Repowered Engine

[joecai]

I am looking at a 44 year old sailboat with a repowered engine. It now has basically a brand new Yanmar 3JH40. I have never owned a sailboat but have sailed on a few, so a little concerned whether the new engine is a good fit. Is this a more desirable situation vs a low hour well maintained original engine ( I believe it had a westerbrook 50). Is there anything to look out for while inspecting the boat? Also how much value would this new engine add to the price of the boat?

Thanks in advance.

[rslifkin]

If the repower was done well, then I'd say it'll increase value at least a little. And it'll likely make the boat more desirable, as it's a more modern engine with good parts support, vs an old engine that may have parts availability challenges (even if it's all in good condition).

When shopping for a boat, original vs repower wouldn't be a make or break in my mind. I'd care more that whatever is in there is in good condition, checks out healthy, is suitable power for the boat, has parts available to maintain it, etc. When it was installed doesn't really factor into that much.

[Statistical]

There is nothing suspicious about a repowered 44 year old boat. It is unlikely you are going to find any low hours 44 year old boats. Any that are probably just means the hour meter was replaced at some point.

The Yanmar is slightly lower output apples to apples but negligible. The W50 did 41 HP @ 3200 and 40 HP at 3000 rpm continuous. The Yanmar is around 37ish (eyeballing the graph) HP@ 3000 rpm continuous .

I would have no issues with a low hours repower like this. If the engines had different power curves, WOT rpms, etc then you may want to make sure the prop makes sense but these are so close even if they only replaced the engine and kept everything else it is fine.

The engine mounting points are going to be different so done right that would require some work. Just check the PO didn't hack together something. Given how much a new engine is I really doubt it but you never know.

[Windpilot]

Idk but i think the engine might be too small, I had a 3jh on a 34' boat, a 4jh in my current 41'.

[joecai]

I got the idea. Thanks a lot for your response.