I will be interested in following the Starship story to its conclusion. I recalled that there was a controversy about MAN diesels a while ago. At one point, an unhappy owner created a website that was devoted to criticism of MAN. MAN's position on this was stated in a press release issued in December 1998, from which I have reproduced the following excerpt. The URL from which the excerpt is taken is http://yachtingmag.com/news/powerboat/981208.1.html. <<MAN will, of course, continue to bring new product developments and technological improvements to the U.S. boat world. With its new top managment and reorganized energies directed at the U.S. marketplace, MEC has also decided to bring a special engine upgrade program to many of its older marine V-type engines. As a result, MEC will upgrade all light duty marine V-type engines built during the first part of the 1990's by installing the latest state-of-the-art pistons developed by MAN for these applications. This is by no means a recall, and is not being implemented under any sense of urgency, but is a goodwill upgrade program to bring our older V-type engines in the marketplace up to the latest top standard. As a matter of fact, out all marine diesel engines built by MAN over the past 9 years, less than 1% have experienced piston failure. It is also a fact that since the mid 90's the piston failure has dropped to 0%. Due to the application and operating conditions of boats in North America, MAN has decided to implement this upgrade program in the US only. The boat owners involved in this upgrade program will be informed of details soon by a representative of MEC. On a side note to our many partners, friends and customers, we are happy to observe that one of the positive results of these changes and programs hopefully will be to an end a tiresome negative campaign waged by a disgruntled used boat buyer whose engines MEC fixed almost two years ago, long after they were out of warranty. Although MEC did a remarkable job on his engines, this person has been obsessively critical of MAN engines, and even prodded the Coast Guard into conducting an investigation, which it then closed because it did not substantiate any alleged safety problems. We are sure that all of you will be happy to see an end to any questions this man's unusual campaign may have placed in the minds of engine owners, boat builders or new customers. Our customers' confidence that they have purchased the finest marine diesel engines available in the world is all - important to us and our partners in the U.S. marine industry. (End of quote)>> It sounds like MAN took extensive action to address these problems. Several of the MAN models are high speed diesels with a relatively high power-to-weight ratio. I am not familiar with the specifics of the engines installed in Starship or the failure mode of the engine in question. Scott Hallquist Seattle, WA 98101