SummerObsession

Reliable to me would mean taking off from Miama and cruising to the Bahamas without having to go with other boats or constantly checking the guages to make sure something isn't about to explode. Regardless of horsepower.

Peconic

Ron has a very good point.

As strange as it may sound, a turbine is the most reliable.

A diesel is very reliable, but it will lose some of its reliability in the future. Up to quite recently, engineers didn't completely understand what really goes on in a diesel, so it was overengineered, just in case. The lack of a sophisticated ignition system also added to its reliability.

Diesel technology is now well understood (with the help of some supercomputers ..) Diesels can be built lighter now. Sophistricated fuel injection systems are added, sometimes with the fuel pump right in the injector. Turbos are added routinely. A diesel can now be as light and as peppy as a gasoline engine, but also as complex.

Don't pooh-pooh diesels. Fabio Buzzi loves them.

jafo

Sorry, but I would not call that reliable. There is NOTHING reliable about a BBC running high horsepower numbers at high RPM's. The engine was never designed for that.
Even the highest strung turbo or supercharged aviation recips have a TBO of at least 1500+ hours.
If you want reliability in a marine environment, diesel is the answer. Of course, there is no doubt of the reliability of the turbine engine- I have been maintaining them for over 20 years, but they will never catch on for everyday marine use with initial purchase costs being so high.
I think you can achieve a pretty high reliability factor with the package that is in my Active Thunder- Mercruiser built 350MagMpi's coupled to Bravo drives.

So far, so good...................