage and Spring Recommission

Complete Marine Diesel Maintenance Guide for Sailboats, Narrowboats, and Motorboats – 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, narrowboats, and motorboats. 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.

Why You Need This Book:

• Step-by-Step Maintenance Instructions: With over 144 tasks covered, this guide provides easy-to-follow steps for everything from routine oil changes to inspecting the cutlass bearing and shaft seal, ensuring your engine stays in peak condition year-round.
• Clear Diagrams & Visual Learning: Benefit from clear, detailed drawings that make it easy to locate components, follow instructions, and understand your engine’s inner workings.
• Save Money & Gain Independence: Why pay for expensive repairs when you can do it yourself? With simple instructions and drawings, you'll save on money and gain the skills to maintain your engine yourself.
• Increase Engine Longevity: Regular maintenance is the key to a long-lasting engine. This book helps you stay on top of tasks that extend the life of your engine, prevent breakdowns, and keep your boat running smoothly for years to come.
• Time & Effort Saving: Instead of searching through online forums or service manuals, this book brings everything you need in one convenient, easy-to-use format. Save time and energy with a comprehensive guide that’s ready whenever you need it.
• Boost Resale Value: A well-maintained engine can also increase the resale value of your boat. Buyers will pay more for a boat with a well-maintained engine, especially when a Maintenance Logbook is available.
• Peace of Mind on the Water: Feel confident knowing you can address maintenance tasks anytime, anywhere—whether you're in the marina or on the open sea. This guide equips you with the knowledge to ensure your engine is always running at its best, offering you greater safety and reliability during your trips.

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 (15 x 23 cm): 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, Italian and Portuguese.
• Companion to the value-added Maintenance Logbooks: available for Single and for Twin engine installations.

Perfect for All Boat Owners:

Whether you own a sailboat, narrowboat, or motorboat, this guide is the perfect companion for any marine diesel engine owner. Keep your boat in top condition with detailed, easy-to-follow instructions that ensure you’re always prepared for your next adventure.

Don't leave your boat's engine care to chance—take charge with this essential guide for marine diesel maintenance today! Your boat will thank you.

Dennison Berwick is a marine mechanic and creator of the Marine Diesel Basics project - visual guides to marine diesel systems.  His book on maintenance, winterizing and recommissioning has been acclaimed by Peter Nielsen in Sail Magazine as, "the best guide on the subject I've seen, this book has a place on every diesel-equipped boat".  The 2nd edition of the book is now available.Value-added Maintenance Logbooks for single and twin engine installations are also available as companions to the MDB1 Maintenance book. The Logbooks include more than 50 drawings, detailed diesel system inventory and measures & conversion tables.In 2021, he made his first ocean crossing, and first solo ocean crossing, crossing the Indian Ocean from Thailand to Tanzania, in east Africa. The 5400 nautical mile voyage, aboard SV Oceans Five, his 36-foot steel-hull Chevrier, took him via the Maldives and to the Seychelles. He previously had sailed for several summers in Labrador and Newfoundland in his second boat, a steel-hulled Tahitiana."I was very frightened when I set out from Thailand. But, after months of preparations for the passage, I think in the end I was more afraid of not going - that I would lose something of myself if I did not undertake this adventure that I had wanted to do for many years. The passage was not without it's challenges - including hand-steering in 12 hour shift for about two weeks after both the auto-pilot and the wind vane failed." He is currently completing the second book in the Marine Diesel Basics series MDB2 - How Things Work and Installation Guidelines. The 500-page book will have 2000 drawings and should be published in mid 2023.