One Engine Room?

[RICKEY]

OK has any one know of or has done the project I'am about to take on? I decided that eliminating the hall between the port and star engine rooms will solve two problems. one I can sound proof one engine room not two. the other you can service both motors easyly as well as having more room for my tools and mach. I plan on having two stainless steel doors foward and aft. Two support the main salon floor I'am using two three prestressed alum I beams supported against the foward and aft bulkheads. two go foward from aft state room you will go topside via a spiral stair case that will take the place of the mid head. witch in measurment come out to just before the main salon starboard aft bulkhead, don't need three heads. You still can pass through the engine room to go foward or aft, I will send pictures of the project as it comes along. I know it sounds crazy and its a lot of work, but this will be the last boat I purchace so being a Hatteras I'll keep it for the rest of my life. By the way I'am a proud owner of a 53' motor yacht with 8V71s thanks

 

[thoward]

Take a look at the ER of a 60c as that will show how Hatt did it.

 

[(Nobody You Know)]

Seems this could make heating and AC a nightmare, let alone the additional noise.

You seem to be very creative BTW. How about fabricating removable panels for the engine room/hallway walls that, when installed, maintain the integrity of support needed?

If it's important, you may also want to think about the impact of resale value on the boat.

Good luck!

 

[MikeP]

"I know it sounds crazy and its a lot of work"

I agree with you completely - it sounds crazy and it's a lot of work!

But it's your boat and if that's what you want to do with it, it's your business. So don't let East Coast "purists" like me dissuade you from doing this if you really want to do it. (actually I live in Mexico now so I'm not an East Coaster anymore)

I saw a 62 E-Type Jag with an "upgraded" digital dash and a chevy engine a year or so ago in Pt Jefferson, NY. True, I was appalled and it wasn't worth a dime on the resale market but the owner loved it. Ultimately, that's the most important thing. Good Luck!

 

[yachtsmanbill]

I say go for it ! I never understood the logic of having to climb over stuff to check oil etc. That also creates quite a deterrent to doing regular maintenance stuff as well. I know when anyone builds stuff, cars, houses etc, accessibility is of no concern. Let the owner pay to have stuff done and go have another cocktail. Those days passed me by and didnt even wave "so long".
WET PANTS will be the order of the day when you see the finished product on my boats engine room. Paint,chrome, lights, Stainless steel and even some brightwork to compliment the yacht aspect of things. Hell, I wont even allow socks so there no chance of lint or errant dog hair finding its way in there LOL.
Really now, all the commercial boats and equipment I work on leaves room jump in and tighten a clamp in a hurry if you need to. As mine sits right now, adjusting the packing is an hour long chore that I dread. Of course, being into a 60 foot Hatteras for less than 100K gives me the leeway to do as I please. Just look at that weird "euro" job that was for sale last year. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. JMHO .
This is the line drawing provided for no charge from Hatteras last week. ws

 

[Boatsb]

Anyone making the engine room space larger gets my attention. I like the idea of the spiral staircase to ge to the aft area. Jus thinking of how items will get in and out of the space via a spiral staircase as they are not easy to navigate.

I had a tour of Carl Guzmans 67 the other day and loved the boat but thought of access to the inner sides of the engines. I think you have a good idea. Post pictures.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Before I bought the HATT TRICK, I looked at a 65 ' Hartman Palmer MY. Central walk thru ER and a spiral staircase aft. In the saloon floor was a good sized hatch. Same goes for the galley up-- over the engine room itself. Seems they thought "outside the boat". ws

 

[Pascal]

i think it's great idea although i'm not willing to sacrifice a head...

you could really drastically improve insulation to cut down on the amount of heat (not an issue up north but a big one down here)

one way it could have been done woudl have been to have both heads a couple of feet aft, taking up verylittle space in the master but making room for stairs just aft of the ER on stbd side. Maybe taking a few extra inches in the heads, the master head in the early single shower boat is larger than in later version with separate show. too much work to do on an existing boat obviously.

the split ER design is the typical compromise you face in most boats : trade off some accesibility and insulation for more space down below.

although accessibility ins't a big deal at least on the 53. it's easy to get to the stuffing boxes and equally easy to walk around the engines withouth stepping over anything. the removable panels are easy to remove and give good access.

compromise compromise.

 

[MikeP]

Yes, 53 MY engine access is excellent - the large removable panels on the passageway/inboard side of the engines make work pretty easy no matter what you have to do. Were these large quick-remove panels normal on 53's from the beginning Or were they a later addition?

 

[Pascal]

i have them too.

