Engine Room for Claustrophobic Captains

[Conrad]

What year is yours?

1995. The first hull of the 42 series.

 

[RickyD]

Try a Nordhaven. Pricey but good. Also a Californian 48 has almost standing room. Same as my 55 and I can stand straight but with my head bowed.

 

[firehoser75]

I have to say I disagree with Exmaggiedrum about the Nordic Tug (37) ER. Sure it would be great to have more room to work and move around (in a perfect world a stand up ER) and probably for major work the ER may be problematic. However, I do almost all of my own maintenance and find more than adequate access to both sides and the front of the engine (belts and pulleys). Access to the transmission is more difficult, but definitely doable for oil changes and checking oil level. The overhead room beside the open hatch area is high enough that I can sit on the outboard stringer platforms or kneel (with knee pads) on the floor. By the way, I am 6'2" tall with a long back and shorter legs weighing about 200 lbs. I have not had much of a problem dealing with routine maintenance including: valve adjustment, aftercooler removal and servicing, coolant change, cooling system component removal (for cleaning and testing), impeller change, fuel filter change, air filter and turbo cleaning, serpentine belt removal and pulley testing, and of course oil and filter changes. It does have an oil change pump.

There are other brands and models of boats that have similar ER size and engine access as does my Nordic Tug (single engine models) and many I have seen with far, far, worse. However, I understand that based on what the OP stated about his issues with "confined spaces" that a Nordic Tug 37 would not suit him.
My intent is just to outline my experiences with working in a Nordic Tug 37 ER over the last couple of years.

 

[levrac68]

As a retired marine tech, primarily electric, but I also had to a lot of work on other systems - plumbing, toilets, some oil/filter changes, plus, plus, plus. You will be going to work on your engines more than any other part of your boat, hopefully mostly for routine maintenance, so easy access to them for that is most important. If anything is hard to get to, especially if it is hard to get there and back out, you will be tempted to not get there in the first place and thus neglect things that should not be neglected.



Every boat has its challenges but twins are usually the worst. Everything on one engine is harder to get to on the other side of the boat. Having an oil change pump is worth its weight in gold sometimes (but one more thing that can break but in general they seem to last a long time since they only are used relatively infrequently). You absolutely need to have relatively good access to the raw water impeller/pump. You have to be able to actually look inside them although sometimes a mirror will work but isn't easy or fun.


I pretty much loved most things about Nordic Tugs but I hated working on their motors if they were underneath the helm station. Other boats, especially some Bayliner models made me pretty claustrophobic especially when I had to crawl on my elbows to the front of the engines. And I had to lay across the engine mount stringers to get to the alternator on the starboard side. I almost got stuck more than a few times and hated every time. I had to take off my all-in-one belt knife and make sure I had nothing on that could catch anything.



Access to batteries is critical as well as they need more maintenance if they are FLA and get killed a lot by owners who don't do maintenance as often as they should because of how difficult it is to get to them, or work on them if the overhead space is too tight. And - replacing them can be a bear.



If I were buying a trawler right now, which I may do in the near future, engine room access would be a major factor in what boat I would consider.

Thank you for the great reply. Funny that my number one priority is the ability to get around the engine room without issue. After that, my wife can pick whatever trawler works for the family.

 

[hpogue123]

Thanks FoxtrotCharlie,
Yes, and the hingpin side exposed wouldn't look good and another thing cut feet on. It would also be preferable to still be able to remove hatches easily when needed. I guess I want everything!

 

[wkearney99]

Another perspective is consider just how much you're ever going to be doing yourself. Figure out what it is you'll need to do, which may be different than the many things that you'd be likely to pay someone else to perform. Routine maintenance, checking filters, etc, those things could all be located somewhere accessible. While 'bigger issues' like changing pumps, impellers or major engine work wouldn't matter as you'd have someone else doing the crawling around.

I'd seriously second-guess the idea of not going to some boat shows. Nothing replaces the experience of getting onto the boats you're considering. I'm also a big guy 6'3" and hate things like access to the flybridge or how head/stateroom/companionway doors have to be opened/closed to get in/out of combined spaces. As in, the doors all opened toward each other, or overlap somewhat, making it a hassle to get to everything because of being a bigger guy.

