Apparently most of the more recent Cape Dory 30's were powered by a Unversal M-18. Certainly all of those with the "B" plan interior. I gather from reading this Board that most of the earlier Cape Dory 30's were powered by a Volvo with a "V" Drive. I don't believe any of the 30's were powered by Yanmar but I would appreciate any corrections if I am wrong on that.
Well, I am about to undertake telling you about my experience replacing my Universal M-18 (which, by the way, is not 18 HP, it is only 14 HP). I will tell this story in installments because (1) it is not yet over, and (2) I don't want to bore everyone. Nevertheless, it may be valuable information for those who need to replace their M-18.
Background: My boat is Hull No. 358, apparently one of the last 10 30's produced by Cape Dory. It was "launched" in 1986, making it a 1986 boat,, although there is engraved in the glass of the port side cockpit locker the information that it was laid up in October 1985. [My previous boats were: Morgan 25(1976); Cape Dory 27(1977); and Irwin 31 (vintage 1969)]
I am the third owner. having acquired it in the year 2000. It was in pretty good shape and had several extras which I thought nice to have.
Boat characteristics: It is the "B" plan which means that the head is in the area usually occupied by a "Vee" berth. The toilet sits squarely on the centerline of the boat. Behind the head are two hanging locikers and behind them (actually in the forepeak) is the chain locker for the anchor.
It also has a quarter berth and Nav Station, which I consider to be more valuable than a V berth. This, of course, means that the ice box (refrigerator) is located on the port side just behind the gimballed alchohol stove. It carries 60 gallons of potable water in two 30 gallon tanks, each located under the opposing settees in the saloon. It also has a pressurized water system.
The sanitary holding tank, since there is no V berth, is located under the engine with a pumpout access located in the well of the cockpit. There is also an access panel in the cabin sole just forward of the engine. This holding tank is built right into the boat, in fact, the aft portion of the bilge (directly under the engine sump) is the main part of the holding tank. [probably explains those blisters in the aft section of the keel] My guess is that it has about a 20 gallon capacity. There is a plumbing fitting in the engine sump which provides for a sanitary hose which in turn leads to the pumpout in the cockpit floor. It also has a 'breathing tube" running from the fitting in the sump to the aft end of the boat. It will be important to take these two fittings into account when you are selecting your replacement engine.
The M-18 engine. It was not until I had removed the M-18 that I realized why the earlier Cape Dory 30's were equipped with the Volvo V drive. There ain't much room and the V drive makes it possible to utilize a fairly standard engine bed design and still have the tranny match up to the prop shaft. Apparently, Cape Dory moved to the Universal M-18 (1) to get away from the V drive, or (2) because it was cheaper, although considering the design changes to the bed, I'm not sure that (2) was really a consideration. At any rate the mounts of the M-18 are on each of 4 posts instead of "stringers" or "bunks" as I discovered they are called. To these mounts on the posts, Cape Dory had to attach "hangers" which were bolted to the engine at the four corners. The aft hangers permitted the aft end of the engine to be lowered significantly below the level of the mounts and thereby line up the tranny with the prop shaft. [I plan to provide photos with my next installment so you can see what I am talking about. Assuming I can figure out how to attach photos] The posts are also sloped aft at about a 7 degrees angle.
At any rate, faced with this rather unique (at least in my experience) engine bed design, it soon became apparent that I could not simply pull the old engine out and pop a new one in its place.
I looked at every small engine on the market, including Yanmar, Westerbeke, Universal, Volvo, and Vetus(Mitsubishi). I did not believe any of these could be adapted to my engine bed. Basically they were too wide. .
The M-18 is built on a Kubota tractor engine block. But it is out of production. I finally decided to see if there were any other engines built on a Kubota block and it seems the Beta Marine is the only one. I selected the Beta BZ482 which is a two cylinder 13.5HP engine built on a Kubota block. I found the Universal 14 hp to be adequate power for the boat even though there have been occasions when I would have liked more. But I decided that I would swap HP for space and live with the same size engine I had always had.
However, that decision did not make the job easy, it just made it possible. And more about that in the next installment.
Thanks for reading this far.
Will
"Jambalaya"
CD 30
