Proteum expansion

UK engine company Proteum has expanded its engine repair and development capabilities by moving into a new facility at Hamble Point Marina near Southampton.

The new facility will enable Proteum to offer an improved service in providing new engines and repair and refit on the Buhk, Baudouin and Marine Diesel inboard engines, the Oxe diesel outboards and the Konrad stern drives where Proteum acts as the UK distributors for these brands.

The new facility extends to 1350 square metres and currently a mezzanine floor is being fitted to extend the floor space. With direct access to the water via the Hamble Point Marina, Proteum can now bring vessels up to 20 metres into the workshops in order to undertake full overhauls or new installations of machinery.

In addition to handling the distribution of the Marine Diesel engines from Sweden, Proteum is now carrying out the work on marinising these high performance diesels. "The Swedish factory that carried out the design and development work on these diesel engines is running at full capacity with the production of the Oxe 200hp diesel outboard," said David Madsen from Proteum. "They have asked us to do the marinising work on the 500hp diesels to ensure the continuing production of these units."

These Marine Diesel engines are based on a V-8 engine produced by General Motors. They come into the Proteum facility as the basic automotive engines and then Proteum adds all of the marinising features such as the sea water pumps and systems, the water cooled exhausts and the intercoolers as well as special engine mounts so that the engines leave the facility ready for installation. Various marine versions of these common rail engines produce up to 500hp from the 6.6 litre block and they represent one of the most compact marine diesels with an excellent power weight ratio which are fitted to high performance RIBs and patrol boats.

These 500hp diesel engines can also be supplied with matching Konrad stern drives so that Proteum can supply complete engine and propulsion packages. "Combined with the performance of the Oxe diesel outboards we can supply engine and drive packages to meet the requirements of a wide range of work and military applications." commented Madsen.

"With the new facility and its expanded capability plus the wide range of diesel engine manufacturers that we represent we have diesel engines to meet a wide range of applications from SOLAS boats to high performance vessels." said Madsen. Proteum is part of the SC Group that specialised in the development, design and production of high performance engineering products that include the new launch and recovery beach launch system for RNLI lifeboats and for various military vehicles.