Repowering with Beta 50 - misc questions and accessories?

[SpaceRnglr]

Originally Posted by puffcard

Yours is going to be a hard sell.

True... It is getting sent to the dumpster next week. I put an add up locally but if anyone on here wants an older Lombardini 2004 for free send me a PM. Earlier poster saying the head and exhaust manifold are worth something is probably correct, but I don’t have time at the moment to deal with it and would almost certainly have to ship them overseas...

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by puffcard

You will enjoy the Beta, we just replaced a Westerbeke 50 (41hp) with a Beta 35 and took off down south last month. Just did the first oil change. What's great, is how easy maintenance is, all done for the front of the engine. We did the 120amp alt, with external regulator. Our old motor we put on here in the classified ads and sold after a month. Just happens a boat with the same Westerbeke die while in transit in our area. Sold it two days before we left town. Ours was in pretty good shape, not needing a rebuild. Yours is going to be a hard sell.

I'm hoping to get a new Beta in this winter. I'm curious why you went with the 35 instead of the 38? I assume that, like me, you are attracted to the lower rpms. I spoke with Stan last week at the St Pete Boat Show & he thought the 35 was the way to go because the hp difference is so slight. The only reason I'm considering the 38 is the additional oil cooler. Being in Florida the water can get quite warm in the summer & I'm thinking that an oil cooler might be a big help. According to Stan, with their advanced fuel delivery systems, running these motors at lower rpms for extended periods of time does not hurt them.

[a64pilot]

Unless you run the snot out of them, our little Boat Diesels don’t get the oil very hot, I wish to be truthful mine ran hotter than it does. We used to say with aircraft that you wanted at least 180F for oil to cook off the moisture, I think my oil runs about 160 ish. You can get a real good idea what your oil temp is with an IR thermometer and shoot the oil filter.
If your mostly always cruising at low power, I doubt an oil cooler is an asset.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Unless you run the snot out of them, our little Boat Diesels don’t get the oil very hot, I wish to be truthful mine ran hotter than it does. We used to say with aircraft that you wanted at least 180F for oil to cook off the moisture, I think my oil runs about 160 ish. You can get a real good idea what your oil temp is with an IR thermometer and shoot the oil filter.
If your mostly always cruising at low power, I doubt an oil cooler is an asset.

Makes sense. The water only stays really hot for a couple of months anyway & hopefully we'll be in Maine when that happens. Wishful thinking...

[puffcard]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

I'm hoping to get a new Beta in this winter. I'm curious why you went with the 35 instead of the 38? I assume that, like me, you are attracted to the lower rpms. I spoke with Stan last week at the St Pete Boat Show & he thought the 35 was the way to go because the hp difference is so slight. The only reason I'm considering the 38 is the additional oil cooler. Being in Florida the water can get quite warm in the summer & I'm thinking that an oil cooler might be a big help. According to Stan, with their advanced fuel delivery systems, running these motors at lower rpms for extended periods of time does not hurt them.

I'm using the same Hurth transmission, and prop as before with the W50. So figured my cruising RPMs will be right under 2k. Same basic motor, the 35 has a better torque curve at the lower RPM. I also didn't want anything to do with an oil cooler, I ruin a motor when the oil cooler failed. I also have the hot water (chlorinator) output, so the FW system has about two gallons of coolant. We also run the blower while running the motor, helps everything stay cooler, including alternator and transmission. Another thing if your running hot, take a look at the prop might be over pitched. My understanding these little motor are tough as nails. Happy so far.

[puffcard]

Originally Posted by SpaceRnglr

True... It is getting sent to the dumpster next week. I put an add up locally but if anyone on here wants an older Lombardini 2004 for free send me a PM. Earlier poster saying the head and exhaust manifold are worth something is probably correct, but I don’t have time at the moment to deal with it and would almost certainly have to ship them overseas...

Scrape metal guy should take it worth about $40 scrap. I was two days from scrapping mine and it ran great, just leaked like all British motors do.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by puffcard

I'm using the same Hurth transmission, and prop as before with the W50. So figured my cruising RPMs will be right under 2k. Same basic motor, the 35 has a better torque curve at the lower RPM. I also didn't want anything to do with an oil cooler, I ruin a motor when the oil cooler failed. I also have the hot water (chlorinator) output, so the FW system has about two gallons of coolant. We also run the blower while running the motor, helps everything stay cooler, including alternator and transmission. Another thing if your running hot, take a look at the prop might be over pitched. My understanding these little motor are tough as nails. Happy so far.