 

[healhustler]

Thank you for the great reply. Funny that my number one priority is the ability to get around the engine room without issue. After that, my wife can pick whatever trawler works for the family.

HA!! My Admiral would take a look at my ideal boat with my stand-up engine room and tell me “It better have a bed and a TV in it because unless the boat has my perfect galley, stateroom and shower, you’re going to be sleeping there”!

 

[hpogue123]

HA!! My Admiral would take a look at my ideal boat with my stand-up engine room and tell me “It better have a bed and a TV in it because unless the boat has my perfect galley, stateroom and shower, you’re going to be sleeping there”!

I hear you! Except the small Vberth is my home since the boss and the dog kick me out of her stateroom! What, you have an Admiral that cooks? If I want to eat more that rabbit food, I'm on the grill cooking it. If it's fish, then I have to sleep in the basement ER!
She does like to watch me like a hawk when the salon floor is up and I'm having a hard time with something and ask every 5 min. "When am I going to put the floor back down"!

 

[jrs1958]

Best engine room IMO is the 44' Defever. It's walk in and big. Great sea boat too!

 

[OldDan1943]

I started out with 4 drawers and a closet in the ONLY stateroom on my boat.
My house mouse now has 3 drawers and more than 1/2 the closet.
She has a sweet gentle heart of gold sooooo, 3 drawers and 1/2 a closet are well worth it.

 

[Devoted Sun]

From our shopping, this is what we saw: Californians in the 40+ range have huge, walk-in engine rooms. Big Defevers (47 & 49) have cavernous engine rooms. Lots of the Taiwanese 80's and 90's vintage - mostly single screws - have pretty good access through lift out floor panels. The Caver 47xx trawler have small engine rooms. You will do some belly crawling, but the floors do lift out and it does help some. Newer SeaRays and Regals (technically not trawlers) have extremely small engine spaces. Our Navigator has a meduim space. There is a little crawling, but once I am in, I have plenty of space.Most of that, however, is due to our 15' beam.



Good luck with your search.

I have the 38 Californian w/twin tmd31 and I can nap on either side of my engines.

 

[Island Bound]

N37 Engine Room Photos

I have posted a couple of these photos before, but it never gets old. When we show people Semper Fi, they are blown away by the size of the galley and the engine room. Even more so when you tell them that they are standing in a 37' boat. Our engine room is accessed through a door in the second stateroom and there is stand-up headroom when you step inside with a workbench and a vise on the port side. There is a minimum of five feet of headroom between the engines and stand-up headroom on the inboard side of the port engine. You would have to have a much larger boat to get the same kind of access on a twin engine boat.

 

[klee wyck]

I like that, "slither space". I'd say I'd steal it, but as forgetful as I am I'll never remember it.


I have wondered how expensive it would be to have a reasonably talented wood worker create some extra hatches in my salon floor over my "slither space".

Hey Dave,
To your question: I was fine with Klee Wycks engine room until I got spoiled by the 4 guys standing engine room on Libra. So, I had a good wood/steel guy put hatches in Klee Wycks saloon to open the lid on the entire engine room. If I remember right, the ballpark for that work was 16K. Not claustrophobic now...….!

 

[hpogue123]

That's just plane cruel to show us poor cramped up guys such a beautiful ER!

 

[HiDHo]

The 44 Defever engine room is great but the 50’ Defever is awesome, two full size entry doors fwd and aft and full stand up height and I’m 6’3” ?

 

[Codger2]

My ER is not a stand-up but it is nice for a 42' boat. Access can be had from the lazarette, salon or under the passageway stairs.
I would, however, love to have a walk in ER.
My wife took these photos when we were thinking of buying this boat. All photos were taken from the center aisle of the ER.

 

[hpogue123]

OK, now you guys are just piling on! Do you wear sunglasses down there? I think I see a little spec of dirt over in corner you missed.
But if I had an ER that looked like those, I'd never leave it! Either the boat wouldn't ever go anywhere or would run into something and sink! My wife wouldn't ever see me and run off with some dirty ER pirate!

