"Franz Eckert" wrote in
. dk:

Okay Larry, let me tell you my story.

Here in Demark we pay so many taxes, that we have to do
everything ourselves
:-)

For 5 years ago i bought a old military coast control boat.
30 feet, 5 tons, two Mercedes 180 installed.

I was happy, my own boat, yappiiii.

But then the engines began to fail, they were old, very
old. I took out one, and send it for a complete overhaul.
That costs me in the area of 2000 Dollars. NO MORE i said.
So when the second began to fail, and was due to a
overhaul, i simply took out the old engines, and then
started to remove all the old wood that was rotten. One
thing lead to another, ans soon i was standig there with a
30 foot open rowboat. Everything was rotten. I had to
reinforce the bow with 10 layers og glasfiber, because
there was absolutely no wood underneath.
At the same time i removed about 15 pipes through the hull,
they were of no use, and i don't know what they ever where
there for. So i started looking around for some suitable
engines (cheap), and found two Golf Diesel 1.6 liters on
the Internet, they costs me about 80 $. It took me (and a
friend) about 2 months making my gears fit on the new
engines, but finally we succeded. Then i started rebuilding
the entire boat, completely new interior, and new top.
It has taken me almost 3 years, and i am still not done
yet. The gears were of the type with a loooong gearchange
handle, so usual morse cable would not hold for long ( i
had already broken 3). So i thought that maybe air pressure
and one air piston on each gear maybe could do the trick.
And despite what everybody told me, i made it work. I also
had to make a new fuel tank. There were two in the old
days, but they flowed from one tank to the other, in a 1/4
inch hose, that took about 1 hour before they leveled out.
The fuel outlet was in the bottom of the tank, so my
filters keept getting real dirty. Almost everything was
made by peoble that had absolutely no idear about what they
were doing. So redoing the boat was a good idear, it has
become much stronger and reliable, and now i know exactly
how everything is put together.

So now i can enjoy sailing again, but there still needs a
lot of finishing touch to the boat.
Tell me, just to make me real ****ty overhere, what is the
comon price on two used disel engines, around 70-100 HP,
with gear and everything?

If you like i can send you a link to some pictures that
illustrates me rebuilding the boat.

Wkr
Franz


Yo, Franz
Would love to see that!

The last madman ist born yet - I thought it was me....
I have started out on a 28-footer GRP fishing boat hull, sawn
in 3 pieces (and then some)to get decommission pay from the
guvinmint.
I now have the MF aligned and put together - almost all holes
patched, filled, ground etc - and now it awaits osmosis
coating on a totally raw bottom.

But I get off the track....

We're talking engines here...
Well at the local scrapyard I could get a renovated drive line
105 HP marine diesel engine with gear, driveshaft, stern tube
and prop for roughly 10,000 USD + 25% taxes (The VAT has never
caught on in Jutland, however).
And we are talking about us normal, half-broke guys, right?

So good & wise people said:
Since running a diesel with a propeller means 75% output on
the prop, and since the load on the engine corresponds to
constantly driving uphill, go for someting big and solid (I
need 1.5 t. of ballast anyway) and prefreably 6 or 8 cylinders
to minimize vibration.

So my choice of engine turned out to be a Nissan diesel
(Patrol style) 6-cyl. 130 Hp about 15 yr. old diesel. reputed
to be indestructible.
Of course I have to construct a watercooled exhaust flange in
order not to get an exhaust that's too hot to handle, and
provide it with a fresh water cooling system (Sea water won't
do for a number of reasons).
No sweat - almost.
But I got the first one for free - we will test run that one
during the winter and if it turns out OK, we drop it in.
The engine room is made with ample space for a bigger engine,
though.
But the bottom line of this long yarn is that I can get a
renovated and tested Patrol engine for roughly 2000 USD.

The Golf diesel is a good one - but beware the cooling!

And anyway it's better to lose an engine than THE engine :-)

Good Luck
Ole