This bulletin board, hosted by the CDSOA, Inc., is the on-line meeting place for all Cape Dory owners and groups. We welcome everyone's questions, answers and comments about Cape Dory sailboat
Keith wrote:Those Crazy Swedes made one hell of an engine!!! Still kicking after 41 years with raw water cooling in salt water. The good news is it will run forever, the bad news is it will run forever. Each year I contemplate replacing it. Will this winter will be the year???
Mine did not last for ever a hole rusted into the cylinder wall and loss compression I can see where a freshwater cooled one may last forever, but mine
Lower Chesapeake Bay, Sailing out of Carter's Creek Danielle Elizabeth
CD30
The MD7A challenge is parts... maintenance parts are easy, but I found that pretty much was listed everywhere but out of stock worldwide! A fuel line here, an oil pressure sender there... I got lucky and found what I needed, but it took a minor miracle each time.
The decision to repower came when the Volvo, which was running well, simply wasn't cooling well... and the bolts that needed to be removed to fix that weren't interested in cooperating. My mechanic figured a season or two or three, and I'd likely break down in some unfortunate place/situation... and at best, lost the season. A replacement, he suggested, would outlast us all.
I've been happy with the Beta 14. The Volvo was sold and as best as I know, restored.
a hole rusted into the cylinder wall and loss compression