since I converted my express cruiser from gas to a cummins diesel and marinized
the engine myself I wanted to throw out a few figures.... dodge cummins 6bt
engine..$1500 to 2500 depending on year or model. early models 89 to 93 with
rotary pumps have 160 hp and latter with inline " P pump " to 96 about 200 and
all have around 450 ft lbs of torque but either one can be upgraded to about
250 hp simply by tweaking the pump with simple hand tools, if you want to push
the power into the 300hp+ and 600+ torque then the " P pump " is the one you
want.... any engine with under 200,000 miles is fine as they last between 400
and 500,000.
cost of aftermarket bowman watercooled manifold about $1100, used hurth 630
tranny $1000 to 1500, someone does make an adapter to bolt on the marine
transmission to a stock dodge/ cummins bell housing, cant remember who though,
I went with a sae#2 bell housing and standard adapter but you will then need a
flywheel to fit...
I went with an aftercooler but if the hp is kept bellow 250 you can get away
without one, also after several changes in my raw water pump impeller, I simply
got rid of it and bought a competition series livewell pump.. no more impeller
to change or worry about and since thoses pumps are meant to run 24hrs a day
they are quite reliable, I have a sensor on my exhaust that rings an alarm if
it gets above 220 degrees in case the cooling water were to stop, the exhaust
heats up way before the engine temp climbs if the raw water pump fails, any
automotive fan control temp switch makes a great alarm control... and the
cummins raw water pump is very expensive as well as it is gear driven from the
engine... remember, a minimum of 4" exhaust will be required per engine...5"
is prefered.
----- Original Message -----
From: 31 SS<mailto:[email protected]>
To: UnifliteWorld<mailto:[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 10:36 PM
Subject: [UnifliteWorld] Re: Diesel Conversion
Tom,
Thanks for that link. I read through most of it and I now have
some perspective that I did not have before. I will look at boats the
same size range as mine in a whole new way.
I think that the 318's are great engines, I just wanted to get on the
fish faster and go farther but I will run the engines where they will
be happy for the long run.
I am lucky to be able to do all of the service work including
rebuilding them or the gears and I think that these engines have a
long life ahead of them. I think they have something like 700 hours on
the port and 600 and change on the starboard (rotted out Paragon raw
water cooled v-drive housing) so the boat was used on one engine. I
bought this boat for $2,500.00 missing a v-drive and the guy from the
non-profit that sold me the boat said "my friend is a certified marine
tech and he has a v-drive for this boat" so again I trusted a stranger
and what a shock the v-drive would not work. I bought the 318 and v-
drive combo mentioned in the opening post and put the v-drive in it
and made the trip of about 80 miles with one 1:1 gear and one 2:1
gear. I ran about 12 knots cruise so I would not beat the starboard
engine up. Anyway my point is that maybe I jumped the gun on the
diesels. I bought 2 1:1 gears so I am going to rebuild them and put
them in.
I took her down to the gelcoat and still in the process of a complete
Awlgrip paint job and interior remodel as well as windows. I really
like Uniflites and knew nothing of them until I stumbled upon one on
the Boat Angle site that needed one engine a Crusader 330 hp and some
"cosmetic work" I did not have the money at the time and I rangled up
some friends and motivated everybody to commit to the money for the
boat and repairs but the boat went for about $2,000.00 more than I/we
were willing to pay and boy am I glad now!! It was a 1976 34' Sedan
and it was rough (needed lots of love) I found key landmarks in the
photos and I used satellite pics to find it and went to the marina and
got in touch with the owner and it semed like they did not take very
good care of her so oh well. I was left with a desire to get a
Uniflite and I ended up liking the 31SS for my use and the manageable
size. I found this boat and it has been since October and I am not
dissapointed in the decision to get her.
I plan on building a hard top for her and making her different from
other 31's.
Sorry to ramble.
Thanks again for the tip and thanks to everybody else as well.
Ken
On Apr 14, 5:33 pm, john hamilton
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> There are a lot of comments about how noisy, leaky, outdated and
inefficient Detroit Diesels are, and I agree with all of them. There is another
side to that coin, however. I live in a small town in Alaska with a large
commercial fishing fleet. Over the past five or ten years a lot of the
fishermen have re-powered their boats with new John Deere high efficiency
diesels. They have had no end of trouble. When the new engines work they are a
marvel. They're quiet and fuel efficient. They also are absolutely ridiculous
in their fuel requirements. An extremely tiny amount of water in the fuel
destroys sophisticated high pressure injection pumps that require the local
mechanic to replace them, which results in a $2000-$3000 repair bill. There are
multiple boat owners in town that have done this FIVE times. They have also
spent big bucks on very sophisticated fuel filtration systems in an effort to
try and prevent the problem. Meanwhile,
> the guys who are still running Detroits have NO issues related to our
crappy fuel for tens of thousands of hours of operation. They laugh all the way
to the bank when people criticise their noisy old Detroits. When the screaming
Jimmy's do wear out, they are easily rebuilt for very little money and easily
serviced at the most remote little village. Something to think about.
>
> As someone who recently rebuilt his gas engine rather than convert to
diesel I also looked at the conversion idea (27 Express Cruiser). My fantasy
was to convert to a Cummins 6BTA. The reality is I didn't have the money to
convert to diesel but I did have the ability and the budget to rebuild my own
gas engine myself. I gained the additional benefit of eliminating most of the
service/repair calls at the boatyard by learning to do it myself. It's better
to have a gas boat you can use than a diesel boat the wife makes you sell
because of the high loan payments.
>
> John
>
> --- On Tue, 4/14/09, tomdepot
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>
> From: tomdepot
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
> Subject: [UnifliteWorld] Re: Diesel Conversion
> To: "UnifliteWorld"
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
> Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 4:01 PM
>
> Ken,
>
> Some of the best (free) information I have come across on the web is
> from this guy:
>
>
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/engines.htm<http://www.yachtsurvey.com/engines.htm>
>
> He gives a more in depth analysis of the gas v. diesel question. His
> conclusion is that gas is best suited for boats under 36 feet, and
> above that diesel starts to make sense. I think he says that if you
> use the hell out of your boat (like a charter fisherman) you could
> justify diesels in a smaller boat. Obviously I ignored his advice.
>
> I am curious about Detriots more than ever now, I haven't been on a
> boat powered by any, but I have consistently heard the same things-
> noisy, leaky, and not efficient.
>
> Either way you will have fun repowering your boat, but if I had only
> planned on owning mine for two years I wouldn't go with the diesels
> either.
>
> One possibility I didn't consider for too long is to find a couple of
> Cummins from older Dodge trucks and marinize them. The only reason I
> entertained this at all is that I have a Dodge with the Cummins and
> its a great engine. I pull my boat with it.
>
> Good luck,
> Tom in Florida
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