let the repower begin

pk · Post by pk » Wed May 18, 2011 7:14 am

You are right Paul! The numbers are for one engine. Your engine is 300 Hp, and mine is well under. I will guess around 275 - 280. IÂ´m not sure.

willietrojan · Post by **willietrojan** » Wed May 18, 2011 9:15 am

Are the replacement engines from an I/O setup? if so I hope one is opposite rotation!

I hope your resale value doesn't drop!

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Wed May 18, 2011 9:30 am

Not to be negative, but I'm not sure those L-6's can produce enough torque to get the boat on plane.

Gettaway - we're really trying to help ... I think the board talked you out of going diesel some months back, but I would certainly consider the cost/work there before going to smaller Inline-6 gas engines.

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Wed May 18, 2011 12:56 pm

Do you think you'll have enough power with the smaller motors, and what props will you use to push 16000# loaded? I guess it won't be too bad at trawler speeds which is more enjoyable anyway. I know a lot of people that have gone up in power but not too many going down in power. I will be real interested in hearing your performance specs.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Wed May 18, 2011 1:02 pm

willietrojan wrote:Are the replacement engines from an I/O setup? if so I hope one is opposite rotation!

I hope your resale value doesn't drop!

Both engines can spin the same way using the MG 502 gear to reverse the direction on one

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Wed May 18, 2011 7:12 pm

hi all, I apologize for the delay in posting / replies. It has been a bit more than crazy at work.
Fuel tanks: I agree, if uncle sam hadn't soaked me for major $ in additional taxes this year, tanks would be replaced AND if the tanks truly looked bad and or I suspected there was a safety concern, i would replace the tanks regardless of the money.

My tanks look good and the surveyor 1 year ago states they were clean and sound.

Diesels: I had thought i had secured two 120 HP detroit diesels inline 4 cylinders. I have one in my possesion, the second fell though when we decided to not repower the machine it is mounted on, instead it was sent to Hawaii for a project and will not return to California, thus, will not have a regulated repower requirement.

Lower HP, inline 6, performance: I have a couple of positions on this,
Value of boat versus investment. These 30 + year old boats are only worth what someone is willing to pay and has CASH for, you pretty much cannot borrow money for a boat of this vintage. So resale is not a concern,

performance:

I came from a 34' CHB sedan Trawler, top speed was about 7 knots. so running at 12 to 14 I feel like I need to strap in. It would be nice to out run that once in a lifetime freak squall in southern California, but it's not enough of a concern to pay for 25 knots to only achieve it only ever so often.

I truly enjoy the boat and crusing at about 12-14 knots, the boat rides nicely, steers straight (got to get auto pilot) and even with the worn out 305's barely used any fuel.

So performance to me is, reliability first, cruise at 12-14 knots, simplicity

why inlines... kind of goes back to the trawler statement. After having an engine room with a inline engine, and then moving to a engine room with V-8's the inlines present a neat, clean and orderly engine room, only one exhaust hose per engine, no wyes, tees or reducers. one manifold, and a lot of room on both sides of the engine to perform mantenance, it's a personal preference.

I knew when I posted this thread that most if not all would call me nuts, and you may be proven correct

, but to me its worth the attempt.

I am fortunate enough to have a good friend who is also a very good big boat mechanic, he thinks its a good idea for they way he knows I and we boat.
We also have three hoists at our club, a week ago sunday, I spent about 4 hours removing all of the bolt ons on the 305's, hosesm coolers, manifolds risers, motor mount nuts, alternators, shaft coupler bolts shift and throttle linkages, and old exhaust host parts.
monday morning, we towed the boat to the hoist with a ski boat, and about an hour and a half later we had pulled both engines and I removed the transmissions.

I built two frame assemblies out of three 2x4's each, with a cradle top that held a 4 x6 utility pole cross arm which is supported by a gusset to help prevent for and aft movement. I put a 2x4 on the salon sole to help spread the weight and screwed it to the sole. I made the hoist frame tall enough that when the engines were lifted, I could get the engine hatchs back in place, we layed two cut pieces of plywood on the floor, and we rolled out the engines onto the aft deck with a furniture dolly.

worked slick as poo and was actually pretty easy. we will reverse the sequence to install the six's.

