I am in the process of buying a Hunter 450, however I am really concerned about the placement of the Yanmar 72HP engine. Specifically there appears to be absolutly no access to the port side of the engine, it's installed hard up against the side of the engine box. The alternator looks like a royal pain to get out and I have no idea as to how you would get to the starter motor without pulling the engine. I have now read that the exhaust/seawater mixer elbow is good for about 700 to 800 hours, does this mean you have to pull the engine with this time frequency? Also how do you pull the engine? I can't see how you would get the engine out without doing a major amount of deconstruction to the interior of the boat. You certainly can't pull it straight up through the cockpit. Also what else is on the inaccessible side of the engine? I am less than two weeks away from purchase and my broker made the comment that he would reject the boat on the engine placement alone. This boat has got a lot going for it but the engine location is giving me second thoughts. Regards, Paul Bryant
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Jay Hill
Living with Inconvenience?
Paul, I've never seen (yet) a convenient engine placement on a Hunter (but I haven't seen every single model yet.) I still own three Hunters. On one, I have to remove the entire contents of the galley sink cabinet to check the oil, in another I have to remove half the head bulkhead to check the oil and maybe reach the lift pump, on the last I have an outboard, so no worries. Regular maintenance is a bit of a pain, I admit, but in a combined 3,900 hours of engine operation, I have never replaced anything but belts on the inboard diesels. If you can live with the inconvenience of the engine placement and get a description from Hunter on how to replace components on the engine or the engine itself, buy the boat anyway. The other livability advantages (with the exception of the size of the heads) far outweighs the disadvantage of the engine compartment. Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. Jay
Paul, I've never seen (yet) a convenient engine placement on a Hunter (but I haven't seen every single model yet.) I still own three Hunters. On one, I have to remove the entire contents of the galley sink cabinet to check the oil, in another I have to remove half the head bulkhead to check the oil and maybe reach the lift pump, on the last I have an outboard, so no worries. Regular maintenance is a bit of a pain, I admit, but in a combined 3,900 hours of engine operation, I have never replaced anything but belts on the inboard diesels. If you can live with the inconvenience of the engine placement and get a description from Hunter on how to replace components on the engine or the engine itself, buy the boat anyway. The other livability advantages (with the exception of the size of the heads) far outweighs the disadvantage of the engine compartment. Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. Jay
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Bly Berken
Recent Issue of Sail
Paul, Check out the current issue of SAIL magazine. They do comparisons of 4 boats from the largest production boat manufacturers. One of them is the Hunter Passage 450. If memory serves me correctly, they actually say some pretty positive things about the accessibility of the engine. Read it and see what you think.
Paul, Check out the current issue of SAIL magazine. They do comparisons of 4 boats from the largest production boat manufacturers. One of them is the Hunter Passage 450. If memory serves me correctly, they actually say some pretty positive things about the accessibility of the engine. Read it and see what you think.
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Gordon Myers
Engine on 450
Paul, you did not say if it was a new 450 or a used boat. The engine box on a 450 was design for a Volvo engine. The Volvo's have all their stuff on the starboard side that is accesable. The Volvo water pump is located on top of the engine. I understand that on a standard Yanmar (62 hp) there is enough room to work on the port side. On the larger 76 hp you are right - there is almost no room on the port side. If you are buying an old boat you are stuck. The big headach will be replacing the water pump impeller. There is a kit (Speedseal) that will help a little. The problem is that there is no room. All boats have trade-offs. This is one of them. If on the other hand you are ordering a new 450, Hunter is correcting the problem. I have ordering a new 450. I was ordering a Volvo engine because of that problem. Hunter no longer wants to provide Volvos, or so they told me. I have been promised that 2000 year 450's will have been redesign, probably with an access opening from the tub side to get to the water pump. I joke with my dealer (no joke) if the boat comes in with out a modification, they (the dealer) will replace the water pump impeller every year for as long as I own the boat, at their cost. We owned a Passage 42 since 1994. The 42 is a great boat, however the 450 is in a class by it self. Good Luck.
Paul, you did not say if it was a new 450 or a used boat. The engine box on a 450 was design for a Volvo engine. The Volvo's have all their stuff on the starboard side that is accesable. The Volvo water pump is located on top of the engine. I understand that on a standard Yanmar (62 hp) there is enough room to work on the port side. On the larger 76 hp you are right - there is almost no room on the port side. If you are buying an old boat you are stuck. The big headach will be replacing the water pump impeller. There is a kit (Speedseal) that will help a little. The problem is that there is no room. All boats have trade-offs. This is one of them. If on the other hand you are ordering a new 450, Hunter is correcting the problem. I have ordering a new 450. I was ordering a Volvo engine because of that problem. Hunter no longer wants to provide Volvos, or so they told me. I have been promised that 2000 year 450's will have been redesign, probably with an access opening from the tub side to get to the water pump. I joke with my dealer (no joke) if the boat comes in with out a modification, they (the dealer) will replace the water pump impeller every year for as long as I own the boat, at their cost. We owned a Passage 42 since 1994. The 42 is a great boat, however the 450 is in a class by it self. Good Luck.
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Bob Bass
Elbow Pain?
Where did you hear that the exhaust elbows only last 700 to 800 hours on the Yanmar? Please email me directly if you can at tucandream@aol.com.
Where did you hear that the exhaust elbows only last 700 to 800 hours on the Yanmar? Please email me directly if you can at tucandream@aol.com.
Elbow is sore but no pain.
We have about 700 hrs on our 2GM. I removed the elbow for an inspection and other than black soot there was NO coking. The only reason that these things are going to coke up is because of running your engine at too low of an RPM range. The Yanmar should be operated at 70-80% of its max rated RPM's. If you run them at 2000-2500 they will coke. Most people run them at this speed because they ASSUME that diesels are low RPM engines and it will save fuel (which it does). They will run fine until the elbow cokes up and then they won't run at all.
We have about 700 hrs on our 2GM. I removed the elbow for an inspection and other than black soot there was NO coking. The only reason that these things are going to coke up is because of running your engine at too low of an RPM range. The Yanmar should be operated at 70-80% of its max rated RPM's. If you run them at 2000-2500 they will coke. Most people run them at this speed because they ASSUME that diesels are low RPM engines and it will save fuel (which it does). They will run fine until the elbow cokes up and then they won't run at all.
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