New Question - Lehman 4D61 Engine Opinions

[REO]

I am considering a Beta 38 or 50 diesel from Beta Marine. These are marinized Kubota diesels. I was told that the newer diesels are quieter, vibrate less and are less prone to down wind diesel fumes. Anybody have experience with these engines. The Beta Marine web site has lots of interesting information.

[motthediesel]

Well, I don’t have any experience with Beta marine engines, but I do have the same 4 cylinder block in my Kubota tractor. It is a terrific engine — reliable, smooth, and quiet. As much as I like our old Peugeot, the Kubota would make a good shipmate for sure.

[REO]

I have spoken with the rep at Beta Marine and he recommended the 50 hp engine. Their website recommends the smaller 38 hp. If I can cruise at 6.5 knots I will be happy, but more power could be very useful against a strong tide or headwind. He quoted about $14,000 for the 50 hp. I think the 38 is about $1,000 less. I know that I will not get much of that back when we sell, but a smooth quiet and reliable engine and transmission would really transform my boat. I guess we have drifted a bit from the original question, but if you purchase an Albin with a 4D61 this may become an issue. On the other hand, I believe that one can coax many years out of these engines with careful maintenance and some luck searching for parts.

[Ambler27FC]

Search below for a thread “Albin 27FC Repower” from around April. Includes data on speed and noise for a Beta 50 in a 27FC. Very happy with this engine, but not a move I would make just for noise level.

[SkipRocks]

We have a Cummins 4BTA in our '85 Albin A27 and MAINER is so very spot on -repowering an old boat is EXPENSIVE. Pretty much nothing is off the shelf, and you'll be doing a lot of custom work. At least we certainly did.

When we acquired the Albin in 2014 it had already been repowered with a Volvo-Penta TAMD31 150 HP. Our A27 is the Express model with no rear cabin and is used primarily for fishing and we usually fish anywhere from 20 - 50 miles offshore. With the Volvo we cruised at 8 knots at 2300 RPM. At full throttle (WOT/3800 RPM) the boat would nudge 12 knots. But it was SO LOUD AND SHAKY that I just never did that. It was no fun and I have no idea what the fuel burn was there, but the best we could tell at 8 knots was just either just a bit above or below 2 gph - which is about 4.5 miles/gallon. It's difficult to tell with a mechanical diesel, but that number was close enough that I was always very close in guessing how much fuel the boat would take after a long fishing trip. In 2024 the 25 year old Volvo swallowed a valve. With over 2,500 hours on it I didn't want to fix just one cylinder and a complete rebuild was going to be expensive. Instead, I bit the bullet and installed a new, zero hour Cummins 4BTA.

IT WAS SO MUCH WORK AND NOT CHEAP. If you're thinking about doing this, re-read that sentence again as that sums up the last year for me. In hind sight it is obvious, but when I started the repower project I didn't think I'd be doing this: We had to remove the engine stringers and build new ones 4.5" wider apart. We replaced the transmission from a 1:2 to a 1:1.5 because the Cummins WOT is 2600 RPM compared to 3800 on the Volvo. Went up to a 1.5" shaft, larger cutlass bearing and a 19", 4 blade prop. The oil pan needed to be modified to fit in the boat (too wide at the bottom) and even then the Cummins was too tall. The water resevoir and aftercooler were special order instead of the standard to lower overall engine height a bit. That little 1 3/4" step up from the deck into the pilot house is now 3.5" on our Albin. Yes, we raised the deck so the engine & insulation would fit. The other thing we did was install Lift Rails on the back 1/3 of the hull under the water line - I didn't even know what those were until a year ago. Anyway, glad we did it. The boat went back into the water just in time for July 4 and in the last 2 months we've put 45 hours on the engine. With 3 men and 200 lbs of ice we cruise just above 12 knots at 2100 RPM and burn 4 gallons an hour. That's still 3.5 miles/gallon.

In case you were wondering, at WOT the Albin will do 19 mph/16.5 knots. We won't be doing that though - I just wanted to know how fast it would go at slack tide. That sucker is LOUD and I have no clue what the fuel burn is. Apologies, my quick reply got a bit loooong.

SkipRocks