New engine choice, volvo or beta?

Think it was Pete (prv) who had the panel. not difficult to do.

Builders would not want that bother. Engine builders have already gone part way by having fuel/oil on one side, electrics on the other and water pumps on the front. Access is superb on my boat with opening panels in the aft cabin and the loo for the sides and the whole front which doubles as step lifts on gas struts. a more modestly sized person could almost climb inside. However other boats we looked at were appalling, particularly the one with the engine mounted facing aft of the saildrive to increase the amount of room in the saloon.

Bavaria have their engines delivered fully assembled with saildrives and on their GRP bed shaped to fit the hull. So lower them in, glass in the bed, connect fuel and electrics and ready to go. it is attention to detail like that which means it takes only 4 days to mould and assemble a small boat like mine from scratch.
 
Had 3 charter boats that do get heavy use but that shows up engine faults earlier.

First two had Volvo engines and had Volvo folding prop go in less that 1yr. Next had engine seize at 531hrs and 13 months old, Volvo did not want to know! later clutch went and had bearings go in saildrive leg. After I sold it the whole saildrive leg broke off, Never sure whether something managed to hit it avoiding both the rudder and the keel or saildrive bearing seized.

Third boat my specification was nothing with Volvo bits on it. Sad as I like the elan 43, the Dufour44 but choose the Jeanneau 43 DS with Yanmar engine. Engine now done 3800hrs and no problems.

Guess what my choice of replacement engine would be!!
 
Sailfree said:
Had 3 charter boats that do get heavy use but that shows up engine faults earlier.

First two had Volvo engines and had Volvo folding prop go in less that 1yr. Next had engine seize at 531hrs and 13 months old, Volvo did not want to know! later clutch went and had bearings go in saildrive leg. After I sold it the whole saildrive leg broke off, Never sure whether something managed to hit it avoiding both the rudder and the keel or saildrive bearing seized.

Third boat my specification was nothing with Volvo bits on it. Sad as I like the elan 43, the Dufour44 but choose the Jeanneau 43 DS with Yanmar engine. Engine now done 3800hrs and no problems.

Guess what my choice of replacement engine would be!!
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What do you mean when you say 'had a folding prop go'?
 
On first folding prop the teeth broke leaving one blade out. Replaced under warrantee. Second one the splines wore causing vibrations.. volvo suggested i got a refund from them to buy any other make i wanted. Bought a variprop geathering prop which withstood the charter market well.

EDIT Had a variprop on all 3 boats now. My understanding of the situation in 1999 was that a folding prop labelled Volvo was made by Redice and had softish material for splines and 3 segment external anodes that quickly corroded by their centre SS screw and flew off leaving the prop vulnerable to de zincification. Through "suggestions" I got the impression that Volvo was aware of these limitations and would in future have a better prop but at that time accepted that the Volvo folding prop at that time would not survive 1yr year on the charter market say 500hrs - hence wanted me to buy any other make (each time Volvo had to pay haul out charges, replace shaft etc. WRT prop problems Volvo honoured their warrantee How robust their current folding prop is I cannot comment. WRT prop problems Volvo honoured their warrantee however I was disappointed by their lack of response when engine seized at 13 months and their Hamble agent at that time was repairing 3, almost new, seized engines.
 
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I'm not saying that Beta is any better or worse than other makes, however this is my experience, having installed a Beta 25 about six years ago.

Mine has the older style of heat-exchanger, which is a bit of a bother to service as the alternator has to be completely unbolted so the front bolt of the h/e stack can be withdrawn for the unit to be removed to be cleaned (and the rear bolt also of course). New engines come with an improved h/e design which is slightly less of a faff. Cleaning must be done each year and the o-rings renewed (and coolant topped up or fully-replaced).

I didn't do this for two years and subsequently had problems with the h/e tank which corroded (it is aluminium while both the stack and the filler necks are bronze!), which became an expensive replacement!

