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Is fitting an engine hard to do?


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Title of the topic sums it up really. But we are looking to have our boat built in the near future, and have had some quotes through for a sailaway.

 

The quotes without the engine fitted are 5000 less, meaning we pay 5000 for the engine.

 

Ive had a look online and I can find engines far far cheaper than that, and although I have no experience of narrowboat engines I wonder if its a simple job to fit it yourself.

 

I have an engine hoist and have done petrol engines before, but nothing on boats. Is the transmission fitting standard or would I be getting myself into difficulties.

 

Is 5000 for an engine to be fitted unreasonable? Or should I buy it as a shell and get someone else to fit an engine for less.

 

Thanks for your help as always.

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£5,000 is a cheap new engine.

 

Yes, you can get engines far cheaper than that but you get what you pay for. I am not up on the cost of new engines but I believe a quality one won't leave you with much change for the fitting and transmission.

 

Fitting is not complicated but will be complicated by not being experienced in the vagaries of narrowboat transmission.

 

Allow £1000 for the transmission; propshaft, coupling and propellor.

 

What kind of engine do you want?

 

If I was spending on a new boat, I'd probably let the professionals install the engine but I would have some strong opinions about what sort.

 

 

}(would you like smileys with that?)

Edited by Chris Pink
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The quotes without the engine fitted are 5000 less, meaning we pay 5000 for the engine.

Is 5000 for an engine to be fitted unreasonable? Or should I buy it as a shell and get someone else to fit an engine for less.

£5K for an engine doesn't sound cheap, but thats exactly the point!

 

You need:-

Engine

Gearbox

Coupling

Propellor

etc. etc. it all adds up.

£5K for it all fitted, aligned and tested starts to sound very good!

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Fitting an engine can be done yourself if you can arrange the lifting of the engine into the boat. Ours had g/box already fitted to a engine, it was all brand new and fitted with 2 alternators

 

We dropped ours in chained to a forklift truck forks. The engine bearers had been fitted by the boat builder. I lowered into position no problems.

 

Once in position it will need lining up with the prop, I chose flexi mounts to mount the engine, My brother's an engineer so he did all the connecting of morse control and prop and connect diesel & water supply & return . Whole thing took about 5 hours including several cups of tea.

 

I was also quoted silly prices to fit the engine, well over 4k back in 2004 + v.a.t So I decided to go buy the engine myself and arrange to fit it myself, ended up getting the engine cheaper too.

 

I was lucky having an engineer for a brother, but I could have hired an engineer for the day to fit an engine for a couple of hundred quid.

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There are savings to be made by converting your own road vehicle engine for use in a boat but you need to be competent in conversion methods or you will spend even more cash.The price you have looks fair!

If you try and get someone to fit an engine for you, you also need real knowledge, or you may be ripped off by one of the "reconditioners"who use a coat of paint rather than new parts.

If you intend to do a full fit out of a shell, you will have quite enough on your plate without taking on amateur engine fitting.

Best of luck with the project.

Mike Jordan

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If they only want £5K extra for a fully fitted engine, with prop and all the stern-gear I'd say bite their hand off.

 

I reckon you could spend far more, and get a whole heap of grief trying to go a DIY job on it, (that is comparing like for like with the finished installation).

 

Most places will charge far more than £5K for a new, properly marinised engine, with decent gearbox, fully fiited.

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Well I did it so it can't be that hard ;)

 

Linky

 

Seriously though if your not sure, let them do it. Also (I am prepared to be corrected) I think you will find a new boat build needs to have an engine that comforms to emission regulation as part of the RCD.

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If £5000 includes shaft, prop, exhaust, morse (or similar)control, fuel lines, instrument panel and associated wiring I would go for that. Fitting it yourself is straightforward enough but do have a look at costs of all the above, it adds up to a fair old sum and will probably involve a bit of cutting and welding somewhere, easy enough but it can stop the project dead if you have to get it done by someone else. Marinising a van engine is perfectly ok but again, bellhousing, maybe machining the flywheel, gearbox, manifold, feet, pump and plumbing, the savings will be less than at first glance and the time it takes will be considerable, having said that I`ve always installed my own and found all the bits on e bay and beaulie boat jumble.

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Title of the topic sums it up really. But we are looking to have our boat built in the near future, and have had some quotes through for a sailaway.

 

The quotes without the engine fitted are 5000 less, meaning we pay 5000 for the engine.

 

Ive had a look online and I can find engines far far cheaper than that, and although I have no experience of narrowboat engines I wonder if its a simple job to fit it yourself.

 

I have an engine hoist and have done petrol engines before, but nothing on boats. Is the transmission fitting standard or would I be getting myself into difficulties.

 

Is 5000 for an engine to be fitted unreasonable? Or should I buy it as a shell and get someone else to fit an engine for less.

 

Thanks for your help as always.

 

Hi

 

£5000 seems a bargain - have a look at Barrus

I would bit the bullet and have it fitted - hapth 'o tar ect

 

Alex

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I fitted our first engine single handed without any previous experience, but I did have the advantage of lining up the propshaft before the stern tube was welded in, saved a lot of aligning. When we had to replace with a new engine I fitted a Python Drive which made fitting a doddle not having to do much aligning.

