Old fat men and engine rooms

Looked at a very nice GB 32 yesterday and was shocked to find I'm too old and fat to move about in the engine spaces. I would have purchased this boat on the spot had I been able to fit anywhere.
Thinking I may need to find a small downeaster with a low deck and engine box.
I'm sure I'm not the only one here with this problem.
Speak to me- old fat guys!

I often joke that for some of the jobs in my engine bay, I need to hire a skinny eight year old boy with three arms. Airplane passenger seats and boat engine rooms have not kept up with expanding Americans. But then I was talking to a Samoan guy last year about his boat maintenance - everything's relative.

You just need to get a bigger boat! One of my requirements was an engine room I can walk around in or I knew I wouldn't spend enough time there (and I'm not even old or fat (yet ).

I was just in the model year one older than mine and I would have had to crawl around and that wouldn't have worked at all!

Dave

Buy that very nice GB32 and use it as a motivation to shed some weight.

On most boats 50' or so and below, the engines are "sole buried", creating a crawl around engine room.

I am somewhat jealous of owners in that size range that have actual stand up engine rooms.

The Defever 49 comes to mind as being one of the best engine rooms in a <50' production boat that I've seen.

I have a GB32 and can appreciate what you are saying. It is a bugger getting down into and out of the space but most things can be accessed from the hatch. They are great boats.

Bob

Our GB32 is a wonderful boat, but engine access is difficult. I'm old but skinny and have some difficulty in reaching parts of the engine. I have resigned myself to the fact that part of my retirement income will go to paying young, skinny guys to access parts of the engine room that I cannot get to. Just doing my part to keep the marine services industry healthy.

This interests me as well. I'm not fat yet but tall at 6'2" and have struggled to find an engine room I have felt comfortable in.

The best engine room I have been in on so far in my boat search was on a Great Harbour GH37, and it was not stand up by any means. The worst was a custom pilothouse where you had to slither into a tiny dark crawl space. I looked at a Nordhanv 46 just for kicks (out of my range) and the engine room was not very roomy IMO.

Do all Defevers have stand up engine rooms? I like the design of the 49 Pilothouse but can't seem to find one on the Gulf or East coast. I also wonder if I will be able to pick a good Defever from a bad one since most in my price range seem to be 1980 vintage or older.

What are some other boats with true (or close) stand up engine rooms under 50'?

Engine room access was an overriding consideration when we purchased our Selene 47. Pretty good all around access, not full stand-up, but certainly decent.
Nevertheless there are still "corners" that necessitate the small body, third arm approach. Fortunately, there is nothing buried in those locations that requires routine maintenance!!
It still amazes me that most boat builders do not seem to consider access a major consideration in their designs and layouts.

The PO of our boat had a skinny friend do engine maintenance for him. Bet he didn't know about the rag...under the oil pan...hidden from view...between the limber hole and the bilge pump

Yet another reason why single engine boats are vastly superior to twins in the <50' category. While I can't stand up in my engine room, there are nice 24" wide walk (crawl) ways down each side of the engine and generator. Remaining engine room equipment is out board of the walk ways.

Ted

O C Diver said:

Yet another reason why single engine boats are vastly superior to twins in the <50' category. While I can't stand up in my engine room, there are nice 24" wide walk (crawl) ways down each side of the engine and generator. Remaining engine room equipment is out board of the walk ways.

Ted

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Mine too...and I can crawl in under the aft or fwd steps or access the engine room through any one of 6 saloon hatches.

I could easily have 4 average sized guys working on my engine at one time (wouldn't that be nice )...and when I downsize my genset...5 guys..

Greetings,
Mr. car'. I can't recall ever being on a Defever with a stand up (su) ER. Granted, my experience is VERY limited. The one D' 49 I toured did have an expansive but not su ER. More of a shallow stoop situation. Still a bit tight on that vessel on the outboard sides of the engines. The only two vessels I am aware of with true su ER's are the Marine Trader 50' and the Cheoy Lee 46'. Interestingly the MT 50's have removable bulkheads to allow easier access to INBOARD engine bits but the outboard bits are still tight.
I vaguely recall some Nordhavens and a Diesel Duck have them as well but I can't remember the specific models. As has been mentioned, even with a large ER there are still some remote corners.
Mr. cG. Not old and fat, aged and full bodied like a fine wine.

Now we finally know what you look like! Thanks for sharing. BTW, is the bowtie a real one or a clip on?

A "biggest loser" program for TF members!

RT,
You're a bit younger than I had thought. "A" cup right?

Here's our mechanic at Comox BC. He was very tall but skinny. He could wrap his body around the little engine like a cat. Youth. Someth'in we old guys can't have. My Willy's engine compartment isn't bad for a 30' boat.

I was impressed by the room around the engine in the little Camano. As you suggest the Down East boats with engine boxes are also a good option.

I am an official old fat guy.

RTF, that's just creepy. I saw a local production of Spam A Lot last Saturday, very funny!

Not old and fat but old and injured. I'm currently reconfiguring my engine room to accommodate ME. Moving batteries, inverter, water heater around to give me access where I need it. Also moving fuel filters so maintenance is easier.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. car'. I can't recall ever being on a Defever with a stand up (su) ER. Granted, my experience is VERY limited. The one D' 49 I toured did have an expansive but not su ER. More of a shallow stoop situation. Still a bit tight on that vessel on the outboard sides of the engines. The only two vessels I am aware of with true su ER's are the Marine Trader 50' and the Cheoy Lee 46'. Interestingly the MT 50's have removable bulkheads to allow easier access to INBOARD engine bits but the outboard bits are still tight.
I vaguely recall some Nordhavens and a Diesel Duck have them as well but I can't remember the specific models. As has been mentioned, even with a large ER there are still some remote corners.
Mr. cG. Not old and fat, aged and full bodied like a fine wine.

