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Old 12-27-2015, 08:16 AM   #94
sailormike
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City: Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina
Vessel Name: Miss Dot Dee
Vessel Model: 1980 29' Prairie Trawler
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 205
Quote:
Originally Posted by Driftless View Post
Yeah, that's one source I've heard of. If you get to know the distinctive paint color the reefer guys used, you can identify one of those surplus engines, even if it's been painted over - the base coat usually shows somewhere.

The Perkins was definitely used in the 26 foot motor whaleboats for a long time. Most Navy ships carried at least one and often more than one. I remember one dark & stormy night about 40 years ago when another vessel needed assistance...

Now-a-days there are tons of Isuzu, Mitsubishi and Kubota engines hitting the market from retired reefers. They would make great power plants for a modest size coastal cruiser.

I repowered my old Albin-25 with a new Isuzu 3CB industrial engine by adapting a seawater pump from a Yanmar and a heat exchanger/expansion tank from an Onan generator. I made a stainless sea water injection elbow in my shop and wired in some gauges. It made a great little unit, around 28 HP.

That boat would do 6.3 knots on 0.4 gph. I came from Portland, Maine to Dighton, Massachusetts, through the Cape Cod Canal and Narragansett Bay on 16 gallons of fuel.

Now I'm looking forward to more cruising adventures with a little more civilized comforts and better sea-keeping ability with the Prairie.

Cappy - have you cruised the Coast of Maine?

J.S.
What do you need to know about cruising in maine I lived up there 5 years while attending maine maritime academy
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