Volvo Penta TAMD70E repower

[Aidan murray]

Hi everyone, I have a one of the original 1984 princess 45 flybridge yachts with its Volvo Penta TAMD70E engines from factory. We’ve overhauled them twice now and unfortunately I think they’re coming to the end so I’m putting some thought into a repower. I think it was relatively underpowered with its original 300hp each and I was thinking over moving up to the new D6 line of engines with the 380 or the 440. Or even possibly a pair of used engines in a similar HP range (I’d prefer nothing older than 10 years) to save some money. I would love to hear the opinions or suggestions from people who have more experience than me with these engines and repowering in general. A couple questions I’d also like to ask is with these new engines what is the possibility of the new Volvos fitting the same engine mount locations as the old ones to avoid having to redo them and do a lot of fiberglass work? And I’m assuming obviously I’d have to change the transmission as well but because of the power increase would I then have to change the propeller shafts? I’d like to think with s maximum increase of 140 Hp each engine the shafts should hold up fine but I don’t know enough to be sure.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Ooh this could be interesting, be good to know what options might be suggested.

You could consider repowering with Cummins. Talk to Seapower Marine in Ipswich.

 

[Seastoke]

Hi i dont think D6 380 would be enough power .

 

[Aidan murray]

Ooh this could be interesting, be good to know what options might be suggested.

You could consider repowering with Cummins. Talk to Seapower Marine in Ipswich.

The main reason I wanted to stick with Volvo is that if there is a chance to not have to modify the mount locations I feel like that would be most likely with the same brand, but if not I’m more than open to use Cummins or CAT. I know some of them came with CAT engines as well. I’ll send seapower marine an email and Lott you guys know what they think of it

 

[Aidan murray]

Hi i dont think D6 380 would be enough power .

So the 300hp engines right now are definitely not enough, and princess realized that so after the first 2 or 3 years of production they stopped putting in the TAMD70E engine and started using either Volvo or CAT engines that were 375hp which made it get on plane much nicer. And I know some people that have those and they cruise around at about 24/25 knots and can almost reach 30 at the top end. truth be told I don’t need any more speed than that. But that depends on certain factors. for me right now the 380 seems more appealing than the 440s for a couple of reasons. Obviously I could be wrong but in my mind first off the 380s are going to be a couple thousand cheaper up front, and if I don’t need the extra power I don’t see why I should spend the money to gain maybe a couple knots. Especially considering that by increasing the HP even more I’d be increasing the likelihood of having to make structural changes in the mount locations to accommodate that and potentially have to increase the shaft size, which would mean changing the struts as well and just cause a snowball effect of work I would need to do. But that being said, If there is no difference in that regard between then 380 and the 440, I’d have to look at the numbers but I wouldn’t be surprised if the 440s would be more efficient at the same 24 knot cruise than the 380s, so I’m open to both

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Using the D6 which has more power than the original engines as it revs higher, but may well have less torque, may mean you need to change or repitch the props too.

 

[scottie]

why do people suggest increasing power but think that changing propellers is not an option?
it’s the props that move boats and if you have props for 300 hp and turn them at the same revels then they will only absorb 300hp no matter what hp of engines you pair them with

 

[penfold]

The props would need changing just as the gearboxes, although the shafts might be reusable.

 

[volvopaul]

Wow the old 70E , this might be an interesting thread so I will follow it .

I’ve done many re powers over the years , we really need to know your budget first .
I know of a pair 71Bs at 380 ho from another Princess that would have dropped straight in , personally if you don’t want the expense of new motors try and find a pair of 74/75 at 480 hp they would really make it go nice .

Im not sure if you’re going new I’d touch a Volvo , the D6 is a high Rev motor and at 440 it’s hardly worth the hassle and cost ., I’d be exploring the Cummins route , more power for your £ .
Tell us your budget but remember re enhancing an old boat is for choice as you will never get your money back , are you In the UK ?

 

[Aidan murray]

The props would need changing just as the gearboxes, although the shafts might be reusable.

Yea I know I’ll have to change the props and mess around with that until I find the right pair to get the best results so that’s the least of my worries. The main two things I’d like to not do is have to do any major work or anything at all to the current mount locations in the boat, and I’d prefer not to change the shafts.

 

[ChromeDome]

In the big scheme of things engine mounts are a minor concern - def. should not be a deciding factor.

Budget and total value of the boat after investement OTOH very much is..

For inspiration look at
Marine engines for sale UK, used outboards, new inboard engine sales, free photo ads - Inboard - Apollo Duck

 

[Aidan murray]

Wow the old 70E , this might be an interesting thread so I will follow it .

I’ve done many re powers over the years , we really need to know your budget first .
I know of a pair 71Bs at 380 ho from another Princess that would have dropped straight in , personally if you don’t want the expense of new motors try and find a pair of 74/75 at 480 hp they would really make it go nice .

Im not sure if you’re going new I’d touch a Volvo , the D6 is a high Rev motor and at 440 it’s hardly worth the hassle and cost ., I’d be exploring the Cummins route , more power for your £ .
Tell us your budget but remember re enhancing an old boat is for choice as you will never get your money back , are you In the UK ?

