Engine Size Marine Trader

My question is whether any other engine can fit in a Marine Trader other than a Ford Lehman?

Moondance said:

My question is whether any other engine can fit in a Marine Trader other than a Ford Lehman?

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Certainly. Ford Lehmans are old school, lots of iron and fairly large for their HP ratings. The tricky question is how to get old out and new in? Door? Window? Cut deck? dismantle engine? It varies. On my boat the FL 135's would fit through the side salon doorway after accessories were removed.

Ken

Greetings,
Mr. M. Not trying to be glib but with enough $$ almost anything can replace the Lehman with consideration of the comments made by Mr. kc. I re-read some of your older posts and saw you were considering Volvos. Did that not materialize?


I suspect with original 120's in a 44' boat you were probably overpowered. Perhaps replacement motors in the 80HP range would be better suited. Of course it all depends on availability and $$. In any case, whichever engines you eventually choose will require alterations to hosing, mounts and probably electrical among others.


We have twin Lehmans (hardly broken in @ 4000 hours) and I've pondered about replacement if ever necessary and, although I have little idea of the cost and complexity, I would seriously consider replacing the twins with a single mounted amidships. Keep the twin props and run either hydraulic or chain drives to the individual transmissions. Ah, pipe dreams...

Well. Lordy! You have a great memory.

The Lehman’s came out easy enough. They were toast. Lift up through the salon hatches, spin around and out the port door amidships. Now I have the Volvos. TAMD41As. But measuring their width I’m not sure how they fit. Apparently the Lehman’s are narrow. Only about 23. “ wide.
I

Greetings,
Mr. M. Nope. NO memory what-so-ever! I looked at your old posts.

If you are not wedded to the Volvos here are a couple of choices for modern engines with full factory warranties that might fit:


Cummins factory remanned 6BT 210 hp. This engine does have a turbo but no after cooler to worry about. Boats with Lehmans, Perkins and even Volvos have been repowered with this engine.


For a thoroughly up to date engine, look at the John Deere 6068s. They come in various degrees of turbo charging and some have continuous duty commercial ratings.


I wouldn't put anything with a lower hp than your current Lehmans to maintain resaile value. But ignoring that caveat you could consider the John Deere 4045 or even the Yanmar 4JH engines if you only wanted to do displacement speed.


David

Yes Dave the value may go down w the 4JH Yanmars. But some time ago there was a GB36 w two 4JH's on Yacht World and it didn't last long. Could be that the perfect buyer just happened along but I think it would actually be more valuable. But everybody knows I'm for small engines and few agree.
Much less weight and less fuel burn for quite a few reasons.

Also many thousands of dollars would be saved by buying a non-brand name engine like the excellent engines Dave mentioned above. Isuzu is my favorite.

I'm with you Eric. Unless you plan on getting on plane alot why not go smaller. If I were to replace my Perkins 4-236s I would look at something smaller as I don't need two 85hp engines to go hull speed in most any conditions. The smaller engines MIGHT get better fuel economy and MIGHT be less expensive. They might also take up less room in the engine room making maintenance easier.

Kevin

Yup and probably two tons less weight.
That in-itself would likely require about 10hp less for the same speed.

Nomad Willy said:

Yup and probably two tons less weight.
That in-itself would likely require about 10hp less for the same speed.

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I agree with the sentiment, but I think you're overstating the potential weight savings. My 6bta with transmission weighs about 1300 pounds, I'd guess the FL is similar. So maybe 1/2 ton reduction is possible. Probably not material on that boat at displacement speeds.

If you already have the Volvo's, make them fit. Cut out the door frame, then remake the door frame. It's only wood and fiberglass. Cost of doing fb repair will be a small part of overall cost.