Repower. Volvo MD5A (7.5HP) to Vetus M2.06 (16HP)

[Mark.Wilme]

Hi all, had to re-register as I changed email addresses, hadn't posted in a while and forgot my password.

Anyway, I emailed Tim offline last night (such a helpful chap !) regarding my dilemma. Basically I cooked my 20+ year old Volvo MD5A (single cylinder, raw water cooled) engine at the weekend, it puked it's oil into the bilge and stopped running. I feared the worst and began down the path of repair / rebuild / repower, getting counsel from many sources (including Tim).

I am pressed for time right now, plus my skills are limited and summer is short so the marina will have to do most of the work (at $85 per hour) and I will do the grunt work. They actually got the existing engine running again today in less than an hour (less than $85) but counselled me against investing in a repair approach - they said rebuild or repower.

I havd already priced and thought through the rebuild - up to $4,000 in parts (yes Volvo parts are that pricey, $1500 for the crank, $600 for the cylinder) and a chunk of mechanics time and several weeks out of commisison. I'll be $6,000+ poorer and will still have a noisy, underpowered, single cylinder, raw water cooled engine - just an "as new" one.

I have decided to repower and plan to install a Vetus 16HP twin cylinder motor (similar to that in the daysailor). Final decision pending face to face meeting with the marina head mechanic on Friday morning. The discussion has been that I will remove the MD5A, clean up the engine room etc, apply new bilge paint and sound deadening material and they will then engineer and make the (very slight) engine bed changes, align the shafts, wire and plumb it, make a custom instrument panel to fit the space and fiunish off the job. I have an outside chance of being back in the water by Monday July 3rd in time for July 4th !

I have mountains of useful "Tim feedback" but would appreciate any other.

I intend to sell the old MD5A with transmission- it runs, sort of, but I am selling as a rebuild unit. Any input on what it's worth or where to sell it ?

I will also need to sell the two blade prop as I need to switch to the other direction.

What does this team recommend in terms of prop brand and 2 versus 3 bllade (fixed). I am going to let the marina spec out pitch for me that way if they get it wrong and I can't reach hull speed at optimum rpm they will haul and fix it at their expense.

Any opinions on what to use for soundproofing material ? I need 32 sq ft of the stauff and plan on installing on Saturday.

I will take before and after photos and mkake them available to y'all as I know we all like to see the sparkly alongside the dull.


Mark