 

[spartonboat1]

I say go for it ! I never understood the logic of having to climb over stuff to check oil etc. That also creates quite a deterrent to doing regular maintenance stuff as well. I know when anyone builds stuff, cars, houses etc, accessibility is of no concern. Let the owner pay to have stuff done and go have another cocktail. Those days passed me by and didnt even wave "so long".
WET PANTS will be the order of the day when you see the finished product on my boats engine room. Paint,chrome, lights, Stainless steel and even some brightwork to compliment the yacht aspect of things. Hell, I wont even allow socks so there no chance of lint or errant dog hair finding its way in there LOL.
Really now, all the commercial boats and equipment I work on leaves room jump in and tighten a clamp in a hurry if you need to. As mine sits right now, adjusting the packing is an hour long chore that I dread. Of course, being into a 60 foot Hatteras for less than 100K gives me the leeway to do as I please. Just look at that weird "euro" job that was for sale last year. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. JMHO .
This is the line drawing provided for no charge from Hatteras last week. ws

re: line drawings, purtee!...

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Okay, I'm one of the purists, like MikeP. I say don't do it. It wrecks the boat as far as I'm concerned. If you want something else, then sell it and find the boat that meets your needs. I just got back from the Miami brokerage show and looked at several Hatts with modifications. I realized that OEM is best. Don't mess with a Hargrave design. There is a reason that those boats are still on the market.

 

[sarettah50]

I saw a 50my that had had this same project done to it. As I remember it, the engine room seemed huge. it too had doors at either end and the spiral staircase coming down through the guest head. I personally did not like the idea of going through the large engine room to go between the staterooms and the galley or to go up to the saloon and back down to make that trip. I also did not like the idea of guests having to make that trip in the middle of the night to visit the fwd head or having to share the master head with guests in the middle of the night. These are just my personal thoughts. Good luck with your project.

 

[Fanfare]

Re: Engine Room Panels

The 50MY, predecessor of the 53MY, has the overhead engine room hatches for removing the engines. However, there were no panels in the passageway between the engines. I had to add these years ago to be able to work on the inboard sides of the engines. I left the existing uprights in the partition in place, but they did not appear to be important structural parts. Glad to hear that Hatteras made them as stock in the 53.

But why did they ever abandon the overhead engine room hatches in later models? Was Hargrave around for this?

 

[MikeP]

Jim

The 53 does have overhead engine hatches, THey are probably better referred to as Access Panels in that they are screwed in place as opposed to having a hinge or a couple of pulls where they can be easily lifted out. The carpet is not cut out for them so to use them you have to pull the carpet back. But they are there and they will accomodate lifting the engine out. I'd guess there are maybe 20 of the square-recess standard Hatt screws holding each panel.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Several other later models have no hatches. The 53ED and some of the other larger MY's have no such hatches. I'm sure Hargrave did not design them that way, however.

 

[Genesis]

Maintenance access is golden on boats. Very, very few manufacturers understand this, but all should.

So long as you figure out how you're going to get things in and out of that aft space, I'd say go for it. Consider figuring a way to make that spiral removable with reasonable ease to pass larger things up and down if/when there is a need.

 

[MikeP]

I've been thinking about this some more and decided to post some thoughts that although somewhat influenced by my "leave it alone" philosophy, has what I believe (hope) are some practical views.

I'm not seeing where there's really any useful space in the "new" eng room to be gained by this project. You will loose the storage capability of the bulkhead walls that are currently between the eng rooms and passageway since they will be gone. You will add the walls/doors front and rear but with the doors there, you will not have any added storage space on those walls to replace what you lost.

THe space between the engines is not usuable to any extent because you have to be able to move between the engines anyway using the same space that the passageway/access panels currently use.

I guess if soundproofing the eng room is a big issue, it may be easier to soundproof one larger room although I'm not sure that's acoustically correct. It might be more sound-effective to isolate the separate rooms - but I'm no acoustic engineer so I don't know.

You will also be losing space in the salon with whatever type of stairs you plan to install.

So unless I'm missing something, it seems to me that you will be losing usuable space both in the living portion AND in the eng rooms.

I have the tools on our 53 to do virtually anything including overhauling the engines and spray-painting. I have 3/4" drive socket sets and breaker bars in addition to 1/2, 3/8, and 1/4; all the appropriate wrenches, tune up tools, electrical tools, etc, etc, etc. Most of the tools are in the eng rooms without obstructing floor space or work space.

The primary "space saver" I have taken advantage of is the top of the intercoolers. Mounting a "shelf" on top with a three-drawer tool cabinet mounted on that gives a large amount of storage that doesn 't obstruct anything. If you examine the IC mount, you will see that it is extremely substantial - a tool box on top will not cause any distress at all. I also have some baskets mounted in the ERs to hold various liquids/adhesives/whatever.

I really believe that you will not gain anything spacewise by undertaking this project. I think Hatt pretty much delivered all the usable space available in a boat this size. The 58 LRC has, IMHO, exactly what you're looking for. Whether you are interested in one of these, I don't know but it wouldn't hurt to take a look. THe downside is that the LRCs are a lot more expensive than a 53 (or the standard 58). We would move "up" to the 58LRC in a second but it's out of our price range.

In any case, best of luck!