Repowering a 4108 Questions Yanmar or Beta

[Captain Randy]

Good Day All!

This October I will be re-powering my old Perkins 4108 and am in the process of learning/deciding between a Yanmar 4JHE57 and a Beta 50. The price of the Yanmar with transmission and V-drive is $20K. I still need to get a price on the Beta 50 with tranny and V-drive. I am trying to understand the difference between the two brands as I read good (mostly) on both options. I also need to understand the Yanmar "Single Rail System" that I read here about vs. a Beta naturally aspirated I believe. So yea I am in learning research mode as we will leave Southern California next year in our re-fitted 86 Cheoy Lee Pedric 41 for points south and beyond and want to make the best informed decision (money aside)

I would welcome opinions and guidance from those in the know or went through or going to be doing a similar repower. As for the Perkins (even thought it runs fine) I am going with new. By the way this running motor will be available in October in Long Beach, CA.

As always I appreciate the CF experience and advise.

Thanks
CR

[nhschneider]

We repowered before we left on our circumnavigation, replacing a Volvo MD40A with a Beta Marine 90 and have been very happy with our decision. While I have a lot of respect for the Perkins 4-108, if I were in your shoes, I, too, would install a new engine rather than opting for a rebuild.

Before we selected the Beta Marine, I closely looked at the Volvo D3 series and the Yanmar 4JH series. The Volvo was eliminated from consideration because it hadn't yet cleared EPA requirements at the time. I studied the Yanmar carefully but, in the end, I determined that the Yanmar was purposely built for the recreational marine market while the Beta Marine is a Kubota tractor engine, designed for the agricultural/construction industries.

If you've ever spent any time around either the agricultural or construction industries, you know that time is money. The equipment operator is rarely the equipment owner and the equipment is often abused and over-worked ("Get that foundation dug by 4 this afternoon because I've got a crew coming in tomorrow morning to start laying rebar! If it's not ready, your ass is grass and I'm a lawn mower!"). The poor excavator operator pushes everything on the excavator, including the engine, letting it run at Wide Open Throttle for hours on end because he doesn't want his ass to be grass. However, the engine handles it because that's what it was designed for.

On the other hand, the Yanmar was designed for the pleasure craft industry and the 4JH series is specifically designed for sailboats. Yanmar engineers know well that this is a very light-duty application as most boat owners rarely put more than 200 hours on an engine per year and when they do operate their engines, it's virtually never at WOT. Most pleasure craft is operated by the owner and that person is less likely to abuse the engine as almost never are they threatened with their asses becoming grass.

In our travels, there have been multiple times when we've had to run our engine at WOT but I have done so without any concern. The engine runs smooth and has never overheated. Granted, the Yanmar would have given us many years of reliable service but the Beta Marine gives us an extra level of confidence that it could tolerate a higher level of abuse if the situation was extreme.

Fair winds and calm seas.