Bob,
I had a friend before he died that built a 60' concrete catch in Okinawa and
after the hull was finished took it to Yokohama to get the rig installed. As
he was motoring up the Ryukyu Island chain, the engine overheated with a
failed sal****er pump impeller. He stopped the engine, changed the impeller
as he had a spare and went to restart the engine, but bilge water shorted
the starter. The boat foundered, washed up on a coral reef and was lost. Do
you really want an electric starter? You have a choice, hydraulic or air.
Most hydraulic starters work off the front of the crank shaft. They are VERY
violent and unless the crank was designed for this very high torque shock,
it will shear the snout of the crank clean off at the front main bearing.
You have been warned! Now, air is a different animal all together. It comes
in 2 flavors high pressure and low pressure. Low pressure =8 to 9 bar
(130psi). High pressure = 12-15 bar. Both systems are good, but require
dual air storage and at least two compressors,so this is big boat stuff
because of the space requirement.
Steve

"Bob" wrote in message
...
Hi all:

Does anyone here have a hydraulic start engine in their sailboat? Id
especially like to hear from those with 50 HP.

Stuff like where ya got the starter or any reliability issues.
Bob