Repower Regrets?

[boatpoker]

Another thing to consider ... availability of chosen engine.
We ordered a new Beta 50 3 months ago and were told the ealiest delivery was May 2023 ARRRRGHHH !

A few weeks back we found a new, 3yr old Beta 50 still in the original shipping pallet at a non-Beta dealer. We cancelled our factory order and bought that one instead. Had it in a week.

Check out availability before making plans. We found similar supply chain issues with every manufacturer we looked at.

We like Great Bridge VA but after 3 months here we wanna move on for cryin' out loud.

[kenbo]

Moose,

Simply put either engine will move the boat. But they are both a bit light since neither will get the boat to hull speed at WOT. The 43 will get you to 7.1 and the 35 to 6.6 at WOT.

The posted hp numbers by Beta are shaft hp on the dyno with no alternator or water pump">raw water pump. I assume you'll want both and a big alternator as well.

Get the 43 and use a smaller diameter prop with more pitch. Don't modify the aperture, it's not worth the effort. What's the largest prop you can fit without mods and acceptable clearance?

[moosemaxmann]

Originally Posted by Ericson38

We had Kubota 5432 engines into two Ericson 38s. Had to clean heat exchangers once every couple of years, but otherwise great engines. Ericsons were 16K pounds in the slings, maybe 4K lbs lighter than your DE. Ran wide open many times in difficulties, although on the west coast where water temperatures are in the 60-70 range. Not the Carribean in the 80s-90s range.

Great for reference. We have a Universal 5432. Over time, there was a weird split dry/wet exhaust and water heater delete to try to address it. I recently replaced every piece of the cooling system, and still we can't run at over 1900rpm without imitating the ship in The Fog...the fog being a giant steam cloud, not undead pirates though.

It also has a blown main seal, so that could be a contributing factor. I also wonder if the exhaust rise on the Ericsons might be less extreme...and maybe that could be a part of it...

[kenbo]

Originally Posted by Searles

The best result, in my experience would be to go with the 35 hp AND a 3/1 gear box,swinging as big as possible feathering prop ,this keeps the shaft speed down and reduces the chances of cavitation with reasonable tip clearance ,⛵️⚓️

He doesn't have the aperture clearance for that. This is a case where you fit the largest prop that'll fit and work forwards to the engine/gearbox.

[rslifkin]

A prop design with more blade area will help compensate for a smaller then optimal diameter. Especially if you're only an inch or 2 short.

[moosemaxmann]

Originally Posted by kenbo

Moose,

Simply put either engine will move the boat. But they are both a bit light since neither will get the boat to hull speed at WOT. The 43 will get you to 7.1 and the 35 to 6.6 at WOT.

The posted hp numbers by Beta are shaft hp on the dyno with no alternator or raw water pump. I assume you'll want both and a big alternator as well.

Get the 43 and use a smaller diameter prop with more pitch. Don't modify the aperture, it's not worth the effort. What's the largest prop you can fit without mods and acceptable clearance?

Wow, I didn't know that about the dyno rating. Ya I think we'll order with the 120amp alternator. We have a 16" 2-blade now, and to my eye, we only have a finger width and a half of clearance. I'm having our diver measure to verify. We will likely upgrade to a 16" 3-Blade feathering Maxprop. Someone on a DE38 forum mentioned having a 17", but I wonder if they adopted a boat that had been modified or are running a very low clearance. I have seen the DE38s with up to 58hp on Yachtworld, but I can't imagine that doesn't result in an exercise of fuel guzzling and digging a deeper hole in the water at anything over 3/4 throttle.

[Wotname]

If you reject the 43 for any of the reasons posted upthread, then I would choose the 38 over the 35. AFAIK, the 35 and 38 are same basic engine. The additional 3 hp comes from the higher rpm.

Fitting the 38 gives you the option to utilise the additional hp on the few occasions you might find you really want it otherwise, throttle back to the hp you need as required.

[pcmm]

I would go for the slightly larger engine. modifiying the engine beds is less of a big scary deal than most make of it! I've been there and done that when I repowered my Morgan OI 41 from a Perkins to a Yanmar. I had to both drop the engine beds, change the angle AND narrow them a bit to accomodate the engine. Just takes a bunch of measuring, templating and building some jigs. but all the information is in the owners and service manuals to get this done, you just have to do your homework. took me a few weekends to figure it out and glass in new mounts.

[Ericson38]

Originally Posted by moosemaxmann

Great for reference. We have a Universal 5432. Over time, there was a weird split dry/wet exhaust and water heater delete to try to address it. I recently replaced every piece of the cooling system, and still we can't run at over 1900rpm without imitating the ship in The Fog...the fog being a giant steam cloud, not undead pirates though.

It also has a blown main seal, so that could be a contributing factor. I also wonder if the exhaust rise on the Ericsons might be less extreme...and maybe that could be a part of it...

Ours had oil pans that were really just heavy thick flat plates attached with many cap screws to the bottom of a very deep skirted block and held 9 qts oil. Standard Universal mixing tee, no dry section, tee hanging right off the end of the exhaust manifold.

[nmccubbin]

We have a Beta 60 (53HP) on a larger boat
Practical speeds depend on sea state

Pleased with Beta
I would go for the smaller one, and be sur prop is adequate

If you get an easily adjustable Max prop you can optimisé

[cottonsail]

We have a 15,000 lbs sailboat with a displacement hull. The original engine saw seized beyond repair. It was 21 HP. The replacement engine was a 37 HP Westerbeke, used and rebuilt. It was just OK with constant minor problems and oil leaks. 3 years ago we replaced that with a Volvo Pente D2-50. I could not be happier with this engine. The boat has over 3 HP per thousand pounds. I could not live with less HP. Just my experience. I do not recommend Volvo Penta. Great engine, horrible company to deal with. They do not have a national (in the US) tech support line.

[limte]

Except for the hp the specs for the Beta 35 and Beta 38 are identical. Same displacement, same weight, same engine dimensions. The 38 is the same engine as the 35, but tricked out to produce more hp at higher rpms. The Beta 35 produces 35hp at 2,800 rpms; the Beta 38 produces 38hp at 3,600 rpms. The TMC 60 gearbox is recommended for both engines. The cruising rpm for the Beta 38 is 3,000.

[nmccubbin]

Agreed Volvo is horrible to deal with. We have bad experience in Borge Europe and North America
We replaced with a Beta

[malbert73]

Beta 50 for us is great, and slightly overpropped (with an EGT I had installed to properly measure load). Which basically detunes it to lower HP with lower RPM operation.

Beta 43 would have been plenty for our boat but we instead can run at moderate load and 7 knots at a quiet 1850 RPM with plenty more room if we need to power up.

RPMs are often used as a proxy for load but recall truck diesels don’t run at 80% WOT RPM and last forever - of course due to gears. I wish someone would make a 2 speed tranny for sailboats.

[kenbo]

Originally Posted by malbert73

Beta 50 for us is great, and slightly overpropped (with an EGT I had installed to properly measure load). Which basically detunes it to lower HP with lower RPM operation.

Beta 43 would have been plenty for our boat but we instead can run at moderate load and 7 knots at a quiet 1850 RPM with plenty more room if we need to power up.

RPMs are often used as a proxy for load but recall truck diesels don’t run at 80% WOT RPM and last forever - of course due to gears. I wish someone would make a 2 speed tranny for sailboats.

Gori makes a two-speed prop.