Back to the fuel tanks...if I do need to pull them, i think I'll have enough room without pulling the engines, but if I do, it will be a pretty easy task.

Investment: I sold the mercruiser 228's for more than I paid for the 165's and sold a few other extra parts to pay for the transmissions. Labor : 0$ my time 0$ being able to use the boat all summer - priceless.

My wife is thrilled I havent spent a lot of money (whats that trade off worth!

)

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Wed May 18, 2011 10:27 pm

when we pulled the engines I failed to get photos of the hoist frame and set up in the boat and also the plywood ramp and furniture dolly set up we used.

You all probably already know this but I'll say it anyway;

I would like to offer a little advice to those who havent repowered or pulled original engines, I found that the lack of attentention by the previous owner is really what led me to this project, as such, found the motor mount nuts near frozen, alternator and water pump mounting brackets and adjustment arms were very rusty and bolts frozen in place. over the last year I have randomly sprayed PB blaster and Midwestern penatrating oil on these parts in anticipation of having to remove them, even with this being done, some of the nuts and bolts were very difficult to remove some broke off .
My advise is to take a look at your engine room hardware and address these little hardware issues as you seem them, nuts and bolts are cheap and before rusted in place, pretty easy to get to and replace and keep your engine painted. as you can see by the photos, this was not the case with my old 305's.

I sold one as a good engine (port) and one as a rebuild prior to pulling them

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Wed May 18, 2011 11:46 pm

So you end up with a Trojan F32 Trawler I guess ... but to each his own ...

good luck with the install ...

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Thu May 19, 2011 12:13 am

Rossjo,
Thanks for the words of encouragement.

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Thu May 19, 2011 7:43 am

Re-read my post - sounded a little off.

I truly wish you luck. Guess its a guy thing ... I still wouldn't want to go down in power, but then again, the F32 is worthless offshore anyway, so its just a cruiser anyway. I use my F32 as a trawler most of the time, but can "go" very once in a while ...

have a good day!

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Thu May 19, 2011 11:45 am

rossjo,

no worries and no offense taken. I have learned that the comments on this forum by other Trojan owners seem to be made with the best of intentions and not as critism. Wordsmithing is a difficult thing to do and reading the 'tone" in ones comments isn't so easy.

I personally have taken a comment out of context or misunderstood the intent and replied not so kindly, which I regret.

But, there are some pretty nice poeple on here and we all share the same passion for our Trojans... and think we all want what we think is best.

I appreciate the input and knew that a 6 cylinder repower would raise some eyebrows and I am not looking for approval, but wanted to share this experience and outcome with those of you that might be interested anyways.

pk · Post by pk » Thu May 19, 2011 12:36 pm

Gettaway: Do not worry! About one year ago I was about to put in a couple of Mercruiser BMW on 180 Hp in my 10 Meeter Express..... Guess what all the other guys her said / wrote.....!!

I have sold both the engines... And got some bigger ones.

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Sun May 22, 2011 12:16 am

I got the bilge cleaned and painted, please excuse the battery wiring mess and vent hoses, I have a temporary setup to keep the systems running while I am working on the repower.

It is interesting that the 12V electrical on the F32 is set up to have all power run through the engine wiring harness, and its only about a number 10 wire, this makes it difficult to have "house" and Starting batteries, and the ability to isolate the two while anchored...

RWS · Post by **RWS** » Sun May 22, 2011 7:16 am

I finaly got around to reading this thread in it's entireity.

All boats are a compromise.

The engineering, layout, propulsion systems, all.

Cruising, fishing, go fast, trawling, snorkeling, cocktailing, all have different requirements.

Add to that the different locations kinds of water and prevailing conditions and wow, what a myriad of issues to design around.

Looks like you have thought the thing through and will end up with the best overall combination to suit your specific needs.

Different needs and experiences from us all give us each very opininated positions.

We are all looking forward to more pictures, details pictures and as few more pictures and details too !

RWS

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Sun May 22, 2011 10:50 am

Gettaway, on the house wiring, I seperated the house wiring from the engines and used switches and continuous duty solenoids for my 12V usage and charging systems. It's completely automatic and easy to do. I posted about this some time back. If your interested you can do a search for the post.