Ridiculous price of secondhand engines?

colind3782

colind3782

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 Jan 2011
Messages
4,510
Location
Shropshire/Empuriabrava
Visit site
Why are secondhand boat engines so expensive? I've been looking for an old engine to overhaul as a project in the shed and I'm amazed at the hundreds and sometimes thousands being asked for rusted heaps of junk that wouldn't get a second look in a car breakers yard. Do they actually sell?
 
I suppose they can be broken for parts and have greater value in bits than whole. I did have hassle selling a yanmar when I re-engined. It was working but probably needed new rings.

If you wait till next winter I'll have a working vetus 22hp when I reengine the other boat.
 
Last edited:
They are so expensive because the price of new ones are as well. I don't know why we aren't fitting small cheap efficient ,quiet reliable petrol inboards now. What's the advantage of diesel?
 
Spyro said:
They are so expensive because the price of new ones are as well. I don't know why we aren't fitting small cheap efficient ,quiet reliable petrol inboards now. What's the advantage of diesel?
Click to expand...

You can put a match out by dipping it in diesel. Try that with petrol and you'll have (at best) a fire and (at worst) an explosion.

Cars are open at the bottom so any leaks or fumes get left behind. Boats are sealed at the botom so fuel leaks accumulate.
 
This thread is so relevant to me right now. .....I am about to have a Volvo Penta D2 55 engine with sail drive available for sale and have been researching second hand prices for a few days now. I find that a guy in Dorset has cornered a large part of the market. He buys cheap trade ins, refurbishes and resells at pretty high prices. I think I will put mine on Ebay but I could sell it to him for not a lot. We shall see.
 
mainsail1 said:
This thread is so relevant to me right now. .....I am about to have a Volvo Penta D2 55 engine with sail drive available for sale and have been researching second hand prices for a few days now. I find that a guy in Dorset has cornered a large part of the market. He buys cheap trade ins, refurbishes and resells at pretty high prices. I think I will put mine on Ebay but I could sell it to him for not a lot. We shall see.
Click to expand...

" Refurbishes" is open to interpretation..
 
dgadee said:
I suppose they can be broken for parts and have greater value in bits than whole...
Click to expand...

Probably worth considering if you have a popular make/model engine to sell?

When in need of a starter motor we instead took the opportunity to buy a complete & running 30F Yanmar for US$500 and stripped it for the parts - anything and everything we could unbolt from the block. In the five years since, we or others have utilised the starter, alternator, lift pump, exhaust elbow and injector pipes; one of the first bits we fitted was the control panel that'd come with the engine and as a friend pointed out, new from Yanmar, that alone would've cost us more than our $500.
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
" Refurbishes" is open to interpretation..
Click to expand...

Based on the experience of yachts that we've met during our travels over the years, I'd advise that refurbishing a small marine diesel engine is only worth considering if the work is going to be done by yourself, or a blood-relative whilst you watch and assist. We must know ten or more boats who've had their motors refurbished/overhauled in a variety of different countries, at a variety of prices and every one of them subsequently renewed the engine within a couple of years; two did so within 3-4 months!
We were more fortunate: Before departure we approached a well regarded engineer whom we knew and friendly with, asking him to give us a quote for a full refurb on a Volvo MD6A; he refused point-blank, his reasoning being:
To do the job properly will take £15-1700 in parts alone, assuming I don't find anything badly wrong with it once it's opened up, then there's labour, re-engineering, cleaning & repainting costs on top; I can show you where to get a brand new Beta complete with gearbox, shaft, prop and every nut, bolt and cable tie that you'll need for the job for not much over £3k; engine replacing's straightforward so the only thing you'll need to pay me for is to align the motor and check to ensure you've not f%$*ed-up anywhere. If you really want to refurb that Volvo, then someone in the yacht club'll give you the phone numbers for a few guys who'll do it and I'll bet at least one will quote you under £1000, then next winter when you're pulling out the engine to put the new Beta, at least it'll be clean, freshly painted and the feet-bolts won't be seized. He held (it was over 15 years ago, so relative prices may have changed) Unless you can do it yourself, no auxillary diesel engine of less than 30hp can be properly rebuilt for less than about 90% of the cost of a replacement.
 
