CD 27 Engine Replacement

[Mr. Jansen]

Has anyone replaced the stock YMS8 with the newer 2YM15?

[gates_cliff]

I have the Westerbeke 13, asked the mechanic at Marine Engines Unlimited in Galesville if he thought I'd need to replace my engine eventually (By the way, this is a small business that is incredibly honest and reasonable). He told me that the engine was in excellent shape and wouldn't need replacement. However, when I was wondering about it, talked to another board member here, can't remember his name, but he's in Oriental, NC. He highly recommended the Beta Marine engine.

[Neil Gordon]

Lots of us have repowered with Betas. I've not heard of anyone who regretted the move.

[Mr. Jansen]

What was the HP rating of the Beta engine you repowered your CD27 with? Did you have to modify the engine access hatch to fit the Beta in? Thank you for the info.

John.

Keep your keel clean and your weather eye on the horizon.

[Neil Gordon]

What was the HP rating of the Beta engine you repowered your CD27 with? Did you have to modify the engine access hatch to fit the Beta in?.

The Beta replaced an MD7A in my 28. No modification other than raising the bed. The Bera is a lot smaller and lighter than what came out.

[Mr. Jansen]

Thank you for the information. Yamar didn't skimp on the cast iron. We decided to just get the old Yanmar rebuilt. It has been a month now or longer. We were just informed by our rebuilder that our engine was a new improved, model. I found that out as he was rebuilding it and he said he had to order new valves from Florida. He told us not to worry, it shouldn't take much time at all to get them.

I hope he gets it done soon. We want to get the engine reinstalled and tested before March 31, 2019, when our slip assignment ends at Santa Cruz Harbor. Beyond that, we haven't been doing anything but cleaning and organizing. That is not the reason I bought the boat. I want to get out and sail!

Keep your keel clean and your weather eye on the horizon.

[fmueller]

I replaced my YSM 8 with a Beta 14 last spring/early summer ... but in my opinion the Yanmar 15 would be just as good and it has a much larger alternator - I think its 120 amps vs 40 on the Beta 14 although you can upgrade the Beta to 70 amps. I was not aware of that before I made my decision. I chose the Beta because I knew others in the CD community had managed it with the Beta successfully.

We kept the old engine pan (cleaned it up and shot it with white Bilgecoat) and epoxied and glassed G10 stringers to raise the old forward mounts. I think we did 1 3/4 inches but I'd have to go dig up the notes. The off camber rear mounts for the YSM are not used and do not get in the way. To get the block in (and out a few times undoubtedly) without cutting back the service opening you need to remove the alternator, heat exchanger and a few other bits - not a big deal. Being able to keep the old engine pan is a great thing - it really goes a long way toward keeping your bilge from turning into an EPA site.



Fred Mueller

[Mr. Jansen]

You sure do nice work! Beautiful job, Fred. We managed to get our YSM8 into the engine bay using the boom, our boson's chair hoist, the jack line and a positive attitude. The engine is a sidewinder and we had to take off the exhaust manifold and air intake filter. That took us 4 hours of cramming ourselves and the engine into little spaces. Now we have suspicions about the cutlass bearing. The unconnected propeller shaft only turns freely in one direction. That problem could either be the a product of paranoid thinking by frustrated amateur engine installers or it could mean the engine has to come out again.

Does anyone know if the cutlass bearing can be replaced with the engine in place?

The boat will need to be hauled out no matter which way the shaft needs to come out. Perhaps we need professional help except we are having some difficultly finding it because of Santa Cruz Harbor's high liability insurance requirements for service providers.

Keep you keel clean and a weather eye on the horizon.

[Joe Mac Phee]

The cutlass on my CD-30 is removable with the engine in place. Obviously the shaft must be pulled (and the shaft coupling removed and the stuffing box loosened).

When you rebuilt the engine, did you service the stuffing box and it's rubber hose ? The new stuffing box packing may be too tight. Is the propeller on the shaft? Are you using it for leverage to turn the shaft? It shouldn't be very difficult to rotate the unconnected shaft in either direction.

[Mr. Jansen]

Thank you for the information. I didn't notice any hose going to the stuffing box. I look for it next time I am on the boat.


Keep your keel clean and your weather-eye on the horizon.

[John Stone]

Excellent work Fred M. Good clear pictures too.

What size fuel tank are you using on your Beta 14? What kind of range do you get? Two or 3 blade? Fixed or feathering?

Thanks much Fred.

[fmueller]

John,

Sorry for slow reply ...

12 gallon tank / 12" Featherstream feathering prop

Range - I don't really know from experience - I'm really just a day sailor in and around Narragansett Bay. Last year I splashed in the first week of August. Stayed in the water till November 15th. I used all of 5-6 gal in that time basically just getting in and out of the slip and down the channel while I hoist sails. So, kind of ridiculously low fuel use. But I sure love having that new engine. I dumped five gallons back into the tank for the winter just to have the tank mostly full. The poly tank is great because you can just see how much fuel you have.

