Will the 10 inch longer 6 cyl Deere fit in the 462? Hugh has the room in his sedan, but it looked pretty tight in the Duck.

Is there room to swing a larger diameter, more pitch, slower turning prop to take advantage of all that torque?

M1 rated 6068SFM model has a whopping 612 ft/lbs at 1500 RPM, and 136 Hp at 2200.

M3 rated 4045TFM has 339/352 ft/lbs at 1500/1800 and 135 Hp at 2500/2600 depending if non-certified/Tier II guise.

Wonder how fuel use would compare, given that you would not need to spin the 6 as fast?

There are conflicting specs on the JD website. When you search for Hp ratings, the 136 Hp 6 cylinder is not listed.

Is the M1 rated 6068SFM at 136 Hp and 612 ft/lbs available?

Besides the keel cooling option, what is the difference in the SFM and TFM 6 cylinder models.
This may be an obvious question, but I cannot see the difference.

Don't you also want to consider the power curve and give yourself the choice of running slow? If the engine must run at some minimum RPM and you "overpower" the boat, will you be forced to run at an uneconomical speed? How slow can it go? Also, how much power is available for 2 or 3 days of bucking a headwind on an engine not rated for continuous duty? If you're running at least 200RPM under "redline", are you running with fewer ponies than the "M1"?

Steve D'Antonio answered a letter in the June '06 PassageMaker and stated "mant diesel experts agree that it's best to run a diesel engine at 75% power for 75% of the time. The primary concern when this isn't or can't be accomplished is over-cooling–the engine simply runs too cold, which allows carbon to build up on valves and rings and in combustion chambers."

He goes on further with more info. it's worth looking up this letter and reply in PMM.

wow. that's stunning. Does that apply to the newer TA engines? If so, one would want to be careful to not "overpower" one's trawler, wouldn't one?
Would a controlled pitch prop mitigate that?

To my understanding, the new "common rail" diesels eliminate this problem by carefully metering the fuel injection moreso than a conventional injection pump. But be careful, I believe not all "Tier II" diesels use common rail injection.

August '04 PMM has an article about E-Diesels which describes this better. I think I also read something about this in Power Cruising Magazine, but can't find it now.

The Deere Tier II are not common rail, and Deere advises that they have no plans to bring in marine common rail engines until Tier III is required.