The resilient mounts of a diesel engine installed onboard a ship should be designed for both static and dynamic loads. If possible, the resonance frequencies of the six rigid body modes of the installation and the flexible modes of the engine support structure should not lie within the engine operation range. In this paper a design criterion is proposed to evaluate an isolation system which involves the summation of dynamic forces transmitted through the resilient mounts and elastic potential energy index stored in the mounts. A case study is also presented in which a diesel engine generator, which had an elastic foundation and was mounted in a 5500 TEU container vessel, was studied both theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical analysis of the test model was performed by using a single mass 6 degree of freedom system. Actual measurements of mechanical vibration of the engine and its foundation onboard were carried out, which showed the importance of including the flexibility of the engine support structure in the mode.