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For a fitted and functioning engine £5K is fair. Engine costs but so do all the pipes for fuel exhaust and water and the alternators and electrics. Getting the engine inside the warranty on the sailaway could be valuable.

 

Of course if you have lots of experience of fitting engines it will be easy to DIY and you will have stock of all the copper pips and fittings that it will need and all the aligning tools for the engine and propshaft. But you asked here so you probably don't have them!

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What does it include with the engine?, is it literally the engine alone or does it include batteries, exhaust, stern gear, and prop?. Remember when it comes to fitting and engine there are difficulties. If you have a company fit the engine it means you will get warranty from the supplier, if you decide to fit an engine yourself I do suggest that you read the manufactures instructions carefully. If you were to fit the engine but you don't follow all the instructions that they set out you will find that if something is wrong with the engine you may find getting replacements on warranty difficult.

 

If fitting yourself the alignment is quite important depending on the coupling that you fit, things like python and aqua drives can make alignment less difficult but once again read what there requirements are before fitting.

 

:lol:

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The difficulty would depend on how well you set everything up.

 

Our engine was purchased for around 5 k. It included g/box + 2 alternators.

 

Engine bearers were pre fitted by boat builder as was everything readied for prop shaft.

 

We fitted prop and shaft prior to engine.

 

Morse control fitted prior to engine.

 

Exhaust fitted prior to engine.

 

Water hoses fitted/readied prior to engine

 

Diesel filter housing & pipework fitted prior to engine, engine just needed linking to fuel filter housing.

 

Engine battery already fitted.

 

 

(All the above are pretty straight forward, just have to decide and check prop length pitch etc.) and all this can be done by a DIYer over period of time.

 

With all this readied the fitting of the engine is pretty much straight forward and should be done and dusted in a morning. Having said that we were on dry land, good weather had the aid of a fork lift truck and quite spacious engine bay being a wide beam.

 

PerkineEngine.jpg

 

I recall that the boat builder could supply the same engine fully fitted and running as described at a cost of £9,800

 

We ended up buying the engine for a tad over 5 grand including v.a.t and deciding to do the job ourselves. The fitting of all the other stuff, exhaust, prop/shaft diesel filter, morse control, engine battery, cabling piping etc cost somewhere around £500. We probably saved 3.5 to £4,000

 

It's quite a saving, if you know a good engineer I would seriously consider it.

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Snap their hands off! I used to charge six grand to supply and fit Isuzu's complete with prop, shaft, centaflex, morse and cables, 2 batteries, split charged, fuel pipes, and exhaust, used to take about 6 to 7 hours, and that was 7 years ago, but well within the capabilities of mechanically minded person.

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Snap their hands off! I used to charge six grand to supply and fit Isuzu's complete with prop, shaft, centaflex, morse and cables, 2 batteries, split charged, fuel pipes, and exhaust, used to take about 6 to 7 hours, and that was 7 years ago, but well within the capabilities of mechanically minded person.

 

I agree. £5k seems a screaming bargain, but it depends on what is meant by 'install'. Provided it includes all the above, then great! But do check first, in case they start leaving stuff out in a fragile attempt to make a profit....

 

MtB

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The OP stated

 

The quotes without the engine fitted are 5000 less,

 

To me that assumes the cost of fitting is 5k and not including engine as well.

 

Ho goes on to state

 

meaning we pay 5000 for the engine.

 

So without fitting 5k

 

So I'm guessing he's being quoted around 10k to supply & fit.

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Nope its 5k to have it supplied and fitted into the boat.

 

I deffo think I would be out of my depth to fit the engine myself. Once the engine was lowered into place I dont think I would have a problem but the actual logistics of getting it lowered in, delivered etc etc would cause far too many problems.

 

I have had an idea that I think may work to save us some money, but i'll post it in another thread in case other people search for the question in the future.

 

Thank you for your advice, its appreciated.

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Nope its 5k to have it supplied and fitted into the boat.

 

I deffo think I would be out of my depth to fit the engine myself. Once the engine was lowered into place I dont think I would have a problem but the actual logistics of getting it lowered in, delivered etc etc would cause far too many problems.

 

I have had an idea that I think may work to save us some money, but i'll post it in another thread in case other people search for the question in the future.

 

Thank you for your advice, its appreciated.

 

Must be a small engine. Even so a screaming bargain, What make of engine is this?and HP CC etc

Edited by Julynian
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Nope its 5k to have it supplied and fitted into the boat.

 

I deffo think I would be out of my depth to fit the engine myself. Once the engine was lowered into place I dont think I would have a problem but the actual logistics of getting it lowered in, delivered etc etc would cause far too many problems.

 

I have had an idea that I think may work to save us some money, but i'll post it in another thread in case other people search for the question in the future.

 

Thank you for your advice, its appreciated.

 

I strongly suspect that the minimal value of the cash you'll save with 'your other option' (on the other thread) will be more than negated with the inconvenience, cost of setting up, alternative generation and water heating facilities..

 

I'd bite the bullet, and take the £5k option if you can.

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