>....Friends with a single engine trawler, a Grand Banks, argue that twin >engines are a headache and do not really provide the redundancy because >most diesels quite due to bad fuel or clogged filters. They say both >engines would die at the same time, anyway.... I've personally never had an engine stop due to bad fuel. I have however had them die due to a raw water pump failure, and air in one of the fuel lines, and a transmission failure, and an oil hose rupturing. In none of these cases was the second engine affected. I'd say that two engines truly provide some redundancy -- but not quite 2x perhaps. The real question IMHO is not whether two engines provide additional redundancy (which they unquestionably do), but rather whether the additional reliability is worth the extra cost in fuel, maintenance, and initial cost? I have two engines, and I'm quite happy with them, but I'd also buy a single engine boat with no qualms about reliability if it happened to be a boat I liked. Bill Martin m/v Telegraph Hill