Engine Replacement

[jazzgtr]

Looking at repowering my Swanson 38 as I can no longer get parts for the original BMW D50.

Has anyone any experience/recommendations for mechanics in Brisbane/Gold Coast area, really hard to find anyone interested, the bigger shops only seem to want to work on superyachts, that's where the money is apparently.

Went through this a couple of years ago with another boat, bought a Beta engine from Sydney and went to their recommended installer, he fobbed me off for 6 months, in the end I sold the boat and engine to a marine mechanic.

[skipperpete]

What are you repowering with, a similar sized engine or bigger. If you need to change the exhaust diameter to install a Yanmar, that adds a lot to the cost and complexity , as does a propshaft and coupling. The Boatworks at Coomera has a lot of workshops that seem to be very professional from recent contact with that facility.

[stormalong]

With some thought and planning you can DIY it. I replaced my 4-108 with a Beta 50 20 years ago. The only labor I hired was a boatyard to crane out the old engine and crane in the new. I did the job in less that a week but spent about twice that time just staring and planning.

Looking at the big picture may be intimidating but breaking the job down by "systems" makes the job less so.

First is the mount and alignment. Beta will make custom brackets to put their engine on the existing beds. Measure, measure again and measure again until you get consistent numbers. That is the toughest part of the job.

Exhaust , fuel and electrical systems; shaft alignment are easier to do if you concentrate on one at a time.

Still have the same boat and engine. Over 4000 hours on it.

I am not a professional mechanic, Before becoming a cruiser I did IBM mainframe operating system software for a living.