the repower stories are sobering. we had a terrible experience with what should have been a simple repower of a 30' boat because the only yard that was geographically close misrepresented the credentials of their only 'diesel mechanic.' turned out the guy was a bit of a flybynight who had worked at 'several' shops before starting the month before at this one. i came to find he had never installed a diesel, ours would have been the 1st. fortunately i was visitng the yard daily and noted the following:
1) solid fiberglas engine bearing stringers 'the mechanic' had unnecessarily hacked off , leaving portside 1 inch higher and 2 inches longer than starboard side;
2) resulting in wrong down angle for propshaft, which required max 6 degrees,
3) no install manual for the engine in sight,
4) wrong size thru hull installed , too small and not as spec'd for raw water supply, and made of cheap plastic not bronze
after observing 1 through 4 i confronted the shop manager and asked to see the install manual for the engine ''so we could go over some things''. (I had ordered my own shop and service manuals from the manufacturer before deciding on this particular yanmar engine, which is how i knew they were screwing up certain things.. ) shop man said o it must be in the shop, i said fine let's go get it, i want to check the dimensions on your jig. by the way where's the jig? it turned out the yard had saved $25 by not ordering a shop manual. and had no clue why a jig would be helpful...
the yard was upset when i told them they had already screwed up 1 to 4 and that w as the end of their work. the new engine went out of that yard still wrapped in plastic, the boat was towed to a different yard, highly recommended but much further away. the new yard of course did not get the profit from the engine order , so my repower was at the bottom of their to-do list. we lost the whole s eason, from may to september, as it took till after labor day to get the repower done. (once completed, it was a magnificent job, the boat hit her power curve on the 1st sea trial...)
so there is no doubt in my mind : i would NEVER buy a boat expecting to have to repower or do major work of any nature whatsoever.
I did not like having to ride herd on a mechanic, and be contrained by boat location to very few yards, only one of which was capable of doing excellent work. I might add that i'm a retired engineer who did failure analysis work for a living, and that engine repower was on the list of frustrating experiences.
1) solid fiberglas engine bearing stringers 'the mechanic' had unnecessarily hacked off , leaving portside 1 inch higher and 2 inches longer than starboard side;
2) resulting in wrong down angle for propshaft, which required max 6 degrees,
3) no install manual for the engine in sight,
4) wrong size thru hull installed , too small and not as spec'd for raw water supply, and made of cheap plastic not bronze
after observing 1 through 4 i confronted the shop manager and asked to see the install manual for the engine ''so we could go over some things''. (I had ordered my own shop and service manuals from the manufacturer before deciding on this particular yanmar engine, which is how i knew they were screwing up certain things.. ) shop man said o it must be in the shop, i said fine let's go get it, i want to check the dimensions on your jig. by the way where's the jig? it turned out the yard had saved $25 by not ordering a shop manual. and had no clue why a jig would be helpful...
the yard was upset when i told them they had already screwed up 1 to 4 and that w as the end of their work. the new engine went out of that yard still wrapped in plastic, the boat was towed to a different yard, highly recommended but much further away. the new yard of course did not get the profit from the engine order , so my repower was at the bottom of their to-do list. we lost the whole s eason, from may to september, as it took till after labor day to get the repower done. (once completed, it was a magnificent job, the boat hit her power curve on the 1st sea trial...)
so there is no doubt in my mind : i would NEVER buy a boat expecting to have to repower or do major work of any nature whatsoever.
I did not like having to ride herd on a mechanic, and be contrained by boat location to very few yards, only one of which was capable of doing excellent work. I might add that i'm a retired engineer who did failure analysis work for a living, and that engine repower was on the list of frustrating experiences.
