Goodbye Mr Perkins, never shall you soil my bilge again

[Gregg]

Russel, thanks for the great pics and detailed information on the installation. Those rear mounts look beefy and you are right, thats sorta the way the Perkins was, mounts higher up and kinda "hanging the motor". Are you able to use the angled transmission?

Gregg

[Russell]

Russel, thanks for the great pics and detailed information on the installation. Those rear mounts look beefy and you are right, thats sorta the way the Perkins was, mounts higher up and kinda "hanging the motor". Are you able to use the angled transmission?

Gregg

No, we couldnt get the angled transmission to work, the strait one proved far better. The problem with the angled tranny is that it would require the engine to sit even lower in the boat, specificly the front of the engine, and that wasnt going to be possible without even more drasitc engine bed changes and ultimately worse engine access (and with the engine that low the bottom would be submerged when the engine sump is full of water). Using the strait tranny the angle of the shaft was changed, but its worth noting that it would have been doable keeping the same shaft angle, but changing it made for a far better install.

Today was spent doing the final alignment before the holes are drilled for the mounts (literally took the whole day). Tommorow I should have pictures of the final installed location all bolted down and done.

Still so much work to be done, but this is the major hump here. Next up is exhaust, plumbing (all new hoses for everything), wiring, new water heater, etc... By the way I bought (and spent a fortune shipping it in fedex) the Isotemp "slim square" model, I know others have replaced their heaters with the regular isotemp slim model, not sure if anyone has used this square model though, I will be sure to detail how that fits, there is some interesting install options with it due to its shape I dont even have to put it in its old location, I may be able to actually put it behind the engine and free up some locker space.

[Russell]

Installation is finished! I launch tommorow and do sea trials. 3 weeks of full time work this took, repowering a CD36 is definately tricky, but I think it worthwhile. I will post some pictures of all the finished aspects of the installation soon.

[Como No Cruising]

Russell: Congratulations on the repower. Hopefully all went well with the sea trials.

We Plan to be in the Caribbean in January, crossing the Pond from the Canaries. Any thoughts on where we should book a marina? We plan to have Como NO painted there and possible repower. Old Perkins still starts and runs well but you know the issues, oily noisy, vibrating mess.
Best Regards
Will & Annie
CD40 #8 Presently in Turkey

[Bernie]

Russel (and others)

I really appreciate these posts to help me along in my re-power project...I had planned to be further along at this point but I'm happy to take a pause and learn from others...I decided to cut the original steel pipe beds out as there was some concern about corrosion (I flaked off a lot of steel before deciding to remove it...Overall, the condition was better than expected, but one of the aft engine supports looks pretty thin and weak...So, I'm trying to decide whether to use a similar design (steel pipe) for the new engine or see if fiberglass stringers can be created...The 36 really does have some unique challenges compared to other boats I have looked at...Anyway, I've posted a photo of the steel pipe bed in case anyone was curious what it looked like (outside of the boat).

[Russell]

Russell: Congratulations on the repower. Hopefully all went well with the sea trials.

We Plan to be in the Caribbean in January, crossing the Pond from the Canaries. Any thoughts on where we should book a marina? We plan to have Como NO painted there and possible repower. Old Perkins still starts and runs well but you know the issues, oily noisy, vibrating mess.
Best Regards
Will & Annie
CD40 #8 Presently in Turkey

Hmm, I can a lot of recommendations on marinas, but it depends on what your looking for! Likewise with the painting, as painting iss next years project I have for the past 2 years paid close attension to every boatyard and spoken to many people who have had had the job done.

For a good price and good work, Venezuela seems to be great for painting, the Imron paint is manufactured there, and given the insanely low cost of oil there (10cents per gallon for deisel, no kidding) you can imagine why the petrolium based paints are cheaper there. But the crime situation against yachts this past year in Venezuela has been insane, I personally know several yachts that have been boarded and robbed at gun point, and even places once considered safe (ie los testigos) have had serious crime against yachts including death. So certainly something to bear in mind. Trinidad does have a lot of great painters, if you can stand chagaraumas for long enough (and the insanely slow rate they get work done). Grenada does a top notch job at Spice Isle, but again slow, though their work is up to US standards with awlgrip (more expensive then Trini or Venezuela, but more reliable).

As for Marinas, well, thats a hard question to answer without knowing where you want to be or what you want to do. Everyone likes different things.

Reguarding a repower, Trinidad is notoriously slow and I worked with Gittens, who was considered the best in Chagaraumas, but something about his attitude towards my install left me lacking in confidence in his abilities or desire to do it. Again, the typical problem with as well in Trinidad is also time, they will be SLOW. St Martin, lots of labor, but in St Martin most of it is transient labor, yachties stopping for a bit to make some money, personally I prefer a full time professional. I did my repower in Martinique because these guys really know their stuff and are quick, they do 2 repowers a week! Repowers is basicly all they do, and being a real part of france (think the US equivilent of Hawaii) they are properly trained mechanics (rather then the more common caribbean equivilent of a guy who just keeps unseaworthy fishing boats barely running). But I paid, seriously paid, for quality work, it was not cheap at all (mainly due to the euro/us exchange rate, which is at an all time bad). But after seeing all the options in the Caribbean, I wouldnt have repowered anywhere else, the job on a CD36 is too difficult i think for a less then extraordinary mechanic. I had no less then 5 very skilled mechanics who literally spent hours on my boat just debating among themselves about what would be the absolute best way to do things.

