I've still got my old Lochin 33 but after not using it much for the last few years, I'm going to have to make some improvements.
Mine as some will remember is the extended wheelhouse variant (I never liked the name Sports Cruiser) and the engine is located half in and half out of the wheelhouse.
The engine is a Perkins Sabre M300Ti that was installed in the mid 1990s and the engine now has about 3500 hours on it. The engine still seems fine and I don't want (and certainly can't afford) to change it.
I've also lost confidence in the engine bearer rails because under the epoxy of paint coating, they feel quite corroded.
I want to replace the sea water intakes, sea****s and strainers anyway (it's a single engine but the second water intake is for the deck wash pump) because the sea**** (a gate valve so that shows how old it is) doesn't completely isolate.
I know some of you guys have changed your engines so I'm looking for some pointers.
The boat's located in Portsmouth Harbour and it's got to come out this winter anyway to do the sea****s and antifouling.
My idea is that I get the engine removed, replace the mounting rails which are something like 4" x 4" (100 x 100mm) angle iron with something like 304 (A2) grade stainless. I can then completely clean up and repaint the engine bay, do the sea****s whilst the engine's out and add acoustic insulation where appropriate.
OK so can anyone advise of the procedure and problems and even recommend suitable people /companies to remove the engine.
Once the engine is out, I want to overhaul it and get it repainted if I can. Once that is done, it will need to be reinstalled with new mounts etc.
Hello Chas.....good to hear from you....long time no speak.
Glad to hear you still have your Lochin and I hope once sorted you manage to use her a little more. I would love to be able to use mine a lot more than I do, but cant very often piece the everyday life things and weather together!!
I cant offer any real help with your questions but Geoff (Blue swell) has recently had an engine out for work and did a few other jobs, so he may be able to help.
Good luck with things, but post some photo's of work if you can please.......be interesting to see.
I know where you are coming from. When I bought Lady Jayne I was unsure as to what was hiding out of sight under the engine so decided to get it taken out and checked properly. Glad I did as it happens as the bottom of the intercooler had rotted away and fallen into the bilges! It also gave us a good chance to check out everything else from hoses to sump/seals etc and I also had the sea water inlets removed serviced and re-bedded just to be on the safe side. I also had the engine spray painted with sabre/Ford paint. Engine removal was less than a day and re-installation the same. I got a local firm Alasdair Robb engineering to do the work as they supplied and fitted the engine originally and know the boat well, plus they are local to my winter storage yard (were) All in all I think it cost me about £2k 7 years ago and gave me peace of mind to keep running the same engine etc for another 2 commercial season before I changed the motor. The bearers were really solid angle iron which I thought were original (maybe not) and the engine feet were cushionfloat which were fine to re-use. I also cleaned out the fuel tanks tidied everything up at the same time and sanitized the bilges. I wish I had gone further and painted what I could get to but didn't want it all flaking off again so left it. For a yard I don't think it is a big job and if you do some of the work yourself won't be too expensive and well worth doing for peace of mind.
Cheers everybody, hope you are all keeping well and getting plenty boat time. We are still fairly busy here and enjoying using our brand new pontoon which is officially opened tomorrow. No more dangerous and slippy stone pier which got covered at high tide. I will take some pics tomorrow if I can remember and post them in a few days, I'm sure visiting Lochins will be made most welcome
Hearing that others have done it gives me confidence and I've also talked to Golden Arrow Marine (who are Perkins Sabre agents). They give me the impression that engine removals are done all the time. The £2k figure that Martin mentioned may have gone up a bit, Golden arrow are talking about a day to get the engine out and a day to replace it so there's roughly a grand there and add to that some sort of crane hire. They are also talking about 2 to 3 days at the workshop cleaning servicing and repainting so there will be some parts cost on top of that.
Martin, did you find out how your angle iron engine bearers were attached to the boat's structure? I'm sure there must be standard methods, just haven't sussed it out yet. As I said, my engine bearers seem quite corroded but they look like 4" x 4" angle iron so there could still plenty of good metal left to go yet.
I don't mind doing whatever preparatory work I can to keep the costs down. That sort of thing all helps familiarise you with your boat anyway.
I'll post some pictures but expect to do this at the back end of the winter.
Any more advice and guidance will be gratefully received.
Hi Chas, I've had my Volvo 306hp in and out a couple of times for painting and clean up. I undid the nuts and bolts, cut of the seized ones and undid the relevant wiring. All that remained was to give the local gravel merchant £50 to lift the engine and gearbox out complete, using the hiab on his truck! I had a lifting boom fabricated with a couple of eyes on it so that I could vary the lift angle. You're welcome to borrow the lifting boom if you like, I'm located in Bridport Dorset. Scrap merchant usually have a hiab on a truck if you're stuck for lifting power. Those numbers you are talking about terrify me!
If I remember rightly the angle iron was bolted directly through the longtidudinal members of the hull with 4 bolts. I didn't undo any of those so as far as I know they are still original and they were in good order so no need to touch them. The whole unit only sits on 4 engine feet so once you get the prop uncoupled top engine feet nuts off it is exhaust, control cables and wiring and away you go, although if it is under the cabin floor you might have to use an attatchment toget the lift in the right place and balanced.
If I can and if I remember i will take some pics tomorrow so you can see how mine fits.
