wrong engine - it is a Volvo MD1B

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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www.keepturningleft.co.uk
sorry - the advert said it was an MD 1B12 - which I could not find on the web

elsewhere in the advert it says MD1B

looks like the beast and I assume sounds like the beast

how are they on spares?

if it is running.... how much is it worth?

if it is not running - which bits are valuable?

D
 
Isn't it just a later (and more refined) MD1. Can't remember what the differences are, but I think they are minor.

The boat I bought had the MD1 (like the slug, I think).

I am in a small boat club and a few people still have these. There is also one kept for spares.

If you can get it to run and you know spares can be easily had, whats the issue with keeping it?

There was one on ebay - the owner was asking £1295!

Did you ever watch "Floating Kitchen" with Simon Woodhouse?

He bought an old boat with a 1928 diesel engine, and they managed to get that going!

Regards

Carl
 
carl170 said:
Isn't it just a later (and more refined) MD1. Can't remember what the differences are, but I think they are minor.

The boat I bought had the MD1 (like the slug, I think).

I am in a small boat club and a few people still have these. There is also one kept for spares.

If you can get it to run and you know spares can be easily had, whats the issue with keeping it?

There was one on ebay - the owner was asking £1295!

Did you ever watch "Floating Kitchen" with Simon Woodhouse?

He bought an old boat with a 1928 diesel engine, and they managed to get that going!

Regards

Carl
Click to expand...

bless you

It seems that it is very much like the beast

I wonder if he got his £1295

that would be wonderful

as for resurrecting/keeping/loving/caring/relishing/fettling a bit of engineering history while trying to sail around the top of the UK then I do have some worries

without going around a well worn loop....

I am just trying to assess the options on one of the boats in the frame

if I can realise some cash from the engine then that might shift the balance one way or another

if spares are impossible/hard to get then that has an impact on its value

I have played the propping up an old engine game for five years - and on balance have come to believe that sailing is marginally more fun than bilge diving



D
 
12 maybe the HP - sounds about right for an MD1B

Basic maintenance spares are still readily available and reasonably priced. Other replacement parts are now no longer available new, or are prohibitively expensive.

The old Volvos are very reliable but are beginning to come to the end of their life, as major repairs tend to be not economically viable. However a fair number are still being taken out of boats so second hand spares are not too difficult to come by.

As a running engine it may be worth £200-300 if someone wanted one. For parts I would think it is the peripheral parts, pumps and so on that are valuable
 
bedouin said:
12 maybe the HP - sounds about right for an MD1B

Basic maintenance spares are still readily available and reasonably priced. Other replacement parts are now no longer available new, or are prohibitively expensive.

The old Volvos are very reliable but are beginning to come to the end of their life, as major repairs tend to be not economically viable. However a fair number are still being taken out of boats so second hand spares are not too difficult to come by.

As a running engine it may be worth £200-300 if someone wanted one. For parts I would think it is the peripheral parts, pumps and so on that are valuable
Click to expand...

thank you

so if I can get it running and film it firing up from cold

what will people be looking for -

black smoke/white smoke/colour of oil

D
 
dylanwinter said:
sorry - the advert said it was an MD 1B12 - which I could not find on the web

elsewhere in the advert it says MD1B

looks like the beast and I assume sounds like the beast

how are they on spares?

D
Click to expand...

I am lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are you looking at an MD1B???? Is it in centaur you are contemplating???

I would not consider this as being a suitable engine for going round the North of Scotland. The centaur needs a bit more Oomphhh when battling into those big seas.

The MD1B is a development of the MD1. It has a larger bore and there are various other refinements some good and some which are not so good. One bad one is that design of the water passages which pass through the head gasket. They enlarge with age due to corrosion and can be problematic.


A good basic test of compression is to crank the engine with the compressor up and then bring it down still turning. A good engine will stop with a hard bounce and continued force on the handle will take many seconds to get it through compression. A bad engine will be able to be turned right through compression.


Do this simple test and tell us the results.....Then squirt 5 squirts of oil into the air inlet after removing the air filter and repeat the test. Let us know these results.


