Removal of 20KW Kohler Generator

I am replacing the 20 KW Kohler generator (model ROP 63) from my 56 MY. I am having a little discussion/debate with my generator fellow who is reluctant to remove the old unit without a forklift coming through my pilothouse door. In order to avoid any damage to my boat, I have told him that I am willing to pay more in labor time to have someone strip the unit down (I know the rear end comes off because I replaced it already) and take it out in pieces if necessary. The new one can be put in in two pieces no big deal. The issue is the weight of the block after the rear end is removed (and even after the head is removed). Does any one have any thoughts on this and the pros/cons of having a forklift involved. Thanks.

I did mine with a stinger truck.

Here's how you do it.

Find a place that has a drystack dock. Pull the boat to the END of the dock (leaving lots of room)

Truck backs up to the load area for the forklift, with the stinger extended. MAKE SURE the full-extension capacity is MORE than the genset weighs! (the consequence of being wrong on this can be that the truck goes crashing into the water, and/or the stinger goes crashing into your boat - or both! Yes, you can be sunk that way.)

Open salon door.

BY HAND, pull the boat backward, fitting the stinger into the door.

Secure boat at dock.

Hook up genset, lift it.

Pull boat FORWARD (by hand), clearing genset out door.

Retract stinger from truck, place dead genset wherever it is going.

Reverse for the new one.

No muss, no fuss. I did a swap of my Onan for a Kohler three years ago this way. No part of the stinger or genset(s) touched any part of the boat. Flawless.

Karl - sorry. You lost me. Drystack dock etc. The only place close by that might fit the bill (and has water enough for me to pull close up) places me on a floating fuel dock next to a bulkhead. Thus, the forklift would be on land and the boat would be next to the fuel dock.Does that change your suggestion. Also, getting the block from the galley hole to the galley floor is easy. Getting it up the stairs to the stairs to the pilothouse is not. Finally, getting the block off through the pilothouse door when the deck is about five feet higher than the floating dock seems almost impossible--unless of course, the block is not that heavy. Is this doable by hand if the block weighs 300 pounds, or four hundred pounds--just a guess?

I replaced the same gen a few years back on a 61 MY. I seperated the old Kohler and A framed it up the stairs.{ Had to remove the window above the stairs to get A frame fwd enough}. Put plywood down on the floor, Put the gen on a dolly and rolled it through the salon, then used the davit to lift it off the short back deck, then lowered it to the dolly on the dock. Pushed up the dock and lifted onto the truck. The new 21 kw Kohler went in in one piece.
I do not think the old unit will come out in 1 piece. It is also HEAVY. I think it weighs twice as much as the new gen. Dave

Oookkkkk...

Bit different situation here than my boat (I have a 45C)

What I'd do is rig an A-frame to hoist it in side the boat, and figure out how (rollers and plywood, probably) to get it to a place where you can stick a stinger through a door and pick it up. Getting it up from the bottom to the upper levels up stairs is not impossible - plywood over the stairs as a "slide" surface and a comealong will do it.

Then you need to figure out WHERE you lift it off the boat and out.

Your davit PROBABLY doesn't have the capacity to lift it, even if it had the reach.

I'd have to see the boat, but I bet I could figure out a way to get it out of there and to a place where a dockside crane (or one in a truck) would work to do the final deed.

There are different ways to do it . The question was about a MY not A SF. Also on the MY you have to deal with a circular staircase. The davit is plenty strong 1000 lb davit. new 21 kw weighed 775 lbs. seperated halves of the old 20 kw less. Of course a forklift can be used and works well if the driver is careful. But a lot of high and dry marinas do not want to be bothered or the pit is not big enough. Dave

Could you pick it up out through the front hatch? Or, if you have to, you may get a few guys to wrestle it up to the salon. I know that an M20 Allison can make it up the stairs with 3 guys around it.

The genset is going to be a BEAST for three guys to try to lift. I wouldn't attempt it.

I'd lay plywood over the areas it has to traverse, A-frame it onto that area, and then use rollers under the pan to move it to where I could get it off the boat - assuming the dimensions allowed it to clear the various places it had to clear.

Another option is to bring a crane in. I do this often.The operators are professionals and they have long reach. Typical charge is 200.00. It all depends where the boat is and what is available.

rereading the post, I will give my ideas. The pilothouse doors are do able. The real question is height of the deck and the height of the ground that the forklift will be on. If there is height to lift I do not see a problem. It might be easier to put the gen on the aft deck and back into the travelift pit to forklift it off. Or a high and dry dock. If the gen guy does this regularly I would tend to go with him. Hopefully he has yards in the area he works with.

Thanks. It seems to me in reading the posts that simply carrying it from the deck to the floating dock is not an option so some sort of device will be needed. I do not have a davit, the aft deck is closed and I would prefer not to remove a window if possible. Hence, I am am now in search of a suitable location to work with a stinger, a crane or a forklift. The last thing I want to do is to pay almost 20K for a generator and then do damage to the boat in the process.

On my 61' CPMY both gens were replaced. They cut an access in the galley roof. One piece out / one piece in. Then refiberglass the panel back in from the inside and new headliner. Fair and repaint. Done. .........Pat

One last thought. Would the block be able to be carried by hand if, after removal of the rear end, the block was cut in half somehow? I just do not know how much it weighs. I believe the block is a Perkins 4-108.

Speaking of cutting galley overhead, I was toying with that idea all summer with the thought of redoing the galley, appliances, & adding a laundry center. It sure seems a lot easier to open up the top then closing it back than all the hassels involved moving thru the rest of the boat!

Bertram motoryachts come with a panel in the cabin top from the factory.

K