Repowering Project Summary

Some blog readers asked me to follow up on the repowering project summary after gaining some experience with the new engine. Here goes.

First, you can find the individual posts of the 17 day long project by clicking here. In each day's post is a link to the next day's post. Follow all 17 links and it will bring you back here.

The following summary is copied from the blog of March 11, 2007 with four differences.

1) The Re-Haul. When we splashed the boat I immediately noticed leakage from the shaft log. We had to re-haul it up on the hard, purchase and apply a new Marine-Tex putty kit and splash it once again. That mistake cost $400.

2) Taplin Labor. Initially I expected to pay Bud Taplin for his labor. Indeed, as explained in earlier blogs, I considered him to be the prime contractor and the job to be a turnkey installation. Well, that was wrong. When the boatyard asked for an insurance certificate, Bud explained that no, he is not a contractor, he was just a friend helping me with a do-it-yourself project. He would not be charging me a penny for labor. Well, the final story is that a few weeks after the project, I got
an invoice in the mail: $500 for Bud's Labor. I consider it well worth the price, but because of the history, the invoice came as a surprise to me.

3) I moved Diagnosis A from the core project to the supplemental project. The reason is that I expect that most people would not include the cost of deciding to do the project as part of the cost of the project.

4) I include an engine performance summary at the end.

Here is the summary, starting with the core project. These are the things that were inescapable.

New Engine.....$9,300
Parts............$900
Boat Yard......$1,100
Tools............$200
Re-Haul..........$400
Taplin Labor.....$500

...Subtotal...$12,400.....(70%)

Parts includes the new propeller shaft, control cables, fuel lines, hoses, clamps and stuff. Bud Taplin generously provided a kit with almost everything I need in all lengths and sizes. He said to ship back the unused items and to scratch them off the invoice before paying. Thanks Bud, that makes it fairly easy.

The boat yard fee included the haul out, storage, use of their fork lift to remove the old engine and place in the new one, plus about 5 hours labor for their men to do several miscellaneous jobs for us.

The $12,400 subtotal sounds low for a repowering project. Unfortunately, that is not the whole story. Next are the items that were real costs to me, but may or may not apply to you. Call it the supplemental project.

Diagnosis A.......$500
Diagnosis B.......$500
Batteries.........$300
Paint.............$300
Living..........$3,738
.......Subtotal.$5,338....(30%)
...Grand Total.$16,838...(100%)

In this, Diagnosis A was the fee for the mechanic to take apart the old engine and to pronounce it fatally wounded.

Diagnosis B was the cost of the mechanic putting the old engine back together to keep our batteries charged while waiting two months for Bud's availability.

Batteries and paint were side projects. You may wish to exclude all side projects from your budget. On the other hand, it may be wiser to include 15% for contingencies.

The biggest item in the second group was $3,783 for alternative living arrangements. That included marina fees, mooring fees, apartment rental, and car rental, but excluded food. Since we live aboard, these alternative living arrangements are an additional expense that we would not have to pay if we were traveling and living on the hook. If you are repowering but do not live aboard, then you would probably not count those living expenses toward the repowering project.

Not included in these numbers are my labor (about 150 hours), and Libby's labor (about 100 hours). If I had to purchase all that labor at boat yard rates, it would have cost me another $20,000! On the other hand, professionals would not have needed as many hours as Libby and I. I probably could have negotiated a fixed price contract for the labor for perhaps $6,000.

Engine performance:

As I write this, we now have 266 hours on the new engine and we have refueled 6 times and changed the oil twice.

The first day out, I was very concerned with vibrations. The engine sounds were alien to me and I was afraid of engine misalignment, which would be very serious. I finally qualmed my fears by holding the handle of a boat hook pressed against the propeller shaft while we were under way at 2000 RPM. The boat hook would telegraph any vibrations up to my hand, thus giving me a tactile measurement of vibrations rather than an audio one. There were no vibrations. Over all, the new Beta Engine is
much quieter than the Perkins was.

We have settled on 2,000 RPM as the normal cruising speed under power. At that RPM Tarwathie moves at 5.5 knots in very still water and still air. We idle at 800 RPM and recharge batteries at 1200 RPM.

The measured fuel consumptions on refueling were: 0.49, 0.51, 0.62, 0.52, 0.55 and 0.58 gallons per hour. The average is 0.55 gallons per hour. We carry 40 gallons of fuel, so I estimate our range under powe rto be 300-400 nautical miles,

Oil consumption so far has been zero. Oil changes have been wonderfully easy and clean compared to the ordeal with the Perkins. I use the built-in oil change hand pump to suck out the oil directly into a one gallon container. After all the oil is out, I wait 5 minutes, then suck again, then remove the old oil filter with an oil absorbent cloth held below it to catch the few drops that spill.

Thanks

Thanks one more time to Bud Taplin, and especially to my faithful mate Libby. I would never have made it without their loyalty, patience, and sweat.