most durable small marine diesels ever built, at least in the opinion of many diesel mechanics. I've owned and rebuilt several of them and rebuilt several for others. Not one of those engines would have had to be rebuilt had been properly maintained in the first place.

It takes me about 30 minutes to change an impeller in it's current stock configuration on the 2GM20, and it is a pain - I agree it was poor engineering from the get go. That said, I do carry a spare pump with bracket, and can switch it out in about ten minutes - then change the old impeller at my leisure - I have never had to do that as yet but I have the option, The only other flaw I would note is the dip-stick should have been at the front of the engine, this is another sore point in some installations.

Still, if I were going to pick an engine for a world cruise, it would be a Yanmar (at least in my size range). They have the widest parts distribution of any small marine diesel brand in the world. As far as parts prices go, they are in line or lower cost than most and a number of parts from their tractor models will interchange at a fraction of the cost of the "Marine" parts. I buy most of our parts online at about 60% of dealer cost.