Why would I not do this?

[Mischief Managed]

it's a cute little engine, that's for sure. the horsepower seems about right for a lifeboat. one more consideration would be the exhaust. it looks like a dry exhaust from here. the header tank is there so you know it's got coolant instead of raw water, but i don't see any sign of a raw water pump or exhaust elbow. can't see the other side of the engine, but it looks like the exhaust has heat wrap on it.

The design is quite similar to the 3 cylinder Kubota engine on my genset. The coolant tank is also the exhaust manifold (if you look at the photo closely, you can see the three exhaust ports on the head connected to the coolant tank). Guessing the raw water pump is gear driven and placed on the starboard side of the engine, under the fuel pump, with the impeller access plate facing aft, like my Kubota. It sure does look like dry exhaust to me, but I'd bet converting to wet exhaust would be a simple thing since the only difference would be in the exhaust elbow. It may even have the required elbow already, just not plumbed to the raw water outlet of the HE. That said, I think I'd keep the exhaust dry regardless.



That thing would be awesome in a launch.