It didn't occur to me that the oil cooler could be a weak link but makes sense. I don't plan to over prop it so that won't be a problem & I'll also be running the coolant through a water heater. Setting up a blower that I can run full time to cool the engine compartment is on my list of things to do. I have to say that in spite of the cost & necessary work I'm really excited about going from a Volvo 2003T to the Beta 35. A slight drop in horse power but I think it's a huge increase in reliability.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

It didn't occur to me that the oil cooler could be a weak link but makes sense. I don't plan to over prop it so that won't be a problem & I'll also be running the coolant through a water heater. Setting up a blower that I can run full time to cool the engine compartment is on my list of things to do. I have to say that in spite of the cost & necessary work I'm really excited about going from a Volvo 2003T to the Beta 35. A slight drop in horse power but I think it's a huge increase in reliability.

Depending on the rpm of your old Volvo you might find the Beta with it's flat torque curve is actually more powerful at the lower rpm' s we tend to motor at.

[puffcard]

I do notice a little less power. I went from 41 to 35, which is 15% less. With the old motor it was very hard to get the temp up. The old was 100lbs heavier and always seemed to just be barely working. Also the top end was noticeably stronger, I could drive thru about anything. The new is a much better fit for our boat and what a dream to work on. It was a joy to bleed and it started right up. The old Westerbeke was very hard to bleed. Don't forget to get our cruising spare parts. Get the water pump impeller thru Beta and the rest belt and filters from NAPA. The Gold oil filters are like $4.60 and are excellent made by WIX.

The reliability was the reason we repowered. Cruising a little further and it's a real pain working on boats as we get older. Last year we blew a head gasket in the Bahamas, what fun that is sailing out of the cuts with no motor. That's when I decided to go with a new motor. If I was just sailing around home, I would of kept the old motor and kept my tow insurance up to the gold level.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Depending on the rpm of your old Volvo you might find the Beta with it's flat torque curve is actually more powerful at the lower rpm' s we tend to motor at.

You're right about that. The 2003T is a high rpm motor similar to the Beta 38 but, like you, we like to cruise at lower rpms, usually around 2200 so the lower revving 35 is much better suited to our type of cruising. It's interesting that all of the Betas larger than the 38 are also the lower revving motors and all of the motors smaller than the 35 are high revving.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

You're right about that. The 2003T is a high rpm motor similar to the Beta 38 but, like you, we like to cruise at lower rpms, usually around 2200 so the lower revving 35 is much better suited to our type of cruising. It's interesting that all of the Betas larger than the 38 are also the lower revving motors and all of the motors smaller than the 35 are high revving.

We pulled out a British Thornycroft 50 and installed a new Beta 50, it was night and day in power, the Beta is swinging a larger prop and the power difference is hard to believe. We used to motor at 2500 rpm and in flat water no wind we would get 6 knots, we now get the same speed at 1900rpm.

[SpaceRnglr]

Launched the boat today. The new Beta 50 ran fine in the yard’s dock, but about 1NM away started overheating... anchored up to let it cool and confirmed sea intake, strainer, impeller, and coolant level all ok... Restarted and ran 5 min before alarm went again. By that time I had the sails up and made it back to my swing morning under sail. The local dealer is coming tomorrow for commissioning part 2. A couple lessons. 1) wish I had paid extra for temp gauge. 2) sails really come in handy when the engine has troubles... hope they can fix tomorrow!

[Scout 30]

Without a temp gauge, or even with one, I'd get a non-contact infrared thermometer. I've used one of the Harbor Freight models for years & it's been really handy. No point in any of us guessing what's wrong since it'll be checked out soon. Keep us posted.

https://www.harborfreight.com/non-co...ing-60725.html

[puffcard]

Air trapped in coolant, is a problem I had. Look at the problem in two sides, FW and SW. Are you pumping enough water out the exhaust? Then the SW side is sat. Do you have an IR temperature reader to verify temp.

[SpaceRnglr]

Wanted to give an update. The overheating was caused mostly due to the through hull being too small. The old Lombardini had a 3/4 inch thruhull but the Beta requires a minimum 1 1/4 inch. I think there was also some air somewhere in the system as the engine never overheated again in 2-3 hours of running before it got hauled out to replace the thru hull. Luckily the yard agreed to replace the through hull for free, including lift, so it turned out easy to fix.

I also missed the on engine fuel pump only allowing a small amount of lift from the bilge mounted diesel tank. When the engine is at high rev it occasionally losses 100-200 rpm. I have the pump to fix it now and will install it in the next few months when I do a larger inspection of the diesel tank. For now it runs fine for the purposes of day sailing but it will be fixed before any offshore work.

In hindsight I spent all my time making sure the dimensions of the engine would work in the engine bay, but took for granted some of the auxiliary systems. I should have spent more time with the (very good) Beta manual before I bought the engine. Had I done that I would have had Beta tap the exhaust elbow for the shaft seal supply. The yard took care of that with a fitting in the raw water outlet downstream of the heat exchanger--it certainly works but isn't as clean.

Still very happy with the Beta. The satisfaction and security of the engine starting 1/2 second after turning the key is a great feeling.