BobnLesley said:
Based on the experience of yachts that we've met during our travels over the years, I'd advise that refurbishing a small marine diesel engine is only worth considering if the work is going to be done by yourself, or a blood-relative whilst you watch and assist. We must know ten or more boats who've had their motors refurbished/overhauled in a variety of different countries, at a variety of prices and every one of them subsequently renewed the engine within a couple of years; two did so within 3-4 months!
We were more fortunate: Before departure we approached a well regarded engineer whom we knew and friendly with, asking him to give us a quote for a full refurb on a Volvo MD6A; he refused point-blank, his reasoning being:
To do the job properly will take £15-1700 in parts alone, assuming I don't find anything badly wrong with it once it's opened up, then there's labour, re-engineering, cleaning & repainting costs on top; I can show you where to get a brand new Beta complete with gearbox, shaft, prop and every nut, bolt and cable tie that you'll need for the job for not much over £3k; engine replacing's straightforward so the only thing you'll need to pay me for is to align the motor and check to ensure you've not f%$*ed-up anywhere. If you really want to refurb that Volvo, then someone in the yacht club'll give you the phone numbers for a few guys who'll do it and I'll bet at least one will quote you under £1000, then next winter when you're pulling out the engine to put the new Beta, at least it'll be clean, freshly painted and the feet-bolts won't be seized. He held (it was over 15 years ago, so relative prices may have changed) Unless you can do it yourself, no auxillary diesel engine of less than 30hp can be properly rebuilt for less than about 90% of the cost of a replacement.
Click to expand...

+1 Anyone considering a 'refurbished' engine should read and digest this excellent post. ^^
 
It's true that it is very expensive to rebuild an engine to 'as new'.
But very often it's not terribly expensive to get an engine, which was running quite badly, back to a state where it is likely to give good service for another 10 years.
It's cheaper still to just fix the immediate problems and be 90% confident it won't bounce back during a 6 month warranty.

I think much of this is only worthwhile on a DIY basis. It's not worth the labour cost to pay someone. It's a lot of hours of cleaning and measuring and checking.
 
lw395 said:
It's a lot of hours of cleaning ......
Click to expand...

That's so true. :(

Having rebuild engines and vehicle parts, it's usually the cleaning, flushing, preparation, coating and painting that takes longer than the actual mechanicking .... and it's boring as hell. :ambivalence:

If I had space and money I would love a huge degreasing bath so I could just chuck stuff in. :)

Richard
 
AntarcticPilot said:
You can put a match out by dipping it in diesel. Try that with petrol and you'll have (at best) a fire and (at worst) an explosion.

Cars are open at the bottom so any leaks or fumes get left behind. Boats are sealed at the botom so fuel leaks accumulate.
Click to expand...
Plenty power boats with petrol engines and inboard tanks. Outboards as well with inboard tanks. I think most have blowers to get rid of fumes.
 
Last edited:
Spyro said:
Plenty power boats with petrol engines and inboard tanks. Outboards as well with inboard tanks. I think most have blowers to get rid of fumes.
Click to expand...

It's like gas. We are mostly happy to have gas aboard, but we take careful precautions to ensure it is confined to a safe space and can't accumulate in areas where it might be hazardous. The problem is that while it's easy enough to have a gas locker that is above the waterline, is sealed and drains overboard, it would be extremely difficult to ensure that a petrol engine had similar protection. A bilge blower is a reasonable precaution in a petrol-engined powerboat where the engine is in constant use underway, but would it provide protection for a boat where the engine is unused for long periods underway and where the electricity budget is tight? Even a small leak accumulating in the bilges of a boat could end up with a disastrous concentration of fumes to be ignited by the next spark.

This discussion was common back in the 60s, when diesel engines were less common and more costly than petrol engines. My Dad's first two boats were petrol engined and were not unusual at the time. But there was a debate about the safety of diesel and petrol which ended up with most people preferring diesel for its relative safety.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top