Time To Repower

[Byamee]

We are now 3 months and 1200 nautical miles into our circumnavigation and the reality of a repower is now becoming more evident.Our Brittish Leyland fisherboy is blowing more and more blue smoke by the day iam now adding 1 litre of oil per 30 hrs of operation .It has got to the point where iam now embarresed at the amount of burnt oil coming out the back! Funney thing is the motor still starts first time and runs fine with no apparent loss of power who knows it might go foever,but I fel it would be irresponsible to continue on with a sick motor especially as I have my family onboard.

I have had the mechanic around today ,he says it will be a fairly straight forward install as the sort off engine bed I have is easily modified ,I also have a vee drive so shaft allingment is not an issue.

My concern is the price of the Yanmar 54hp 4JH4AE {my preferred motor}is $18500 AUD. The Volvo D2-55 ,55hp is slightly cheaper but not much.The mechanic who is going to do the install has just become a dealer for Vetus they are doing a deal on the Vetus 52hp for $14000 ,this is a significant saving in fact the saving would pay for the install! .My research so far seems to indicate the Vetus is a good motor ,they have certainly been around for a long time but as always it would be nice to hear from anyone on the forum who has first hand experience with them or who has heard any good or more importently bad reports.

Your replies as always are eagerly anticipated as I have to bite the bullet and act soon.

www.byamee.com

[MMNETSEA]

Byamee,

Sure we can help,,

Give us full specs on the boat and the present engine/gearbox and transmission

Richard

[JeanneP]

Engines are not my area of knowledge, but I have some questions to offer you in your decision-making.

When we repowered our boat back in 1992 while in Australia, our decision was to go with the Yanmar because it was the easiest to get parts anywhere in the world. *Friends of ours who had owned a sailboat company told us that they put Volvo engines in their boats because they were cheaper, not because they were a better engine. *

The problem encountered by most Volvo engine owners we met as we meandered across the globe was the very high cost to buy Volvo parts and the long waits they often had in getting the parts to them. *One owner remarked that he had spent almost as much on repair parts for his engine as he would have spent on a new Yanmar engine. *I am not saying that Yanmar parts are cheap, but compared to Volvo back in the 90s, they were much cheaper and easier to obtain than Volvo parts.

All this is a lot of words to ask you - how many service centers and dealers are there globally for Vetus engines? *What is the cost of replacement parts for a Vetus compared to another make, say a Yanmar, engine?

I leave for others the merits of the two engines.

[MMNETSEA]

Byamee,

Once we have full details regarding present boat and WHERE are you this time - we will be in a better position to assist .

Some vital info required will be the existing engine bearer's measurements,. The present system of cooling the engine. The height of the exhaust outlet relative to the waterline. etc etc .....

The question of which make and model of engine can be determined once the above specs are given.