There are some good Md1B engines but even more that may need lots of TLC. The second hand market is the main source for the larger parts and gaskets from Thailand are available down south.
 
Bilgediver said:
I am lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are you looking at an MD1B???? Is it in centaur you are contemplating???

I would not consider this as being a suitable engine for going round the North of Scotland. The centaur needs a bit more Oomphhh when battling into those big seas.

The MD1B is a development of the MD1. It has a larger bore and there are various other refinements some good and some which are not so good. One bad one is that design of the water passages which pass through the head gasket. They enlarge with age due to corrosion and can be problematic.


A good basic test of compression is to crank the engine with the compressor up and then bring it down still turning. A good engine will stop with a hard bounce and continued force on the handle will take many seconds to get it through compression. A bad engine will be able to be turned right through compression.


Do this simple test and tell us the results.....Then squirt 5 squirts of oil into the air inlet after removing the air filter and repeat the test. Let us know these results.


There are some good Md1B engines but even more that may need lots of TLC. The second hand market is the main source for the larger parts and gaskets from Thailand are available down south.
Click to expand...

just trying to establish what an MD1B is worth

this boat

http://westerlyyachtforsale.webs.com/boat-details

has gone from £9,000 to £4.950 over the past six months

I am assuming the price is falling because the engine is pretty close to worthless

LG designed the centaur for 10hp

D
 
The boat looks pretty clean and tidy from the pictures but not much like most Westerlys I have seen of this sort of vintage. I owned a Tiger built at around the same time and most if not all the boats of that vintage, Centaurs, Tigers, Longbows etc, had the bulkheads and tables faced with teak laminate and yellowish vinyl cushions with white piping. My Tiger had an MD1B but it is a slightly shorter, less beamy and lighter fin keel boat that I imagine is much more easily driven. Virtually all Centaurs had the MD2, which is 25 hp, although whether it needed this or whether, as rumored, Volvo made Westerly an offer they could not refuse I do not know. I believe the Longbow at 31 feet also had the MD2 as standard, so obviously the Cenatur would have some power to spare.

A couple of further points, I noted from the pictures that the boat has the shroud plates above the windows; these were the source of window leaks on earlier boats and were later moved. Also the MD1B I had had a cold start button that was pushed in on the rear of the engine and not that easy to get to, this one seems to have a cable which would be much more convenient. The standard things to look for on a Centaur of this age would be to check the keels have been strengthened, that the keel/hull joint is sound, and the ever popular headlining is not about to fall down.

I am sure you know that the WOA is a wealth of information, it's well worth joining and would give you access to the scheme by which you can talk to present and previous owners.

Finally, I got about £700 for a Volvo 2030 on Ebay some 18 months ago, it was in excellent condition by minus the saildrive, I doubt £1295 is anywhere near realistic, the £2-300 seems much more likely to me.
 
richardbrennan said:
I doubt £1295 is anywhere near realistic, the £2-300 seems much more likely to me.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I didn't say he got £1295!

The MD1 in mine is pushing a 23ft boat and it is not exactly overpowered going against the tide on the Tyne. Particularly if you are running from stone throwing Chavs!

That Centaur seems amazingly clean though. One hell of a refurb?

I do love the description - the forward berth is complete with "potholes"! :)

Regards

Carl
 
thanks for that

richardbrennan said:
The boat looks pretty clean and tidy from the pictures but not much like most Westerlys I have seen of this sort of vintage. I owned a Tiger built at around the same time and most if not all the boats of that vintage, Centaurs, Tigers, Longbows etc, had the bulkheads and tables faced with teak laminate and yellowish vinyl cushions with white piping. My Tiger had an MD1B but it is a slightly shorter, less beamy and lighter fin keel boat that I imagine is much more easily driven. Virtually all Centaurs had the MD2, which is 25 hp, although whether it needed this or whether, as rumored, Volvo made Westerly an offer they could not refuse I do not know. I believe the Longbow at 31 feet also had the MD2 as standard, so obviously the Cenatur would have some power to spare.

