I was curious if it's purely a $$$ issue why we don't see more diesels in cruisers less than 34' here in the USA ??

Looking at the Volvo D3 or D4 diesel options in Formula cruisers 27' and 31' there is a significant price increase, but also looks like diesels are almost 50% more efficient in fuel burn.

Appreciate any insight on this from people who know !!

Sea Ray and Bayliner offered the Merc diesels in their smaller cruisers for a while.

Not a huge market for them though.

Most folks are tuned into the sales prices versus value, so they didn't stay around too long.

Nice idea though!

And Bayliner offered the 4 cyl diesel Merc in their Trophy line for a couple of years.

But it met with the same results.

Not enough sales to keep them in the lineup...

I'm sure that the initial purchase price is what kills the US market, but I'm sure they offer these engine combinations for the overseas markets more than the US.

same with european automobiles. lots of diesels compared to here.

With the increased weight of a diesel vs gas engine, it might not be a good 'fit'. A friend had a 34' Silverton with diesels. The boat always ran with the stern way down in the water and was not very efficient.

Diesel is taxed less than gas in European countries, so diesel powered cars/boats are more appealing there as a result.

On a road vehicle basis, diesel has been more expensive in the UK than petrol for some time; it is taxed less than petrol in mainland Europe, but there the yearly road tax is more than for petrol cars; the governments always get the money one way or the other! It's like the UK government trying to encourage motorists here to switch to LPG, which is supposed to be "greener"; much lower tax than petrol, but everyone knows that once enough people have switched, they'll just tax it the same as petrol or diesel!

As for boats, very soon to change, but leisure boats have been legally allowed to use " red" diesel; virtually untaxed. Even so, after the change, they will still be allowed to use diesel taxed at a lower rate than for road use. No such luck for petrol powered boats. The differentiation always seemed very unfair to me, but owners of big, diesel engined boats no doubt disagree! The infrastructure to supply boats with diesel is all there, petrol is more rare at marinas (all mine is taken on board by 20 litre jerry can). I couldn't imagine having to do that for a 37' boat wih twin big block V8s !

Graham