Engine protection during road transport?

[Cloven]

Having read empee's post & subsequent replies, we are planning to transport our boat by road from Scotland to southern Brittany in spring. Should I take any particular precautions concerning the engine? Boat will have been laid up for 6 months and engine winterised at lay up. Engine is Yanmar 2GM20F.

Any helpful replies appreciated.

Dave

 

[nedmin]

I cannot see any problems it will move a lot less than if it was in a rough sea.Moved present boat from Valence to UK with no problems.Dont forget to remove any canopy,s ,I took my windscreen off also.If they do 50mph against a headwind there are some forces involved.

 

[Guest]

If water system is drained out .... engine winterised ..... exhaust was plugged outside to stop condensation / ingress of rain etc. Then what is problem ?

My boat with straight exhaust, no water-lock, swan-neck, or box was lifted .... water inlet seacock left open to drain ..... placed on truck and driven across europe to Baltic for 4 days ..... Arrived Latvia, I then took top of seacock, inserted garden hose ... started engine - blew out all salt water etc. with fresh, and for final stopped the water and emptied about 4 ltrs of antifreeze neat into the system ..... once that had pumped into system and most expelled from exhaust - stopped engine, put top back on seacock and left it open.

I don't say everyone can do that .... but worked for my boat.

 

[tcm]

as others say, engine no prob imho. You shd be far more concerned about other parts of the boat, zooming along at record 50+knot speeds. Canopies off and praps a light smear of polish (unbuffed) over the boat wd be an idea.

 

[Cloven]

Thanks all for reassurance. All obvious already done, sprayhood off, wind genny off & all loose bits & pieces secured.

tcm - thanks for tip on unbuffed polish - help to keep road grime at bay.

 

[William_H]

Interesting that the military with jet engines connect a small electric motor to the engine to slowly rotate the turbines to prevent damage to the bearings with road vibration. Maybe this is where you got your concern. No a small diesel engine should be no problem (or a large for that matter) having large area shell bearings. (compared to huge mass and ball or roller bearings in a jet) olewill

 

[Guest]

Area of concern ?

No I think he got it from the water in via exhaust post ... where they speculate movement of boat caused water in 2 cylinders.

 

[Avocet]

Re: Area of concern ?

There is one area I've often wondered about....

Depending on how the engine is mounted and the propshaft is connected. If you have an old-fashioned propshaft running in a stern tube with no coupling that allows the engine to move on its mountings independently of the shaft, I've often wondered if you could give the front gland and / or the point where it attaches to the boat structure a hard time whilst on a truck. Similarly, if you have a saildrive, whether the gasket will see more movement as the truck goes over bumps than it would when at sea? Obviously, with a fully jointed coupling there will be no problems and its also true that the engine hops about a bit on its own mountings anyway when running. I just wondered if it might move further when on the road?

I wouldn't let this worry you excessively though. I've moved ours by road before I fitted a double-jointed coupling and it didn't seem to mind!