The Beta spec is 1 1/2 liters an hour at around 2500 rpm and that seems about right to me - thats where I run it most of the time, and i'll be make about 4.5 - 5 knots.

10 gal = 37 liters / 1.5 = 24.6 (hours) x 5(miles approx.) = about 125 miles with 2 gallons left in the tank.

So I can run for about a day on that tank. If I ever feel that's not enough - a 5 gal jug in the lazarette is no problem.

The fuel consumption spec goes up quite a bit from 3k and up to redline at 3600 rpm. At redline its 3 liters an hour according to spec - and my boat only goes about a knot faster. So there is not much point in running that hard.

cheers

Fred

look on the backside of the pdf for the fuel consumption/torque/h.p. chart

https://issuu.com/betamarine/docs/b14-h ... 9/68213421


edit: 4/15/19 When I turned my motor on for the first time this spring, the LCD counter said 19.1 hours - not much motoring in 3 months. I'm guessing I went out about 20 times. Would have been a few more, but I had some medical issues, hopefully behind me now.

[Mr. Jansen]

Thank you Fred for the information. Lil' Goose is now repowered. We had our YSM8-R professionally rebuilt by Bill Ingles of Richmond, CA for a little over $5k and installed by Captain Stephen Phillips of Santa Cruz. CA for about $1200. We got to help and we learned a great deal from Captain Phillips.

My son and our friend took the boat out of the harbor briefly and decided to return after getting a closer look at conditions on Monterey Bay. On the way back in they wound the engine up to try to outrun the next set of waves at the harbor entrance and the engine quit. They could smell fumes from the newly packed gland nut and found that the propeller shaft and the hose clamps were hot to the touch. Fortunately the engine restarted easily and they returned to our slip. They didn't remember that an increase engine speed above about 2600 rpm makes torque drop off until it is about half at redline. My conclusion is that the engine stalled as the heat increased the diameter of the the drive shaft and the clearance in the packing gland decreased to the point that the engine couldn't overcome the increased friction and load on the propeller

Our mechanic checked the gland packing and found that there was very little water coming up through the stern tube with the gland nut loose. I think we'll have to haul out and completely remove the propeller shaft to inspect the stern tube and cutlass bearing for obstructions. As long as we are going that far, I have decided to just replace the cutlass bearing and hone out the stern tube to be done with that thread of speculation.

Does anyone know the dimensions of a Cape Dory 27 cutlass bearing?


Keep your keel clean and your weather-eye on the horizon.

[gates_cliff]

Not engine replacement but somewhat associated. I have a Westerbeke 13 and one time when I was sailing up the bay on a glorious March day, wind gusting to 35 + , reefed main, and the wind blowing straight down the West River where I needed to go, So I make the turn to find that my engine control linkage (both throttle and gear shift) had disconnected, spent about two hours tacking back and forth, finally made it to the marina, sailed up to the fuel dock and got some help pulling my boat to its slip.

So, I check the linkage and see what went wrong and think I can fix it myself. Get the parts and hook it up and everything seems to work great. Yeah but in about 6 months they came apart again. So, thinking I didn't do it correctly, I had the guys at Marine Engines Unlimited fix it, this was about 5 years ago. So, I'm out yesterday and have it in idle and get into the slip just fine, it when I go to shut it down, find that once again the throttle control has disconnected. I've messed with it enough now to be able to shut it down.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced similar issues and how to resolve it.

[Mr. Jansen]

Our morse cable came loose after we rebuilt the engine. I couldn't figure out how to reconnect it, since the cable sheath wouldn't pull back far enough to clip into the retainer on the single lever, side mount control. After spending some time trying to take the controller apart, (thankfully I failed to find a way to do it), I arranged with the local outboard shop to come take a look at it. In the mean time, I used wire ties to hold the cable housing still. That worked well enough to run the engine.

I had to wait two or three weeks for the appointment with the mechanic so, in the mean time, I fixed other items while a bright work specialist was stripping varnish in preparation from the teak. When the mechanic finally got to the boat, he called me and asked who installed the control system. I told him I had the engine installed by a licensed mechanic and he had reconnected the controls. The mechanic then did what I should have done; looked at the other end of the cable.

It took him about an hour but, basically, he disconnected the cable at the engine, secured the now loosened morse cable properly at the controller, reconnected the throttle cable at the engine and lubed the pivot points. No new parts, just the hand of a experienced outboard engine mechanic. I worked in building maintenance and I knew, at one point, when you can't find what is causing the problem it is because you are looking in the wrong place. In this case, I was looking in the locker and the problem was in the engine bay. I just was so focused on the wrong end of the cable, it didn't occur to me that the other end might be the problem.

Keep your keel clean and a weather eye on the horizon,