At the same time, possibly as a result of corrosion, the coolant drain cock at the base of the engine became completely blocked, then (being soft cast iron) it broke off at the elbow altogether, the removal of which was then fouled by both the base of the dipstick collar and the adjacent foot-mounting bracket. Much faff later (temporary mounting-bracket removal), the whole ill-designed drain-off solution was replaced with a length of high-pressure hose with a robust cock-fitting at the waggy end, so now much easier to drain the whole system each year!

The only other thing that hasn't been a complete success is the engine-oil drain pump (i.e. the fitted 'bike-pump' thingy), the handle of which can pull off the internal head altogether unless one is very gentle in operating it.

Otherwise a complete treat, very reliable, cleaner and way quieter than the original Bukh (engine bay insulation also helps hugely) and not too expensive on consumable parts.
 
The only reasons I mentioned the alternator was that the Volvo comes with a big, 115amp 120 amp?, alternator as standard and I thought that though the engines cost the same the Beta might have been quoted with a smaller alternator - not that increasing the size of an alternator is a deal breaker.
 
Tranona said:
Think it was Pete (prv) who had the panel. not difficult to do.
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Indeed. I also have the oil filter remote-mounted and a hose permanently attached to the oil drain ready for a Pela sucker to simply plug in. It all makes servicing very quick and easy and completely mess-free.

Appreciate that a mass builder like Bavaria don't want to bother with such frills, though you'd think that one of the slightly more bespoke yards would pick up on the idea. The additional cost is trivial when you're moulding lots of GRP bits and bobs anyway, and a nicely-appointed service bay might just swing the deal for some owners. The sort of moboist that goes in for "trawler yachts" often seems to get their jollies over that kind of thing, anyway.

Pete
 
prv said:
Indeed. I also have the oil filter remote-mounted and a hose permanently attached to the oil drain ready for a Pela sucker to simply plug in. It all makes servicing very quick and easy and completely mess-free.

Appreciate that a mass builder like Bavaria don't want to bother with such frills, though you'd think that one of the slightly more bespoke yards would pick up on the idea. The additional cost is trivial when you're moulding lots of GRP bits and bobs anyway, and a nicely-appointed service bay might just swing the deal for some owners. The sort of moboist that goes in for "trawler yachts" often seems to get their jollies over that kind of thing, anyway.

Pete
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Pete,

It was one of the neatest bits of kit I have seen - I was impressed. I don't understand why we do not see more of something similar - as you say if you are making up lots of mouldings one extra would cost zilch - all you need is some extra pipe work. I confess to some tardiness and have not got round to making all the modification. However we have mounted a remote oil filter on both engines alongside the CAV filter - so we got half way there, and its the oil that makes all the mess. We have enough room under the oil and CAV filter to take a halved 10l liquid detergent (washing machine) container underneath.

Our motivation was we only have sensible front access, impeller and alternator end, and to change the oil filter meant lying on top of the engine and hanging down the 'oil filter' side, hot, uncomfortable and very messy.

The biggest problem was sourcing the screw on adaptors for each end of the pipework. The only source we found was specialist 4WD/4x4 retail outlets. Pipework etc was easy.
 
Isn't it amazing how a thread can develop a life of its own?
The new d1/30 should be installed next week.
Thanks for your advice.
 
I've had both and would always choose the Beta. Volvo make their money by getting the engines fitted originally by the builder , presumably offering attractive deals and then charging extremely high prices for spares for the decades that the engine remains in service. It's a good business model for them but not for us. Beta doesn't have that original installation market so has to persuade us to buy by being reasonable on after sales costs.
 
The reality is if you are buying a new motor, spares are an irrelevance. You will not need any until around 1,000hrs and then you need an exhaust elbow - its hardly deal breaking.

If you buy a second hand yacht with 2000 hours on the engine - you will live with the engine, its not often its going to be the deter you from the one you (and your wife) fall in love with.

Donside - there has been some chat on the new relay box on the D series. Some do not like them and have the old relay bow installed - I don't know if you will get comment on this thread it might be worth raising. The new box has no user serviceable parts and is very expensive, the old box came as a bundle of wires and separately relays (that them selves caused issues) but you could replace them.

But I think your engine choice fine. Best wishes

Just a thought.

Jonathan
 
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