This is my third year sailing the Caribbean, so in a lot of areas I can offer some great insight, dont hesitate to email or message me for tips!

[Russell]

Bernie,

Maybe it would give a different perspective in person, but overall that doesnt look too horrid, but in person of course you could really see what areas are thin. When I first bought my CD I cut away most of the glass on top, since the survey showed concern about rust issues. A fair amount of the glass was cracked from the swelling caused by the rust. After cutting it away though and grinding the rust off, the amount of metal left was actually far better then I expected. What actually has me more worried is what I cant see, and thats the rust on the inside of the pipe. Ultimately I thought it was decent enough to reglass and not worry too much about it. But if I had it removed already, I would personally consider a similar arrangement (after all, my own is over 20 years old and working fine still).

[Russell]

Okay, so I launched and did sea trials today! After 3 weeks on the hard (origonally quoted at 2 weeks, but I didnt pay a dime more) it was nice to get back in the water. A seriously hectic morning and probably one of the most stressful since going cruise, but more to that then I care to share.

Launch happened, engine started and all looked great. Burp the new PSS shaft seal. A quick test of the transmission before letting lines go to do seatrials, all looks great. The mechanic and I motored around harbor for about an hour checking everything out.

A problem found, not yet sure if it is a real problem though. The engine runs slightly hotter then expected. It runs at 90C rather then 85C (which is what the mechanic said is most normal). We pushed it to 2800 RPM, it never went above 90C (alarm goes off at 100C). His theory is that since the water heater is so far above the engine that the cooling is less efficent. Not something I am happy to hear. But he garuntees his work, so I am going to spend the next week trying to see if I can push the engine within operating range to get close to overheat. I am not leaving here till I have confidence. He is encouraging me to do just that too, which is good to know, they are very confident in their work and really want to make sure its 100%.

A last minute change to the job was a new prop. We went back and forth on it several times. My existing prop fit the specification, but was not the ideal one. I ended up chosing to go for the larger prop, a whole 2" bigger in diameter. I was concerned at first due to how much closer this put the top of the prop to the hull, but I was assured it was fine by the mechanic and the prop shop. So I went for it. Its hard to say because its a new engine as well, but the volvo D2-40 and the Perkins 4-108 have almost identical prop requirements for a CD36, but I think its an improvement, the boat responds far better. But the downside to the larger prop is the prop walk is noticably worse in reverse. I thought I had mastered backing a CD into a slip, I am going to have to relearn now!

Ok, noise... what noise? This engine compared to the 4-108 is QUIET! I am so used to the noise of the 4-108 that my poor brand new tranny got a beating today. What happened was coming into a slip in the boatyard to drop the mechanic off and grab some fuel, to stop the boat I of course go into reverse. But I based my estimation of it being okay to shift, based on "feel", this engine at 1800 RPM is quieter then my perkins at idle, so I tried to go into reverse at 1800 RPM, made a horrid noise, scared me, so I went right into neutral, thinking there is some problem (not though realizing its my stupidity), my mechanic is on the bow handling a dockline so I cant cry to him for help, but I still need to stop the boat (that dock is getting close!) so I do the same thing again, into reverse at 1800 RPM, nasty noise again! I finally look at my gauges and realize the idiot I am, gotta get used to a quiet engine!

Okay, more on quiet... While down below in the galley, with the engine running at 1500RPM (and of course 2' away from me) I can actually still hear the exhaust water splashing! Thats just nuts to me. As well at 1500 RPM, sitting at the nav station, I have no problem watching a movie or listening to music. At no engine speed do the stove burners start to rattle. Even pushing the engine close to 3000, the stern squatting badly and insane amounts of fuel getting burned, vibration is still less then the perkins at idle. But at those speeds noise does get a bit bad, but cant complain about that. When in the cockpit hand steering, due to the closeness of the prop to the hull, at high speeds (6+ knots) there is a slightly disconcerting noise that you can tell is not from the engine but from the prop, but it causes no harm and I am sure I will get used to it (and its still far quieter then any noise the perkins made).

So far I am pleased as punch! I do have some new pictures to post, but I am on a very bad wifi connection and posting from the anchorage, I cant manage photo uploads, but will get to them when I can.

By the way, I just started the engine while waiting for the wifi to reset so I could make this post. I am running at 1300RPM, the stock altinator is putting out 73 amps, and I can hardly feel the engine running. My perkins with a 150amp altinator I had put on, to get 50 amps out at 1000rpm my computer would literally vibrate off the nav desk!

[Dean Abramson]

Russell,

Congrats on the new engine. It sounds great. Actually, I guess it hardly sounds at all, and that is a beautiful thing.

Is it possible it will run cooler when it is broken in? Or could the thermostat be a little funky?

I think that you mentioned once that your hoses from the ventilation cowl vents were not hooked up (like mine are not). I am assuming you corrected that as part of this project, no?

Dean

[Ron M.]

Glad to hear your back in the water and the installation is complete.
Do you have the 115 amp alt. that came stock with my d1-20 or is it larger on the d2-20 ? In any event it's much more efficient for charging the banks.........no ?
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Plymouth Pronto Specifications