Reddit reviews Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair

1. Determine where you are. This has an impact on requirements for boat registration, insurance, fire extinguishers, what PFDs you carry, possibly a license for the VHF, and possibly some sort of safe boating credential.
   
   
2. Make sure your boat won't sink on you. This means carefully checking all the thru-hulls to make sure they operate smoothly, are in good shape, and keeping them closed when not in use. It also means ensuring the automatic bilge pump is working, and that there's enough power to run it, either in the batteries or from shore.
   
   
3. Make sure your boat won't leave you stranded. Make sure the engine is in good shape and runs smoothly, make sure the steering cables look OK, check all the standing and running rigging, etc. Ideally the boat will have a binder documenting where everything is, when maintenance was performed, and also how old things are (e.g. your standing rigging probably has a service lifetime of 10-12 years).
   
   
4. Clean your boat. Seriously! Power wash it, sand it, paint it, polish it, whichever everything needs. Make it look like new. Not only will you feel better living on it and sailing it, but you'll get familiar with the state of everything and know what will be next up for maintenance or repair. Depending on how things are, set aside time regularly to clean or polish something at random. Ideally it's before things show wear; that's the best way to keep things that way.
   
   
5. Go over the electrical systems very carefully. Better, get a professional. You will want to know how much power you are likely to draw (think instruments, radar, refrigeration, radio, lights, water pumps, etc.) and make sure you have sufficient battery capacity, that the batteries are of the correct type and in good shape, and that the wiring done safely according to the proper standards (and ideally slightly over-spec'd; boats are no place for a fire). Finally, everything should be easy to follow and clearly labelled.
   
   
6. Ditto for the plumbing, etc. You'll need to determine your local pump-out facility, know how to check your holding tanks, etc.
   
   
7. Assuming you have a stove aboard, always switch it off at the solenoid, let the flame go out, and only then turn off the stove (again, fire bad!).
   
   
8. Learn how to use the VHF and what the local channels and rules are. Much is standardized, but some is local.
   
   Resources:
   
   

• Assuming it has a diesel, I'm told this is a very good resource: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071475354
  
• For sailing, you probably want a copy of this: https://www.amazon.com/Annapolis-Book-Seamanship-Fourth/dp/1451650191
  
• Get a copy of the ColRegs and local rules. This covers the rules of the road as well as lighting and other requirements. For example, the USCG publishes the local and international ones side-by-side here: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/index.php?pageName=NavRulesAmalgamated (by treaty, local rules will usually be similar to the international ColRegs).
  
• The RYA has a nice VHF textbook that covers DSC as well; it's mostly correct and the only items that might not apply are the UK-specific radio channels. The USCG radiotelephone handbook is also useful.
  
• Once you've sorted out the basics, the "Sailing Virgins" channel on Youtube isn't that bad; they have some nice (and concise!) videos on various techniques.

If you haven't already grabbed this or this, I can't recommend them enough as excellent resources to address this and many other questions.

I charter right now, OCSC is A-B-C docks. I don't know anyone who knows diesels, sorry. But I have worked on motorcycle engines (never cracked the case open, though). Between that, whatever you know, and this, you might be in good shape. I'm willing to give it a go if you are, anyway.

Best of luck!

Nigel Calder's book Marine Diesel Engines, while not giving a thorough treatment of a rebuild, will give you enough information to be able to figure out if it's worth rebuilding or not.

Check out a couple of books by Nigel Calder. I recommend starting with Nigel Calder's Cruising Handbook as it's a pretty good general overview of everything you need to know for cruising, then try Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual as a guide to all of the stuff that you will spend all of your free time fixing and maintaining. I also have Marine Diesel Engines. He does a great job of explaining everything you need to know in an accessible way. He manages to get to some pretty advanced skills without assuming very much previous knowledge.

Get a copy of this:

http://www.amazon.com/Marine-Diesel-Engines-Maintenance-Troubleshooting/dp/0071475354/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415398133&sr=1-1&keywords=marine+diesel+engines

My own boat is gasoline-powered, but I do enough reading about powerboats in general to be aware that this book is the Bible where caring for marine diesel engines is concerned. The author is the technical editor at PassageMaker magazine.

West Marine carries it, but you could get it cheaper by ordering a used copy from Amazon.

EDIT: You're welcome. Appreciate the upvote. /sarcasm