Ideas wanted

[mbd]

Well, my season just took an interesting turn. My old Yanmar was just pronounced DOA by the boatyard. Very little compression in the first cylinder - so little that he didn't even check the second. I figured its time would come, just not this soon.

So... I'm looking for ideas. Here's what I've got so far.
1. Rebuild - Lots of $$ and I'm probably past the point of diminishing returns with this engine.
2. Repower - Even more $$ of which I have very little.
3. Go with an outboard. Some work, but cheaper. It also kind of removes one of the selling points for this particular boat, IMHO.
4. Oars. I have actually been enjoying sailing without a motor for the last month. It really makes you think things through and plan things more when you go out. A bit of a hard sell to get the kids and wife out for a weekend and really just a short-term "fix" for now.
5. Ulp! - sell this boat and let someone with the means invest in the repower...

Can anyone give me a ballpark figure on repowering? I really really really like Mike's (C-227) electric repower. However, recharging capability at a mooring would be challenging and so would the cost.

So far, I'm thinking I'll research oars and a rowing station... Any and all ideas welcome!

[bill@ariel231]

Mike

ouch. sorry to hear the Yanmar is in need of fix.

I'm suprized the rebuild was quoted as big$$. a friend of mine had his local garage do a swap of the rings, bearings,pistons and connecting rods on a westerbeke 108 for about $500. The trick was to find the tractor equivalent partnumber for the block (it was a mitsubishi under all the red paint).

the big $$ will be for the marine parts and the injector pump. If you pull the engine a ring job might not be that bad. If you swap the engine with the ashore version of the same yanmar part, you can transfer your heat exchanger, pumps and transmission to a newer yamar block.

if you have a john deere dealer near by, take any paper you have for your engine (or a picture). I bet they will have some overhaul/replacement options for you since yanmar blocks were used in comercial mowers like the 1435 (http://www.deere.com/en_US/groundsca...line_specs.pdf).

if you get the engine to their loading dock the overhaul may be a lot less than the marina price....

good luck,
bill@ariel231

[mbd]

Thanks Bill - good stuff. I'm still reeling with the news from this AM. I haven't gotten any figures yet, but I'll probably be sailing the boat back home this weekend or sometime soon without the 'repair'....

[Ariel 109]

I've been going without a motor on my Ariel since I started sailing her in March. I'm just day-sailing and the wind and currents around City Island are somewhat easy to deal with without a motor. I'm not alone, plenty of other motor-less sailors in the area. It can be quite an interesting challenge getting back and has helped my sailing skills.

Also weekend crewing on the Herreshoff S-Boats has given me more confidence about sailing motor-less. After the races are finished you can have thirty or more mid size racing boats returning to their moorings entirely under sail. Larchmont's harbor is pretty crowded and it all goes without incident.

[bill@ariel231]

Mike

one more link for thought.. one of my buddies from work (another) bill (a J/30 owner) documented the overhaul of his Yanmar 2GM. his overhaul did not include the rings but it was very close to a complete tear down. his issues were related to the raw watercooling and a leak.

here is the link:
http://mysite.verizon.net/knellew/ya..._2006-2007.pdf

if you don't open the injector pump, this starts to look a lot more like tearing down a small gas engine (read easy).


by the way... here is a link to more 2GM links (again courtesy of the Bill's J30 site):
http://mysite.verizon.net/knellew/ya...build/id2.html

[mbd]

Ben, I'm at a really good location for engineless sailing too. Looking forward to honing my skills some more this season. Those light wind days would be a bit easier without all the extra ballast though...

Thanks again, Bill. That PDF almost makes it look doable. Funny thing is, I went to save it, and I already had it on my hard drive.

[Ariel 109]

Mike,

I have two long canoe paddles as my "auxiliary", an anchor and warp at the ready and my fingers crossed.

Last week I saw a Shields Class sloop become becalmed while mooring and one of the crew jumped overboard and towed the boat in, side-stroke.

Ben

[bill@ariel231]

Mike

did the guys who performed the compression check make any suggestions about the cause (valves vs. rings, both?)

if you are not burning an excessive amount of oil, then maybe a valve job is all you need. (or a new head, there is a 2GM head on ebay)

just a thought,
bill@ariel231;-)

[mbd]

Thanks again Bill. He didn't, but I didn't use to burn hardly any oil at all. That Ebay head looks like a 2GM20 too - mine is just a plain 2GM. (13HP)

Anyway, my thinking a the moment is to yank the thing in the off-season and go from there. Right now, with all the BP crap, I'm thinking I don't even want to put another oil driven auxiliary in there. I may go engineless until I can afford an electric setup. I don't know, things change all the time...

[Commander 147]

Mike

If you go electric check these folks out. I just wrote the check and sent if off for my new elec. inboard drive to Scott McMillan at Electric Yacht. The really nice part about Scott's setup is he has done all of the engineering already and you get a complete setup based on what ever route you want to go. My new drive is a brushless motor that is a brand new drive they have come out with. And your conversion is a cake walk compared to mine since Destiny was sold as an outboard model when new and I have to do the shaft log and everything.

http://www.electricyacht.com/electri...ib-system.html

[mbd]

Thanks Jerry! A little late now, but did you consider any of the electric outboard models?

[Commander 147]

No Mike I did not but that is just because of my personal preferance when it comes to outboards in general. I really dislike using an outboard (I have used them a lot and I'm over it) and I wanted all along to change to an inboard.

That being said for those who like using outboards it is a real option these days. As you probably noticed, Electric Yacht sells the best ones I have seen available.

[Commander227]

Scott at Electric Yachts came out and tested his electric outboard on one of the Ensigns I use for the sailing school. I had it for about a week and was VERY impressed! tons of power, quiet, nice package. I think it would be a great motor for a A/C. I've seen his inboard models too and am impressed.
MDB- a good but cheaper solution may be to do as I was going to do and salvage all the needed parts from an old golf cart. (I know if I'd stayed in high school that sentence would have come out better)You would have a heavier, less efficient set up, but it would be bullet proof with ready access to cheap spare parts and a technology that you would have an easy time finding support for.
Mike
C227