Roger Long
Senior Member
So, we are in love with this 43 foot Gulf Star with opposite rotation old Perkins engines with just a little over 2000 hours on them. The FW pump for the contra-rotating engine is out for rebuild. We won't buy the boat until it is back in and passes machinery survey and sea trail.
Someone here with the same boat nicely sent me a PM warning that water pumps and starters for the contra engine are unavailable. Well, the pump will be essentially new. I talked to the shop and they don't think it will be a problem.
I called the great electrical shop in Wilmington DE that saved my bacon when my sailboat starter died. (Can't recommend Ploener's highly enough. I watched the rebuild and it was like watching an artist at work.) They said rebuilding a contra rotating starter would be no problem.
That got me thinking though. What other evil lurks in engines of this age? I called Foley Engines and he asked if it was a twin with counter rotating props. I said it was and the rep said to run, not walk, away from the boat. Parts for the starboard engine simply no longer exist anywhere on the planet. It will break our heart if the deal falls through because I know we'll never find another boat with interior and topside this pristine and anywhere close to a price we can afford.
I sat in black despair.
I then decided to get a second opinion from Trans Atlantic Diesel and spoke to a woman who looked up the serial number and started going through an amazing amount of detail about old Perkins engines. She said that, yes, if it were the newer version of the 6-354, she would agree that we should just walk away. However, the older ones are very reliable. There are a lot of simple maintenance parts such as seals that are listed as "port" and "starboard" but she doesn't know why because they have many customers who have simply used port components for starboard and never had a problem. However, when someone looks up what seems like the required part number, it shows as being unobtainable. The water pump and the starter are the big issues. The waterpump will be shortly rebuilt and the starter can be.
She said she and her husband are looking for the very same kind of boat and, if we don't buy it for some reason, to please let her know because they'll want to look at it.
So, I guess we proceed with haul out and machinery survey.
Someone here with the same boat nicely sent me a PM warning that water pumps and starters for the contra engine are unavailable. Well, the pump will be essentially new. I talked to the shop and they don't think it will be a problem.
I called the great electrical shop in Wilmington DE that saved my bacon when my sailboat starter died. (Can't recommend Ploener's highly enough. I watched the rebuild and it was like watching an artist at work.) They said rebuilding a contra rotating starter would be no problem.
That got me thinking though. What other evil lurks in engines of this age? I called Foley Engines and he asked if it was a twin with counter rotating props. I said it was and the rep said to run, not walk, away from the boat. Parts for the starboard engine simply no longer exist anywhere on the planet. It will break our heart if the deal falls through because I know we'll never find another boat with interior and topside this pristine and anywhere close to a price we can afford.
I sat in black despair.
I then decided to get a second opinion from Trans Atlantic Diesel and spoke to a woman who looked up the serial number and started going through an amazing amount of detail about old Perkins engines. She said that, yes, if it were the newer version of the 6-354, she would agree that we should just walk away. However, the older ones are very reliable. There are a lot of simple maintenance parts such as seals that are listed as "port" and "starboard" but she doesn't know why because they have many customers who have simply used port components for starboard and never had a problem. However, when someone looks up what seems like the required part number, it shows as being unobtainable. The water pump and the starter are the big issues. The waterpump will be shortly rebuilt and the starter can be.
She said she and her husband are looking for the very same kind of boat and, if we don't buy it for some reason, to please let her know because they'll want to look at it.
So, I guess we proceed with haul out and machinery survey.
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