Repowering A 58TC

[Sparky1]

He claims others are charging $2-2.50, so who knows? I assume I'm not going be paying him $90 per hour while he's charging me $1.00 per mile to come to the boat.

[SeaEric]

I wouldn't necessarily assume that. Some of these guys charge "portal to portal".

[Genesis]

Nail him down on that.

Many mechs charge time on their clock in their shop and they punch in before they get in the truck, charging you both mileage AND time while on the road.

Nonetheless, if you spend $500 to find out that he doesn't think you can do a single kit, you still got information you can't get elsewhere. I'd come look at it and tell you what I think but not from this far away

[REBrueckner]

Early on you said you'd hope to get twice the mileage with 6-71's....No way I think thats going to happen....producing, say 400 HP from a pair of 12V71's just isn't going to be all that different from producing 400 HP from a pair of 6-71's.

Maybe somebody can comment further, with actual data but if you got more than 10% or 15% savings at the same (modest) cruise speed I'd be surprised. If you change to modern four cycle engines, electronic controls, etc, maybe double that savings???

[Sparky1]

Ah hell Karl, you mean you can't fix this thing by remote control?

I sent Don an email to confirm our telelphone conversation. In that email I asked for clarification on his labor rate where drive time is concerned. If he's 60 miles away from me, I'm looking at $120 for the round trip before he looks at anything. If he does in fact charge $90 per hour to drive up and down the road, there's another $180 or better. I'm into the guy for $300 before he ever sets foot on the boat.

God help me if he stops at Taco Bell on the way up!

[Sparky1]

Early on you said you'd hope to get twice the mileage with 6-71's....No way I think thats going to happen....producing, say 400 HP from a pair of 12V71's just isn't going to be all that different from producing 400 HP from a pair of 6-71's.

Maybe somebody can comment further, with actual data but if you got more than 10% or 15% savings at the same (modest) cruise speed I'd be surprised. If you change to modern four cycle engines, electronic controls, etc, maybe double that savings???

Rob, no way would I go with anything other than 6-71N's as I'm not looking to match horsepower with the 12's.

[ThirdHatt]

EXCELLENT!!! I knew you could charm him over to your way of thinking Randy! Like Karl said, even if you do have to pay him $300 travel time and a couple hours on the boat, ouch but that would be $500 well spent because he knows Detroits. As expensive as he apparently is, he must be worth it and it is still CHEAP compared to every other scenario any of us have been able to imagine so what the hell. It may be a good idea to put a new injector in that one hole just to be sure it's getting the right amount of fuel, but that really should be it! You may be surprised at how little you have to spend to be back on the rivers with the twins purring under you. The fact that you won't ever have the need to plane the boat up there pretty much ensures that those 12's will outlast you!

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

[Canuck Dennis]

For your info, I had a piston/rod/liner repalced on one of my 12 71 nats, had Detroit Diesel do the work included new injectors and rebuild one head.
Was 10K US. other liners etc were checked thro insperction ports and appeared ok, since then I have had the boat to Alaska and return along with manty local trips engine is still ok.


Sams has a pair of 12 71's with 500 hrs on them with gear for I believe 20K, might get them for 15 without gear and if easily accessible, inand out figure 5k. not a bad solution....

[Sparky1]

I actually called about those engines on SAM's site, but I'm assuming they're gone. I talked to a gentleman from Burger yachts about the time I was moving the 58 to TN, but I never could get through to him again after that. I left messages and sent emails on top of that, but I never heard back from anyone.

They came out of a Burger that was being refit with new Cats as I recall, but the primary problems were their having been converted to 24V and the gearing in the trannys had been changed as well. I was going to make them a lowball offer, but I never could get through to anybody after that initial conversation.

[StratPlan61]

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe Diesel Don charges both mileage and hr/rate travel time. As I said, he is good, but he isn't cheap! He did my generator r&r, nice job but not cheap.