Repowering A 58TC

[stormchaser]

Seriously? Time AND mileage?! F-that. Good DD mechanics are a dime a dozen. 2-cycle DDs are idiot proof and any moron with an IQ of a grapefruit can work on them. I don't care how GOOD he claims to be...ending up with a multiple hundred dollar bill before he even arrives is CRAZY. I've got far better things to do with m limited budget than to pay several hundred dollars per hour for some tech to drive to my boat to begin working on it. Thats insane!

[Sparky1]

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.

Gee, the guy sounds like a friggin' lawyer. I wonder if he'll charge me his hourly rate to explain his bill like my attorney did last time I questioned his.

Driving down the road isn't exactly skilled labor. I'll do some more checking if the guy's not flexible on that part of his bill. Maybe I'll get lucky and get him to check my engine while he's closer to my marina.

[ThirdHatt]

Seriously? Time AND mileage?! F-that. Good DD mechanics are a dime a dozen. 2-cycle DDs are idiot proof and any moron with an IQ of a grapefruit can work on them. I don't care how GOOD he claims to be...ending up with a multiple hundred dollar bill before he even arrives is CRAZY. I've got far better things to do with m limited budget than to pay several hundred dollars per hour for some tech to drive to my boat to begin working on it. Thats insane!

Okay Dave, please find a qualified factory trained Detroit guy with a decent reputation (not Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob from the farm up the road) that is less than 60 miles from Randy's boat and I bet he'll hire him. C'mon now, I don't know how long you have been following this but we have all wanted to get this 12v71 back running again for Randy for a VERY long time now and this is the only way Randy can actually get this done right now. He needs encouragement, not discouragement! Like Karl said, even if it costs $500 to get THE Detroit guru from the area to tell him EXACTLY what is going on with this engine, at this point after all this time it is well worth it.

If it takes Diesel Don two days of work after the initial $500, that's $300x2 so $600 plus two 8hr days @ $90/hr ($720) plus gaskets and various parts ($2k?) so we're at a grand total of approximately $3800. Add another day just for the hell of it and travel and we're right at the $5k guesstimate. Randy has already said he would gladly fix it for $5k, so what the hell? Expensive is all relative. Let's get Freebird (can I say that here?LOL) back crusing on BOTH mains this time!

[doc g]

I guess I need to start doing house calls ,my "hourly rate" plus 1/2 to 2/3rds my hourly rate for drive time ,then I'd have to unload and set up my tools , put them away and drive real slow there and back........hell I'm in the wrong business......................Pat

[stormchaser]

Well, I clearly don't have any contacts in that area, and I admit, that if Diesel Don gets her running for $5k, fine, so be it...but I think everyone here knows that he is out outrageous in price. Sadly, he knows he has the "yachties" by the veritable balls, he;s good, and he knows it. Sad...

[BUSTER]

I would repair the engine.Even if the damage is more (2-cycle Detroits will often share broken bits of metal with the other cylinders through the air box) than you expected. Repowering the boat,even with 6-71's sounds great,but if you are doing it on a budget,it will be a lot more work and money than you expected. Good Luck!

[REBrueckner]

Although I'm conceptually in the "repair the one hole" camp there is another consideration..... And it should be your prime, numero uno, one for making the decision between new and simple "one hole" repair, assuming you have the money to do so.

If you are going to run, say two thousand hours annually you'd be crazy not to replace the 1271N's with high efficiency diesels. It's easy to do a simple economic analysis: figure out how much fuel you'll save...say 8 gal/hr as a figure (I just picked that, it has no real meaning). If $3.00 per gal for fuel cost that's 8 x $3 x 2,000 is $48K annually. If $4/gal, $64K///and your choice is obvious.

But if you run 200 hours annualy, the choice is just as obviously the opposite: you'd save only $4,800 annually. You'll never get your money back in fuel savings for brand new replacement diesels.

[Sparky1]

Brian sent me a PM suggesting I check with those in the trucking or heavy equipment business. I'd already checked with the Detroit Diesel folks, and they'll glady do whatever I'd like to the engine IF I bring it to them.

The heavy equipment angle is one I hadn't thought of, so I called some friends who own a construction company with lots of heavy equipment and their own mechanics. Turns out they didn't do Detroits and didn't know anybody who did.

Hell, paying $5K to get the ole gal up and running again would tickle me to death, but I'd be even more tickled if I can get it done for less. $90 per hour for a guy who knows exactly what he's doing beats the hell out of $60 per hour for a guy who's using me for on the job training and will take twice as long to do the work. Sometimes the old saying of "you get what you pay for" really does come into play.

That being said, I think I'll call Roger.

[saltshaker]

Can your 1271's be removed without cutting a hole in the boat? I know this is the only way to get them out of some of the Hatt MY's. Even if you can get them out, you will spend at least 12-15K swapping them out with a similar engine. Once you start changing engine beds, mounts, exhaust, fuel lines, battery cables, and anything else you forgot about, you'll be well over 30K. I spent 34K swapping my 8v71's for 6v92's on a 46SF. Easy in and out through the cabin door so no fiberglass or carpentry work needed, just had to remove the door and frame. I did all the ER clean up, painting and much of the soundproofing myself. The 34K was thee yard bill and did not include the cost of the engines and gears. I was able to get 10K for the old 8v71N's with about 3000hrs on them. If this is the route you want to go, then go for it but it won't be cheap and should not be thought of as a cost cutting effort. If you just want to get her running again, just fix the bad hole and be done with it. Those engines will outlive all of us if you take care of them.

[Sparky1]

Rob, there's no way I'd ever put 2,000 hours on the engines in a year's time. Even if I manage to do the bed and breakfast thing I mentioned, I doubt I'd put more than 500 hours a year on it, and that would be very optimistic.

Now if and when I retire in another 15-20 years or so, maybe I'd have the time/money to put 1,000 hours a year on the boat, but that's about 10K miles either way you slice it. That's quite a bit of running for a pleasure boat.

I knew I should have taken up golf.