With a 68-year-old Cat® Engine powering his boat, it’s no wonder Ad Schroot says he has a “Cat heart.”
A technical manager for the Dutch company Danser, an inland container transporter, Schroot’s long been familiar with Caterpillar. Danser’s barges are powered by Cat Marine Engines, and Schroot works closely with Dolderman, the authorized Cat Marine dealer in the Netherlands. So when it came time to purchase a boat of his own, he insisted on Cat power.
“During my quest, it was a requirement that a Cat Engine was inside,” Schroot says.
He found one in a boat with a long history. Built in 1947 at the Brothers Damen shipyard in the Netherlands, the tugboat christened “Bejo” has had six owners over the decades—but only one engine, its original Cat D8800, rated at 57kW (76 hp).
Schroot bought the tugboat, which he runs for pleasure on weekends and holidays, in 2003 and renamed it “Janus” after his grandfather. Since then, he’s made quite a few updates to the boat itself—including sandblasting, painting and renovating the front and back deckhouses. But with a little preventive maintenance, the tug’s Cat engine just keeps on running.
“There is no special care necessary,” says Bram van Loon, Ad’s dealer representative at Dolderman. “We set the valves yearly, test the fuel nozzles every four years, and it gets new lube oil and filters every year. That’s all the D8800 needs.”
Van Loon’s not surprised by the engine’s longevity. “We at Dolderman have sold hundreds of Cat Marine Engines for inland shipping in Europe over the last 60 years, so of course we see a lot of old engines,” he says. “But to us, the D8800 in the tugboat ‘Janus’ is a very special one, due to our relationship with Ad. I think if he needs a new marine engine, he for sure will buy a Cat Marine Engine.”
But Schroot doesn’t think his Cat D8800 Engine will stop running any time soon. “I’m proud,” he says. “This engine has had a lucky life.”
