Just bought my first sailboat

[TrentePieds]

Just for guidance: TP has about the same displacement, and I do very well with a Beta 20. You may prefer a 25.

To have a 20 installed professionally, and the prop adjusted if necessary, would cost about Can$15K. A 25, maybe another boat buck.

US costs will differ, of course, but as I said: This is for guidance. You can compare that with a cost estimate for rebuilding the Volvo. As others have said, Volvo parts are VERY expensive! The re'n're obviously costs the same whether you go one way or the other. Therefore the cost comparison needs to be between a Volvo overhaul v. the sticker price of the Beta.

Beta supplies a range of engine mount adapters that enable the Beta to settle down on existing bearers so the swap won't involve structural work. Volvo —> Beta must be so common that the adapters are available off the shelf from the Beta dealers.

But don't get carried away until you've found out if your Volvo just needs a good smooch :-)!

TrentePieds

[nortonscove]

Sold our first boat last year and it was on the hard since 2012. It had a single cylinder Yanmar and it started up first go. We put in a new battery and away she goes. I wouldn't give up on any diesel too quickly. Having been around marine diesels for a lot of years it is amazing what will start under the right mechanic sometimes.

[Pegu Club]

Originally Posted by joelhemington

Some people swear by the Volvo Penta engines while others just swear at them. In my experience they are kind of like an old English sports car - they run great if you constantly molly coddle them - if you don't, they won't run at all. A lot of people are transitioning to the Beta engines which are based on a Kubota tractor engine due to cost, reliability and ease of maintenance.

We repowered with a Beta on our Bristol, frankly it was worth every penny.

Fair winds,

[Svpearllee2021]

I really appreciate all the tips and suggestions, it really helps. Like I said I just purchased the boat and live 8 hours away so I just spent my first weekend working on the boat getting it to the point where I can live on it soon. I was originally going on what the previous owner had said about the engine needing a lot of work, but after spending my first weekend working I’ve come to see that he may possibly be wrong about the engine as a lot of things on the boat he said we’re no good are intact working fine (nav equipment, bilge, head, plumbing all are now working after he said they weren’t).
My next trip down will be spent getting the bottom sanded and painted and hopefully put In the water and up to it’s home for the summer (and mine as well). I haven’t spent more than an hour looking over the engine so I’ll def be taking a day to completely go over it to see exactly what I’m dealing with. I’m no mechanic but I’m pretty handy and can probably learn a thing or 2 while I’m at it. Again thanks for all the advice. I’ll keep everyone updated this weekend

[Hoodsail]

Originally Posted by Pegu Club

We repowered with a Beta on our Bristol, frankly it was worth every penny.

Fair winds,

What prompted you to re-power, Pegu? Curious as my westerbeke is from 1978, but runs strong. Peripherals (eg engine mounts, a hose or two) look a bit worn..Albeit engine compartment is stinkin' filthy...thnks dave

[Svpearllee2021]

Right now I’m in the Bohemia river. Got a couple places I’m looking at to move it to (I have a spot reserved on the other side of the bay) nothing set in stone just yet.

[Cpt Mark]

Small marine diesels are all very simple and very tough. My neighbor has an atomic bomb (gas) inboard. Told me it was dead when he bought the boat etc.. Many years later as he's relating the story (it was frozen) I asked him if he'd ever tried turning it over? Nope. Previous owner said it was frozen so why bother. Turns over just fine.

My current boat has a diesel generator. 25 years old, 525 hours on it. It was not working when I bought the boat. The mechanic I had to look over the engines said it had no compression and was dead. Met a kid in college who was going to maritime academy to become a ships engineer. He came down and spent 7 hours looking it over, figuring out the wiring (they are all white) etc. Found the problem, pressed start and it's run flawlessly ever since. Somebody at sometime had done a "repair" that caused it not to run. No compression was because it had sat unused for many many years so there was no oil in the cylinders.

If you can turn the engine over by hand, have a good battery connected give it a shot. You might have air in the lines by now (probably) as well as other potential fuel related issues. If you can have someone try to start it and you (carefully, no loose clothing, jewelry etc) spray WD40 (ether works too and won't harm your engine. It's just more volatile tha WD40) your engine will run on that. Stop spraying and it will run for a short bit and add shots to keep it going) You can do this on the hard. If the engine runs for briefly the stop it. You won't hurt it and you will confirm it does work and/or needs help.

[Don C L]

My friend's boat has an MD7A (Volvo) and when he first got it it had a cooling problem. We went through (almost) all the possibilities and finally a mutual friend who is a mechanic came down and we muscled the engine out and he took it home and rebuilt it. It is not hard to do but the parts are really expensive. Once the engine was out, we did find some black gunk in the system but the other discovery was that the handle on the thu-hull had broken leaving the valve in a partly open position. It seemed like it was opening and closing but in reality it was half closed and consequently the water flow was poor. Now that the engine is rebuilt, and back in, and running very smoothly for a 2 cylinder, it will probably last another 40 years, but if it were me I'd have a savings account filling up for the day you replace it with the Beta (which has a similar footprint for installation.) By the way my friend added a T in the water intake line to enable flushing of the engine with fresh water and for adding a flush of CLR once in a while, which apparently helps keep the black gunk from building up. You might check with a local mechanic on that one.