replacing old petrol engines with diesels. advice needed.

Phill

Phill

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I want to remove my two ageing Volvo 130 hp 4 cyl petrols and replace with diesels. The boat is only used on inland waterways now, so thought I might get away with a pair of smaller diesels.
Would like to hear from anyone who has experience of this and could offer me any advice?
Thanks

Phill.
 
I'm hoping to replace exactly the same ageing 125 hp Volvo's with diesels. I'm going to go for the mercruiser 1.7d's ( 120hp) subject to permission from swmbo!! I'm hoping to keep the performance that you won't need on inland waterways. i would suggest you think carefully about resale value. A 20 knot twin diesel boat is worth much more than the same 6-7 knot twin boat. But of course twin 45 hp ( approx ) diesels will be much cheaper in the first place...its all a balance...cheers Iain
 
I understand what your saying about resale and its a good point. I was thinking that there's probably a larger market for an old Princess 33 for inland use than coastal but I'm probably wrong. Anyway as the boat suits our needs, I can't see us selling for a good few years yet. When the kids have stopped bleeding me dry, I'd like something newer.
Do you intend to keep the same drives or are they being replaced?
I'd not considered the Mercruisers, Are they a reasonable cost option?
 
Phil, you could be right about the inland waterways market for the Princess 33 but I just thought it was something to consider. With the engines I've seen the mercruiser's for £7935 each inc drives, vat and guages ex controls and props. I could get the mercruiser 3ltr petrols with new drives for about £4000 each (or around £3000 each without drives ) which may still be an option dependant on funds. My leg lifters are getting tired so I decided to go for the whole package. I think the value of my boat with twin diesels will go from its current £7k approx to £15k +. I know the economics don't quite add up but, like you, I intend to keep this one for 14 years until I retire with a small lump sum when I will move up to a nelson 30 something! Cheers Iain
 
Phill, What legs do you have on your A Q 130's If you have 100 drives, they are only good for 80 horse Diesels, a pair of peugot xud engines would be fine. Company on Boatsandoutboards.co.uk are advertising these already marinised for very good price,
£2500 or similar. Keep looking!
 
I sympathise with wanting to swap petrol for diesel and small hp on river is much better suited.
Sell yours as is with petrol. It will take a while but hopefully you won't lose from your purchase price.
Replace with another P33 with the 80hp Mermaids. Old engines still but fine for river and will save yourself a fortune.
 
Done about 12 of these conversions, Its pretty straightforward although you will need to use the Mercruiser adapter plates as the Volvo transom shield is wider than the Mercruiser. All the owners were very impressed with the gutsy little Merc 1.7 diesel. I did a double installation on a heavy old Draco Twincab 26 which had 2 x 3 litre 130hp so we went from a total of 6 litres and 260hp to 3.4 litres and 240 hp but the boat was faster it did 42kts on the GPS!
Just check the spacing of your current engines (crankshaft centerline) as these 1.7's are almost wider than they are long at their widest point (engine mounts) and we only had about 3cm between the mounts of the two engines, although the engines themselves had about a 20cm between them.
Another thing to consider is that these are high speed diesels and will benefit from a good blow out occasionaly if you intend to mainly potter up and down rivers.
They come with power steering as standard so one engine will need the pump etc removing, but maybe you can credit this and the unused servo cylinder against the
adapter plates.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I sympathise with wanting to swap petrol for diesel and small hp on river is much better suited.
Sell yours as is with petrol. It will take a while but hopefully you won't lose from your purchase price.
Replace with another P33 with the 80hp Mermaids. Old engines still but fine for river and will save yourself a fortune.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for your views. This is exactly what I need to help with my decision.
When I bought my boat, I saved about 15k over a diesel one. I can't really see the logic of selling mine and spending another 10-15k on a diesel version. After all if my 25 year old petrols are worn out then surely I'd just be paying about 10-15k more for 25 year old worn out diesels. I think it may be better to spend the difference plus a bit more on re-engining mine with new engines.
Of course this is only my opinion at present and is very likely to change at anytime. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Phill.
Further thought, my engines are 10 years older than yours and still going strong.
The smoother one of the two has a Webber carberettor fitted. This is far better than
the twin carbs fitted to yours, I found the manifold available in the U.S. for $190.00
the carbs can be picked up cheaply in the U.K secondhand. The engines are very robust
and all the parts are still available. This would be a much cheaper option than new engines. The downside is slightly less power, which is not a problem to you, the upside is better response and better fuel consumption. PM me for full details, i'm in London.
 
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