 

[hpogue123]

Let's get back to reality for many of us!
But yours is a great goal to aim for!

 

[Plane Nauti]

My wife and I are in the learning process. We met Island Bound and his wife in Pensacola about 2 years ago and they were gracious enough to show us the boat. We had a great visit. If you're in the learning stage of the trawler game I'd advise NOT looking at a really large nice engine room first! It just ruins everything else.

 

[hpogue123]

Shouldn't your Trawler be like your house? Garage, workshop, toy yard and mancave at least 1/2 of it?

 

[Island Bound]

Shouldn't your Trawler be like your house? Garage, workshop, toy yard and mancave at least 1/2 of it?

Well, you got me there. I don't have all that, but there is a large hatch in the salon deck that when opened, leads down to the basement. :lol: This is a huge space that spans the beam of the boat (with lights and power) located aft of the engine room and forward of the cockpit lazarette.

 

[OldDan1943]

There are so many things that sold me on the American Tug, one of which is the engine room. I have access to both sides of the engine and generator. It may not be stand-up engine room, without removing the two hatches but, the AT engine room is far more convenient than the engine room on my Norhavn 46.
Alas, when I take pictures on my iPhone, I cant seem to send them to my main/this computer so, you folks have lucked out.
The common problem to the N46 and the AT34 is, I cannot find a worthwhile place to mount a vise.
SHRUG

 

[levrac68]

Let's get back to reality for many of us!
But yours is a great goal to aim for!

I'm pretty confident, I can't do that one.

 

[dhays]

Hey Dave,

To your question: I was fine with Klee Wycks engine room until I got spoiled by the 4 guys standing engine room on Libra. So, I had a good wood/steel guy put hatches in Klee Wycks saloon to open the lid on the entire engine room. If I remember right, the ballpark for that work was 16K. Not claustrophobic now...….!

Thanks. That is a bit more than I (actually my wife) would be interested in spending but as mine would like be a smaller project, likely it could be done for less.

 

[dhays]

I have posted a couple of these photos before, but it never gets old. When we show people Semper Fi, they are blown away by the size of the galley and the engine room. Even more so when you tell them that they are standing in a 37' boat. Our engine room is accessed through a door in the second stateroom and there is stand-up headroom when you step inside with a workbench and a vise on the port side. There is a minimum of five feet of headroom between the engines and stand-up headroom on the inboard side of the port engine. You would have to have a much larger boat to get the same kind of access on a twin engine boat.

One of the very nice things about the GH. Great choice of engines and I love that sea chest.

 

[levrac68]

One of the very nice things about the GH. Great choice of engines and I love that sea chest.

It certainly has a different look to it. Not your typical anything.

 

[Devoted Sun]

You guys are killing me, These engine rooms are spectacular !

 

[Pete Meisinger]

Some beautiful engine rooms shown. Mine...not so much. I could have/should have/would have made it better while my engine was out for rebuilding but there is only so much which can be done on a 36 foot boat.

If I open up both port and starboard hatches I have pretty good access but certain jobs do require a monkey with a wrench.

pete

 

[Capt Jack]

If I open up both port and starboard hatches I have pretty good access but certain jobs do require a monkey with a wrench.

I see what you did there...monkey wrench. Haha

John

 

[Lepke]

When I buy a boat, I inspect the engine room first. Just like farming I looked at the land and barn first. The house is secondary. My engine room has about 6'6" of headroom. I bought the boat mainly for the 2 Detroits because I wanted reliability. And I bought a long hull because I wanted to cruise faster than 6 or 7 knots, washer/dryer, dishwasher, you know, the comforts.
If you only sit at the dock then the engineroom doesn't count. But I cruise, sometimes a long way. I go in the engineroom many times a day, checking shaft seals, oil levels and looking for leaks. And I love the sound of 2 Jimmy's running at their continuous rating. It's an old boat, but I'm an old man.
If you pick a boat for pretty cabinets and nice chairs, I can't see sitting around whining about a cracker box engineroom.