Westerly Fulmar bilge keel?

[Tranona]

It originally was Vovo Volvo and I think 20hp but the replacement about 17 years ago was Volvo Penta M2030, which as I indicated is 1950 technology and worse still has a badly designed water cooling flow which sucks in all senses thus is vulnerable to poor priming and poor performance if impellors are worn. My Volvo Penta saildrive of my old Anderson 22 was a piece of sh"t too as magneto wouldnt spark in damp i.e. maritime climates, so very unimpressed with Volvo marine services, though Volvo cars are excellent.

Sorry, don't recognise your description of a 2030 - sound more like a 2003 which is a Volvo engine which does have a suspect waterflow system. The 2030 was one of the best engines Volvo sold. Never heard of any cooling issues such as you describe. Mine for example ran for 3500 hours in its first 7 years as a charter boat without any problems. The only significant weaknesses are clogged exhausts usually due to lack of use and not running hard enough and difficult to remove water pump. Not sure why you think it is 1950s design as it was a new design in the late 80s and is very different from engines of the 1950s.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Sorry, don't recognise your description of a 2030 - sound more like a 2003 which is a Volvo engine which does have a suspect waterflow system. The 2030 was one of the best engines Volvo sold. Never heard of any cooling issues such as you describe. Mine for example ran for 3500 hours in its first 7 years as a charter boat without any problems. The only significant weaknesses are clogged exhausts usually due to lack of use and not running hard enough and difficult to remove water pump. Not sure why you think it is 1950s design as it was a new design in the late 80s and is very different from engines of the 1950s.

I'm not sure why you think I might have misread the identification. It was a 2030 and a piece of shit. Worn out after 15 years usage, relatively expensive on fuel compared to modern engines, water pump half way round the system after the gearbox cooler, overheating above 2000rpm, and a complex exhaust cooling system that clogged with mud which baked out of the cooling water to bricklike solidity thus occasionally blocking cooling completely. (engine stopcocks closed on mooring but the Bristol Channel water is muddy) The Volvo dealer informed me it was a copy of an early Perkins design, which made for Volvo in China, and he despaired of supporting it. I may be mistaken and it may well be a 1980 design not 1950 but the quality of British engineering that era is hardly an unqualified success. Now my antique Yanmar clunked like an old tractor but was always a joy and I believe is still going strong