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Yes, I can see why so many are concerned with "engine room stand up ability".......!!!

This fat old man can stand up in the engine "room" although my top half will be outside. Usually sit on one of the battery boxes when working there.

Navigators have great engine rooms because the fuel tanks are NOT amidships outboard the engines, they are all aft under the cockpit. Even on many big yachts getting outboard the engines is only for skinny guys who practice yoga.Not Navigators, you can stretch out and take a nap down there.

Perfect timing

At 70 I'm officially old and at 6'1 230lb maybe even fat. I spent yesterday recovering from a day in the engine room of a 57 Hatteras. Every part of my body hurt. Crawling around like a snake in and out of caves working with power tools on your side, back, head and then backing out over the same. Hatteras to there credit actually provides access to everything you need to get at. It's been my observation that this true of most of the older boats. Not the case for the many of the newer boats that are build on a assembly line with major components installed before the deck is glued to the hull. I have seen Sea Rays that you would have to remove the engine to replace spark plugs or exhaust manifolds. My 4788 Bayliner holding tank was just outboard of the starboard engine access to the tank or starboard side of the engine was impossible. The port engine raw water pump was a 4 hour job to access requiring removal of the engine mount. In fact it was easier to remove the engine mount and pump just to change pump impellers on the starboard side. Oh well back to work. The perfect boat mechanic, 70 years experience, built like rubber man with the strength of atlas.

pilothouse king said:

Navigators have great engine rooms because the fuel tanks are NOT amidships outboard the engines, they are all aft under the cockpit. Even on many big yachts getting outboard the engines is only for skinny guys who practice yoga.Not Navigators, you can stretch out and take a nap down there.

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Which is why they are Top 3 on our list of next boat.

Scary said:

At 70 I'm officially old and at 6'1 230lb maybe even fat. I spent yesterday recovering from a day in the engine room of a 57 Hatteras. Every part of my body hurt. Crawling around like a snake in and out of caves working with power tools on your side, back, head and then backing out over the same. Hatteras to there credit actually provides access to everything you need to get at. It's been my observation that this true of most of the older boats. Not the case for the many of the newer boats that are build on a assembly line with major components installed before the deck is glued to the hull. I have seen Sea Rays that you would have to remove the engine to replace spark plugs or exhaust manifolds. My 4788 Bayliner holding tank was just outboard of the starboard engine access to the tank or starboard side of the engine was impossible. The port engine raw water pump was a 4 hour job to access requiring removal of the engine mount. In fact it was easier to remove the engine mount and pump just to change pump impellers on the starboard side. Oh well back to work. The perfect boat mechanic, 70 years experience, built like rubber man with the strength of atlas.

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Steve, that is exactly why I had my holding tank removed and replaced with a Raritan hold n treat when we repowered our 4788.

I had to replace the starter on the starboard engine and was very glad that tank was gone.

Defever 44s have "almost" standup headroom for people under 6 feet, plus an actual door for walk-in access--a huge benefit over dropping through a hatch.

DeFever has always had a pretty good engine room. So many owners store too much in the engine space also adding to a fire hazard an items moving around in a rough sea. Just looked at a 36" Grand Banks sedan with 2 210 HP cummins engines. It had 6 large Grand Banks battery boxes with in the engine space and 4 plastic milk cartons with oil and anti freeze also. Under 50' only the Grand Banks 49' has a head room are between the engines. What else has that?

The Kady Krogen 39 has stand up headroom as you first enter the engine room through a door in the stateroom, perhaps 30" long. After that you are on your hands and knees as you go aft. But it is nice if you need to go in to just look around.

Grand Banks 49's have great head room, I am big, about 6'2" and clumsy and found them easy to negotiate, though getting to the generator I recall as "squeezy". GB 46 Classic while not stand up, was pretty nice especially with the hatch open, but "doable" nonetheless. A big selling factor for me when buying our boat was it had to be full stand up ER and easy for me to access. I don't think I could cruise for any extended period where it was a chore to access the ER. Agree that the smaller you go, the more a single engine has its attractions in addition to their other benefits. Or, yes!, outboards!

Scary said:

At 70 I'm officially old and at 6'1 230lb maybe even fat. I spent yesterday recovering from a day in the engine room of a 57 Hatteras. Every part of my body hurt. Crawling around like a snake in and out of caves working with power tools on your side, back, head and then backing out over the same. Hatteras to there credit actually provides access to everything you need to get at. It's been my observation that this true of most of the older boats. Not the case for the many of the newer boats that are build on a assembly line with major components installed before the deck is glued to the hull. I have seen Sea Rays that you would have to remove the engine to replace spark plugs or exhaust manifolds. My 4788 Bayliner holding tank was just outboard of the starboard engine access to the tank or starboard side of the engine was impossible. The port engine raw water pump was a 4 hour job to access requiring removal of the engine mount. In fact it was easier to remove the engine mount and pump just to change pump impellers on the starboard side. Oh well back to work. The perfect boat mechanic, 70 years experience, built like rubber man with the strength of atlas.

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Hatteras didn't make a 57, what boat exactly are you talking about. Every Hatt I have seen from 53 up is a stand up ER.