On Oct 24, 7:10 pm, Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:12:26 -0000, "jim.isbell"



wrote:
On Oct 23, 7:56 pm, wrote:
We were told by our boatyard that our boat needs a new engine to
replace a Westerbeke 40 hp. The yard gave us a preliminary estimate of
$17,000. Seems a little high. What should we expect?
Also, is Westerbeke the one to buy?

Thanks,

You might want to consider either a 50 HP Perkins NA 4 cyl, which can
be had for under $2500 on E Bay, or a 51 HP Volvo Turbo 3 cyl. I have
one of each in my two boats and am completely happy with them both.
The Perkins is bullet proof, and it is on my Gulfstar 36. The Volvo
puts out a lot of power for its size...very small, its on the Albin
25. Both are available in good used condition for less than
$2500 . There is a rebuilt Perkins 4-108 (4 cyl 50 HP) with zero
hours on Ebay this morning for $3500 on a "buy it now" offer. Do a
search for "Perkins Diesel". The parts for the Perkins are easy to
get and relatively cheap for a marine diesel but the Volvo parts are
really high...like they were gold plated. The Perkins 4-108 would be
perfect for your boat and getting it for $3500 with zero hours I dont
see how you could spend more that $7000 after it was installed and
running. That's a savings of $10,000. That's a lot of rum punch.

A couple of comments here. First of all the Perkins 4-108 is about a
20 year old engine based on an even older design. Parts difficult to
find and getting pretty expensive. I have an earlier model, the 4-107,
which has been chugging away down in the in the bilge for many years,
but there are more modern models that out perform it, particularly on
a weight to horsepower basis

The Volvo parts tend to be expensive so if you have to make any
repairs it is usually very costly.

I'm not sure what the Perkins 50 HP engine is based on but it is
probably a Japanese industrial engine of some sort. If the basic
engine and its parts are available where you are it is usually the
cheapest alternative in the event repairs become necessary.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(Note:displayed e-mail
address is a spam trap)

My 4-108 was built in 1983 and while that is 20 years old, I dont
consider it to be "old". In computer terms, a 20 year old computer is
"old", but in engine terms, an engine is not. Parts are readily
available here in the US and are relatively cheap. No parts for a
marine diesel are cheap, however.

BUT, the marinised Kabota is another very inexpensive diesel. I dont
have any data on the reliability of the Kabota however, and I do on
the Perkins. They are virtually bulletproof. In my last boat, a 44ft
Bruce Roberts steel hulled ketch, I had a Perkins 6-354 and in my
Gulfstar 36 I have the 4-108 and you just cannot hurt these engines
with missuse. They will come back from anything. The Volvo is a
great engine but is not as reliable and as I stated before the parts
are expensive.