A couple of further points, I noted from the pictures that the boat has the shroud plates above the windows; these were the source of window leaks on earlier boats and were later moved. Also the MD1B I had had a cold start button that was pushed in on the rear of the engine and not that easy to get to, this one seems to have a cable which would be much more convenient. The standard things to look for on a Centaur of this age would be to check the keels have been strengthened, that the keel/hull joint is sound, and the ever popular headlining is not about to fall down.

I am sure you know that the WOA is a wealth of information, it's well worth joining and would give you access to the scheme by which you can talk to present and previous owners.

Finally, I got about £700 for a Volvo 2030 on Ebay some 18 months ago, it was in excellent condition by minus the saildrive, I doubt £1295 is anywhere near realistic, the £2-300 seems much more likely to me.
Click to expand...



I did join WOA two years ago

I got sent a lot of excellent paperwork and glossy booklets

but the forums are very quiet

there is much more expertise here than on the westerly site

and you can talk to former owners on here - who are often a much better source of information

the boat does look in good nick - but those pix might be a bit historical - if some-one has been living on it for the past two years then it might be a bit rougher by now

the poor bloke has had to bite the bullet on the price already - as have lots of other owners

the A layout and ugly spade rudder is my preferred option - but I am flexible

I had heard that one of the layouts made access to the keel bolts a bit tough - any advicce on that one

and also that the early boats had stronger keels

as for a leaking window and droopy headlining I can live with either of those

the hp is low but the plan is to cut the well and try the boat with a long shaft 2.3, 5, 10, 15 an d 20hp engines for a PBO feature

so I will have a chance to find out

the 2.3 and 5/6hp engines will be a test to see what happens

the 10, 15 and 20 will be the decider

if the 10hp cuts the mustard then I will go with that

At the moment my son is paying £400 a month rent in London for a single room

a Centaur in a marina for a year would be cheaper - and offer as much space as he has now

He has some experience of boat dwelling.

D
 
dylanwinter said:
just trying to establish what an MD1B is worth

this boat

http://westerlyyachtforsale.webs.com/boat-details

has gone from £9,000 to £4.950 over the past six months

I am assuming the price is falling because the engine is pretty close to worthless

LG designed the centaur for 10hp

D
Click to expand...



I wouldn't hope for sensible performance in the Pentland Firth with a Volvo MD1b . They might do well in
calm weather but in a bit of a blow that second cylinder makes the world of difference.

Looks a god enough boat and I would ignore the scaremongering about keels for your project. If the locker
spaces are dry with no sign of leakage from keel bolts on a boat that old it will last the few months you
need.

Cost wise the block and head a re worth something if OK but until you strip down you have no idea.
If the engine starts from Cold with no help other than use of the cold start then things cant be that bad and some
MD2B had an alternator and starter. These are also worth something. New starter is mega bucks.

Possibly get £500 for the engine on a good day if it is a good runner and no excessive smoke and but
more selling bit by bit over time!
 
Bilgediver said:
I wouldn't hope for sensible performance in the Pentland Firth with a Volvo MD1b . They might do well in
calm weather but in a bit of a blow that second cylinder makes the world of difference.

Looks a god enough boat and I would ignore the scaremongering about keels for your project. If the locker
spaces are dry with no sign of leakage from keel bolts on a boat that old it will last the few months you
need.

Cost wise the block and head a re worth something if OK but until you strip down you have no idea.
If the engine starts from Cold with no help other than use of the cold start then things cant be that bad and some
MD2B had an alternator and starter. These are also worth something. New starter is mega bucks.

Possibly get £500 for the engine on a good day if it is a good runner and no excessive smoke and but
more selling bit by bit over time!
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice

I am hoping that keels that have stuck to the boat for 45 years will not suddenly choose year 46 to fall off

as for the strength of the current around Pentland and Cape Wrath

I shall choose my weather windows with care

the forecasts are wonderfully accurate

I have looked for hidey holes along the top and there are a few

D
 
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