Defense Technology

U.S. Coast Guard Defender Class Boat Engine Maint

Issue: Current Honda ouboard engine maintenance requirements on the Homeland Security Boat are excessive, based on commercial applications that are not related to the heavy military duty cycle. A commercial periodicity of 100 hours may last many months. Coast Guard use indicates weekly maintenance for the same requirement. This is significant considering that there will ultimately be 700 Homeland Security Boats with 1,400 engines in the Coast Guard fleet. Discussion: Conduct "Age Exploration" studies similar to early aviation industry efforts to optimize maintenance task intervals. Collect specific data from actual operational and/or test environments to replace the assumptions made during the initial maintenance analysis. By increasing the periodicity, the maintenance workload will significantly drop. For example, if the 100-hour tests could be adequately expanded to 200 hours, the annual maintenance costs could be cut by 50%. In addition to the reduction in manhours, there will be significant savings on consumables, including hazmat oil and filters, and out-of-water time. Estimated Navy Cost Avoidance: Minimum Annual of $3,000K and Minimum 15-Year of $0K. Status: MTTC has learned that the Coast Guard has fully accepted all of MTTC's maintenance extension recommendations and is in the process of implementing them fleet-wide. The Coast Guard will therefore be saving money on initial procurement as well as a 62% reduction in maintenance costs. This project is a complete success for the USCG, MTTC and the taxpayer. Honda has informed the Coast Guard that it will honor the current warrantee as long as equipment misuse is not evident. Point of Contact:  Eric Linton, Coast Guard Engineering Logistics   •  Phone:  (410) 762-6062   •  Email: