Thinking ahead

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Paul&Ness

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Hi Guy's n Girls... I bought my boat, a 1992 princess 368 about 3 years ago and have over the three years completed a number of upgrades to the nav equipment, radar, VHF, new batteries, flybridge seating, carpets, curtains, tender, outboard etc. I am now planning a few engine upgrades to prolong the life of my two Cummins 6BTA5.9m2's. One of the planned upgrades is purely cosmetic and that is to repaint the engines Cummins white. The engines have been looked after mechanically but visually they could both do with some TLC. I was thinking of stripping off as much of the paint as I can in order to do as good a re-paint as I can, whilst access to both engines is better than some people enjoy, its still a bit tight on the outboard sides. Yes, I want to do this in-situ as I fear the cost of removing the engines would be way outside of my budget. Though having said that I could do a few other upgrades, change mid steel fuel tanks to plastic or stainless and re-paint the engine bay etc.

I have been exploring the possibility of utilising dry ice blasting to remove as much as possible due to it's cleanliness compared to other forms of blasting and also because I wouldn't have to dismantle anything, electrical components and wires are safe and I wouldn't even need to mask off. Definitely a much cleaner method than using paint stripper.

So my question to the more knowledgeable is: has anyone used a dry ice blasting system to this or even considered this method? Also if anyone has recently removed engines from a motor cruiser similar to a Princess 368 who can advise me of the potential cost.
 
Paul&Ness said:
Hi Guy's n Girls... I bought my boat, a 1992 princess 368 about 3 years ago and have over the three years completed a number of upgrades to the nav equipment, radar, VHF, new batteries, flybridge seating, carpets, curtains, tender, outboard etc. I am now planning a few engine upgrades to prolong the life of my two Cummins 6BTA5.9m2's. One of the planned upgrades is purely cosmetic and that is to repaint the engines Cummins white. The engines have been looked after mechanically but visually they could both do with some TLC. I was thinking of stripping off as much of the paint as I can in order to do as good a re-paint as I can, whilst access to both engines is better than some people enjoy, its still a bit tight on the outboard sides. Yes, I want to do this in-situ as I fear the cost of removing the engines would be way outside of my budget. Though having said that I could do a few other upgrades, change mid steel fuel tanks to plastic or stainless and re-paint the engine bay etc.

I have been exploring the possibility of utilising dry ice blasting to remove as much as possible due to it's cleanliness compared to other forms of blasting and also because I wouldn't have to dismantle anything, electrical components and wires are safe and I wouldn't even need to mask off. Definitely a much cleaner method than using paint stripper.

So my question to the more knowledgeable is: has anyone used a dry ice blasting system to this or even considered this method? Also if anyone has recently removed engines from a motor cruiser similar to a Princess 368 who can advise me of the potential cost.
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Hi , you have one of the nice era of Princess , I had a 410 1995 model some years back , what a great sturdy built boat it was .
Taking your engines out would be a real bonus as you can clean up the bilges , change fuel hoses and wiring that's deteriorating, remove the aging tanks as there mild steel , clean paint and pressure test them while the engines are out.
You could then if you have space at home or a workshop make the engines immaculate.
Most big yards have the facility to remove your engines if your a DIY man , a company called Boarhunt have the Hiab to do this through the patio doors , they do a lot of this kind of work on site at Port Solent if you wanted to go this far .
 
Thanks volvopaul. She's our first boat other than a couple of sailing dinghies that we had back in the day :) The 368 is a great boat, very good seakeeping and for a 25 year old boat she still performs to spec. Obviously with her age and use she is a constant work in progress and a steep learning curve for me. I am trying to do as much of the work as I can but do have to call in expert help now and then. I may cost up the whole job to have the engines removed over the winter and see if its a viable option. The engine spaces a bit of a mess due to the original soundproofing (black foam egg box) is now deteriorating to the touch and again that would be a job best done with the engines out. I have already measured the engines and the patio doors and the engines will pass through without having to take the doors out.
 
We removed the engines on our last boat - Fairline Targa 35. Re-furbed the engine bay and stripped all the easily removed bits from the engines, de-greased and re-sprayed them. They looked like new when they went back in. All looked great when finished - stripping old paint unnecessary in my view and would create more of a problem. De-grease, rub down rusty bits and prime those bits and then just re-spray.

I did a long post with lots of pics but just looked it up and Photobucket change of policy means the pictures no longer show so not put a link to the thread.
 
Hi Greg2, can you remember what kind of cost was involved in getting the engines out? I'm pretty confident that I could do all the prep work before lifting the engines, disconnecting shafts cabled fuel lines etc. My engines look as though they have been re-painted a number of times before but the prep was not great hence the paint stripping. Once the engines are out it may be easier to degrease and rub down in prep for painting! As I get more information I will be able to decide what route to take :)
 
Paul&Ness said:
Hi Greg2, can you remember what kind of cost was involved in getting the engines out? I'm pretty confident that I could do all the prep work before lifting the engines, disconnecting shafts cabled fuel lines etc. My engines look as though they have been re-painted a number of times before but the prep was not great hence the paint stripping. Once the engines are out it may be easier to degrease and rub down in prep for painting! As I get more information I will be able to decide what route to take :)
Click to expand...
Easy answer is find suitable hard standing and contact Boarhunt for a quote to remove the engines and drop them on a trailer to take them home .
 
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