Engine Replacement

[Ted Reed]

1978 O'Day 37 with rear cabin. It has the 3-cylinder Yanmar engine that is raw water cooled (why would anybody do that?). I re-worked the exhaust manifold (as it was leaking) and noticed the metal was very soft on the inside: you could almost scrape the mushy metal with your fingernail--probably not a good sign! Which makes one question the integrity of the rest of the engine. Now I notice oil leaking on the rear of the engine, between the block and head. I'm guessing this engine has lived it's life!The question: How does this engine come out of the boat? Coincidentally, a marina neighbor also has the same boat, and he cut a hole in the cockpit floor not too long ago, because he thought he was going to replace the Yanmar. Turns out he didn't, but boy, does he have access! (He built a "hatch cover" out of the piece he cut out.) Seems like a great idea, but, what does this do to the integrity of the boat? Has anybody else done this? Is there some other way, short of dismantling the old engine inside and re-assembling the new one back inside?Thanks in advance!

 

[Olivier Ruhlmann]

Photos? Tell us more.

I like the idea of cutting out the cockpit floor. The only thing that keeps me from doing so is how to make the floor waterproof afterwards. Does your neighboor have some clamp locking mechanism? Any photos?Structurally, cutting the floor at the edges will slightly increase the stress the cutout piece undr load (from a wave for ex.) This could be easily solved by adding a few beams under the cut-out floor. The advantage is that it would make it easy to create waterproof bulkheads in front and back of the engine. If you can isolate that space and the one under the setee and V berth the boat will be unsinkable. Not a bad tread off!I really would like to see a nice waterproof way of locking the cockpit floor in place.Olivier

 

[Jay Tracy]

Don't give up on that old engine. We had our 2QM15 rebuild. Rebuilding saved us about $2500 over the cost of a new engine and unknown costs to reconfigure the original engine bed, shaft, wiring, instrument panel, etc. The old engine was rebuilt to "as new" by a Yanmar authorized service/sales center.Jay Tracy

 

[RADeSimone@aol.com]

Is this the original engine?I have a 1978 32 cc with an aft cabin and a 4 cyl. Westebeke that is original.I think thats what came with all these models.If thats the case how did someone remove the old Westy, I have sat and studied my boat and seem to think you could slide the engine aft and out thru the aft cabinI also think cutting the cockpit sole is a good Idea,I need to remove the top section of mine to replace the core and I plan to cover the sin with a new teak grate,check out Good Old Boat Mar/Apr.issue about this.