Engine Replacement

[datswite]

Hello, old friends. It's been awhile since I've shared anything on the board, but I've been keeping track of things here for awhile. Cruising has been very sporadic for us since covid prevented travel. Now the boat is in Europe and we're in the US - only occasionally getting back. It's been drying out mostly (in Portugal, then Spain, then Pisa, then Sicily, and now Greece) - she is patiently waiting our retirement in a few years. Anyway, we're thinking that we will swap our engine when we return so we can import the boat into the EU. I'm a dual US/Italian citizen, and I can import the boat into the EU duty free, but it has to meet their emission standards. I'm curious what the current consensus is regarding engine replacements. The boat is in Europe, so we're probably going to have to choose something readily available there. Perhaps a Yanmar. But... any thoughts?

 

[mpearson]

Hi Ken!

I think (but not sure) I might be the only owner who has re-powered with a common rail Yanmar 4JH45. It's 7 years ago now: good grief! How can it be that long?!

We've had an excellent, flawless experience with the Yanmar, and it has given us a great piece of mind with it's reliability. It always has started on the first turn. It has done well in air temperatures down around freezing up to pretty darned hot.

Compared to our old and tortured Perkins, the Yanmar has been much more quiet and far less vibration.

The stock 120A alternator is pretty beefy, but doesn't come with a robust controller. So this year we are installing an upgrade that Balmar makes for this specific alternator. So we can keep the alternator, but have better control/monitoring and send all the juice directly to our lithium battery - should charge it 3-4 times faster (we'll see how that works soon). We chose that route over getting a newer/fancier Wakespeed to save some $. As I recall, it was something like 1/3 the cost.

The transmission is Yanmar KM35P, 2.36:1 ratio.

Several others have opted to go with the Betas of different sizes. Lower tech, but thought to be easier to find people who can work on them in far flung places. I think they are mostly happy with their choices too. Also one or two Volvos.

Good luck! Let us know what you decide to do.
Cheers,
-Mark

 

[datswite]

Hi Ken!

I think (but not sure) I might be the only owner who has re-powered with a common rail Yanmar 4JH45. It's 7 years ago now: good grief! How can it be that long?!

We've had an excellent, flawless experience with the Yanmar, and it has given us a great piece of mind with it's reliability. It always has started on the first turn. It has done well in air temperatures down around freezing up to pretty darned hot.

Thanks for the input, Mark! We're still a few years away, but, we're going to be doing this from the other side of the globe. So.... start the research early! I appreciate your comments!