Engine room - easy to access and work in?

We are considering either a used KK44 or 48. How easy is it to access and work in the engine room? We are older and want a trawler that we can age in place on! The other boat we have been considering in a used Nordhavn 47 that has a stand up engine room. Please let me know how easy it is to do engine maintenance on the KK. Many thanks!

Have you been reading the current Stand Up ER thread? Same subject and 20 or so posts down the road. However, why not climb into the ERs of the boats you mentioned and judge for yourself?

I am sure actual owners will chime in here but firstly the 44 is a 49 without the cockpit and is no longer produced as even new, the cockpit only added around 70K. I am six foot and could not quiet stand up straight but real close. It does have a slight slant, getting a little lower towards the stern but very little. They are, in my opinion the best laid out engine room I have been in, with the exception of a Nordhaven but the one I was in had a single engine. They are amazing!

Happy with ours albeit not old, and still agile. But my dad seems to have no problem with it too at 60 years old.

Here's ours

All I can say is you lucky dogs!
Crawling around the engine room is not much fun.

Thanks everyone for all the tips and insight. We look forward to getting on a lot of boats and comparing engine rooms at the Trawlerfest later this month.

Given your relatively short time table, I think getting to shows where you can see a lot of boats is a really good idea. There is Trawlerfest, of course. You might also want to consider the Seattle Boat Show the last week of January. I'm tied up right next to Krogen's west coast office/dock and there a good 1/2 dozen examples sitting right here.

There also is the Miami boat show the second week of Feb.

Thanks Twistedtree. Love your boat and your blog. Wow!

Mainetrawler said:

Thanks Twistedtree. Love your boat and your blog. Wow!

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Thanks, and glad you enjoy the blog. We cruised the same areas that you are talking about, so hopefully it gave you a taste of what's to come (and it's all good). And hopefully the part about our change of boats helped you think about what matters to you in a boat. Of course it's different for all of us.

All sales jobs aside, I'd encourage you to take a trip down to Yarmouth/Portland to see our Grands Banks and perhaps a couple of Sabers. Every time I get on a boat, no matter what type of boat, I always see new things and get good ideas, and it all melds together to form my idea of the ideal boat. Grand Banks, for example, will illustrate really class-A woodwork, fit and finish, and construction quality. It's very different than many other boats. It will also show a well thought-out and accessible engine room, even if not of the walk-in style that you desire. I've been in walk-in engine rooms with equipment that is much less accessible than the Grand Banks.

If you make a trip down that way, I'd highly recommend Peter Ouellette at DiMillo's Yacht Sales. We have bought and sold a couple of times with him and he's first rate. I'm sure he could show you a variety of boats.

Good luck with your search!

dimer2 said:

I am sure actual owners will chime in here but firstly the 44 is a 49 without the cockpit and is no longer produced as even new, the cockpit only added around 70K. I am six foot and could not quiet stand up straight but real close. It does have a slight slant, getting a little lower towards the stern but very little. They are, in my opinion the best laid out engine room I have been in, with the exception of a Nordhaven but the one I was in had a single engine. They are amazing!

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Are you referring to Defevers here? If so, no argument from me! But I am curious about where you saw a single.

One of the big positives for us in choosing a DF44 is the ability to walk (albeit stooped a little) through a real door into the engine room vs lifting a hatch every time we need to check mechanicals. Not having the fall hazard from a large cavity in the floor is also a plus.

I don't have a good external photo of the ER door, so the first shot is from Google images; the internal view is what we must put up with on our boat. Sorry about the rug being out of alignment.

Angus, sorry I did tend warble a bit there. The Defever 49 was a twin and is for sale in Madisonville (New Orleans) the Nordy was a single 46 for sale in Houston. Both are on Jay Bettis's website (the broker).

angus99 said:

Are you referring to Defevers here? If so, no argument from me! But I am curious about where you saw a single.

One of the big positives for us in choosing a DF44 is the ability to walk (albeit stooped a little) through a real door into the engine room vs lifting a hatch every time we need to check mechanicals. Not having the fall hazard from a large cavity in the floor is also a plus.

I don't have a good external photo of the ER door, so the first shot is from Google images; the internal view is what we must put up with on our boat. Sorry about the rug being out of alignment.

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Tsk, Tsk... Not only rug alignment, but the bag is askew in the pail! OMG!

Forget the rug alignment. What's all that crap on the work bench?

Nice ER - What is actual headroom?

Greetings,
Mr/Ms. Mt. No matter how big the mechanical space is, there will always be that ONE spot you need arms 4' long with 3 elbows. Don't ask me how I know but, you'll get through it. A walk-in/stoop-in ER is definitely easier on the older body than a crawl on your hands and knees space.

Greetings,
Mr. 99. Fram filters do not have a good reputation from what I've read.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. 99. Fram filters do not have a good reputation from what I've read.

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Used them for 20+ years in heavy equipment, never had a filter related problem...

hmason said:

Forget the rug alignment. What's all that crap on the work bench?

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F all that. What's up with white rugs in an engine space and the corrosion on the end of the oil cooler on the port engine?