Beta Marine Diesel

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Ed Reiss.

[mbianka]

When my Westerbeke died I was seriously thinking about repowering with a BETA diesel. Liked the servicability of it compared to some areas of the Westerbeke. I finally went with an electric propulsion system which I am very happy with. But, if I had not found a turn key EP system I would have gone with the BETA.

[Target9000]

Originally Posted by ereiss

Feral Cat;

I need to rebuild or replace on 3gm30. Spoke with Stanley at Beta who said that 50% of his sales are to people who self install. I was wondering what your experience level was before you took this on (pick one a) handy b) didn't know screwdriver from spanner c) retired desiel mechanic.

Would you do it again? Any "watch out for" things that you would offer prior to someone taking on this type of project?

Thanks

Ed Reiss

Ed,

Its a long slog to read it all but if you're really interested... You can check out our well documented motor swap in a W32 here:
Engine Room | Sundowner sails again

There are about 50 posts dealing with almost all aspects of the change. The only part we didn't do "alone" was the alignment. We hired someone to help us with that part. The rest we did. I'm not a mechanic. Hell I'm hardly even handy. I'm closer to the "What is a spanner?" sort of fellow. But we got it done and have been loving our engine since. Of course every install will have its own challenges, but this could give you an idea of what you're diving into.

** The link will bring you to the "latest" posts from our engine swap, you may want to go back to the beginning to start reading.

[n2banshee]

I just had Hirschfeld Yacht of Sausalito repower my Ericson 27 with a Beta 14. I chose this engine because of the user servicable components are located on the front of the engine. The work done was fantastic, the engine is fantastic, I would recommend the engine or Hirschfeld yacht any day!!

[sabray]

Look out for the added pieces. Like hose, waterlift, wiring engine bed modification other things that are good to do while the engine is out. Etc.... They all add up and it's a good time to look at these. I dud mine and also replaced a fuel rank that will be a beast to replace while the engine is in. Not sure it's look out but all the small bits and I should do this now shod be included in the project.

[hpeer]

Not my experience but....a transient lost his old engine while passing our marina and hauled out here to repower himself. Mad as hell with Beta.

Seems they sent him a unit with the transmission linkage reversed from what it was supposed to be and he didn't notice until it was installed. Then they wanted some fair bit extra for some kind of adapter.

But the thing that really got him was that the fan belt encircles the cooling water line so that you need to disconnect the water to replace the fan belt.

I took a quick look at one at Annapolis and saw what he was talking about.

Again, not my experience but third hand info. The water line/fan belt issue would have made me angry for an engine that touts its serviceability.

If I were looking I would check that before making a purchase.

[NCboatrx]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Not my experience but....a transient lost his old engine while passing our marina and hauled out here to repower himself. Mad as hell with Beta.

Seems they sent him a unit with the transmission linkage reversed from what it was supposed to be and he didn't notice until it was installed. Then they wanted some fair bit extra for some kind of adapter.

But the thing that really got him was that the fan belt encircles the cooling water line so that you need to disconnect the water to replace the fan belt.

I took a quick look at one at Annapolis and saw what he was talking about.

Again, not my experience but third hand info. The water line/fan belt issue would have made me angry for an engine that touts its serviceability.

If I were looking I would check that before making a purchase.

hpeer,
Your friend Britt purchased his engine through one of our dealers but complained to us as we are the distributor. We supplied him the necessary parts at no charge to him to reverse the throw of his throttle cable and gear shift cable. We were going to send the parts by ground service but as he insisted on overnight service he was charged for the overnight freight. He then decided that he needed a high rise exhaust elbow and again this was needed on overnight service. He agreed to return the standard brackets that we replaced and the standard exhaust elbow but these have not been returned to us and this is well over a month ago. Your comment (or his) about wanting a fair bit extra for some kind of adaptor is totally wrong unless he assumed that we should spring for overnight freight instead of the normal ground service which takes 2 days from NC to Delaware.
Stanley

[n2banshee]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Not my experience but....a transient lost his old engine while passing our marina and hauled out here to repower himself. Mad as hell with Beta.

Seems they sent him a unit with the transmission linkage reversed from what it was supposed to be and he didn't notice until it was installed. Then they wanted some fair bit extra for some kind of adapter.

But the thing that really got him was that the fan belt encircles the cooling water line so that you need to disconnect the water to replace the fan belt.

I took a quick look at one at Annapolis and saw what he was talking about.

Again, not my experience but third hand info. The water line/fan belt issue would have made me angry for an engine that touts its serviceability.

If I were looking I would check that before making a purchase.

Beta 14 picture on my E27. No obstacles for belt installation.... Free and clear!

[arjand]

One thing that I LOVE is that one can semi customize the set-up! I have a V-drive and they have put the impeller and the dip stick on the 'wrong' side of the engine. As a result changing the impeller took about 7 minutes without yoga poses. Brilliant.

[hpeer]

Like I said, not my experience, so I can't engage in a proxy argument.

But about the water pump line fouling the belt, what does this photo show? What am I seeing wrong?

Beta Marine US Ltd. Distributors for Kubota based marine

[s/v Beth]

I will havta go look at my beta. My one is the same as the picture. I can say that I am still happy as a clam with it.

[Marksman]

I'm a little amazed that anyone would complain bitterly about having to remove a hose clamp in order to change a belt. I mean really. A hose clamp, ok maybe two, and tug a hose off. I don't know what this person expects out of life but removeing the raw water hose is a 1 minute addition to belt replacement, and that includes shutting off the seacock.

[Marksman]

If you think about it for a moment, the Beta has a gear driven pump which eliminates the second belt required if the pump were located anywhere else on the engine. Not being belt driven, the pump has no side load on the shaft seal or bearing so should go much longer between replacements and this locates the pump in easy reach for impeller changes as well. This is easy serviceability at it's best.

Oh, and this is my daughter the mechanic who gets all the crappy jobs because her hands are small enough to fit in the really tight spaces. You would never hear her complain about a silly hose clamp being the only obstacle in the way of a belt change.

[goboatingnow]

You do have to remove the raw water pipe to change the belt. And the picture shows that clearly. It's a pity it was designed that way.
Dave

[boatman61]

Had 2 Beta 10's on a Catalac I delivered to Turkey... great little motors that did over 1500 miles each (ran em independently to save on fuel) as the wind was on the nose 90% of the time...
Only problem was fan belts and fuel/oil filters needing changing... don't remember having to remove a water hose...