To be completely honest the budget is preferable as little as possible but obviously don’t want to cheap out to the point where we get problematic engines. The biggest reason for the change is that I’m constantly in the engine room working on these two and I’d just like a bit more piece of mind and less constant upkeep (I’m well aware that even if I go with brand new engines things will break cause it’s a boat) and I figured might as well go up in power while I’m at it to make the boat run nicer.
I’m more than happy going with a used engine especially if that means it’s easier to just drop in and match up with the mounts and stuff. It might sound like a stupid question but with the 71Bs or the 74/75 would I have to replace the current gearboxes and shafts as well?
We’d considering the Cummins or CAT route as well, everything right now really just depends on the difficulty of the repower, we’d like it to be as smooth as possible ideally without doing major fiberglass work.
I’m in the UK most of the time right now but the boat lives in Jamaica and there isn’t really any properly qualified fiberglass or boat repair shops in general. We do everything ourselves and I have an idea of what I’m doing and I’m almost finish with a marine engineering degree as well but obviously I don’t have enough experience in that kind of work to confidently do any structural mount changes. And the one guy in jamaica that could kinda do it does boats on the side and his main job is repairing private jets so anytime he does boats he charges an arm and a leg for it.

 

[Aidan murray]

In the big scheme of things engine mounts are a minor concern - def. should not be a deciding factor.

Budget and total value of the boat after investement OTOH very much is..

For inspiration look at
Marine engines for sale UK, used outboards, new inboard engine sales, free photo ads - Inboard - Apollo Duck

Yea usually I’d agree with you but in our situation if you look at my reply to volvopaul, it’s quite difficult to get a trusted fiberglass guy where our boat is. And as far as the total value of the boat after, it’s been in our family for over 20 years and we don’t plan on selling it anytime soon, we’ll probably run it into the ground before we do that so I’m more concerned with just getting it running better for as cheap as I can preferably

 

[Bandit]

Firstly think very carefully about buying secondhand engines, they are generally secondhand for a reason. There is a lot of cost getting engines in and out of boats if you need to.

If you like your boat and you want another 10 years of problem free boating, a repower will pay off.

Beds should not be a problem and you can get the original engine dimensions and shaft line drawings., sometimes height can be a problem.

The D6 on shafts will go up to 480hp, current delivery times are long an alternative is Yanmar.

What diameter shafts do you have ? probably 1.75 inch or 2 inch.

Expect to need to replace gearboxes, shafts and props.

Where is the boat and is it used at sea or inland.

 

[Aidan murray]

Another thing we’ve considered as well, we happen to have another pair of TAMD70Es we got from an identical princess that had a fire in the saloon area which burned up a lot of the wiring and a section of the hull but the engine room and the rest of the boat was untouched. So another option would be to ship those engines up to Miami, and have someone professionally recondition and upgrade them to get more hp out of it. I don’t know how possible that is or if they can even be upgraded but it is another option to explore because then once that’s done they can just be dropped into place with little to no changes

 

[volvopaul]

why do people suggest increasing power but think that changing propellers is not an option?
it’s the props that move boats and if you have props for 300 hp and turn them at the same revels then they will only absorb 300hp no matter what hp of engines you pair them with

Yes and no , depends on the gearbox ratio you choose .

 

[volvopaul]

Another thing we’ve considered as well, we happen to have another pair of TAMD70Es we got from an identical princess that had a fire in the saloon area which burned up a lot of the wiring and a section of the hull but the engine room and the rest of the boat was untouched. So another option would be to ship those engines up to Miami, and have someone professionally recondition and upgrade them to get more hp out of it. I don’t know how possible that is or if they can even be upgraded but it is another option to explore because then once that’s done they can just be dropped into place with little to no changes

There are many parts I believe that are obsolete for that model especially on the cooling side .

 

[volvopaul]

wow I’m on my way , could do with some sun.

The 74/74 are on electric solenoid gearboxes and are part of the package as they are edc .
The 70e gearbox I doubt would handle the torque or a much larger engine .
The 45 had a variety of engines including the caterpill 3208 of which are plentiful your side the pond .

 

[penfold]

If that is the case in Jamaica moving the boat to somewhere more convenient for the repower may be advantageous; Trinidad or even Florida.

 

[Aidan murray]

Firstly think very carefully about buying secondhand engines, they are generally secondhand for a reason. There is a lot of cost getting engines in and out of boats if you need to.

If you like your boat and you want another 10 years of problem free boating, a repower will pay off.

Beds should not be a problem and you can get the original engine dimensions and shaft line drawings., sometimes height can be a problem.

The D6 on shafts will go up to 480hp, current delivery times are long an alternative is Yanmar.

What diameter shafts do you have ? probably 1.75 inch or 2 inch.

Expect to need to replace gearboxes, shafts and props.

Where is the boat and is it used at sea or inland.

It has a 2 inch shaft and it’s used at sea