A25 repowering questions

[Wes Keyes]

Hello Folks,
I am looking at an A25 with the original engine that ran last summer. Are there still a fair number of them still using original engines? Also, what is the most common engine used to repower them? Are the original engines noisier than newer ones and if so by what factor? I have rebuilt my Yanmar motor before and wouldn't have any qualms about rebuilding the original Volvo is I needed too. I'm looking for opinions as to whether that would be foolish to do.
Thanks in advance. I know the questions are somewhat vague, thanks for your patience.

WCK
York, Maine

[Beta Don]

Rebuilding the original motor in most any boat is (almost) always going to be cheaper than repowering . . . . but a repowered boat with a brand new engine is still a wonderful thing and is almost always going to be more reliable, more fuel efficient and quieter than an old rebuilt engine

One of the exceptions is probably rebuilding old Volvo's. New parts are very hard to find and when you do find what you need, the price will probably give you a heart attack

Having repowered an A27, my advice will always be . . . . assuming you are looking at buying a 'fixer upper' which will need either a new engine or an extensive rebuild of the original engine is . . . . keep looking, pay a little (or even a lot) more and buy a boat where the previous owner has already repowered

A nice, newish Yanmar in an old Albin is . . . . priceless! Repowering your boat with one is . . . . expensive!

Don

[Wes Keyes]

Don,
Thanks so much for the advice. You answered my questions precisely. Heres's what I am thinking. Being that the boat was in the water last year and ran I with the original engine figure that I would offer the owner a price that reflects the cost of a new engine. Then if I am lucky I can get this season out of the engine and go from there.

WCK

[WillieC]

Sounds like a good plan. I guess I should have offered the guy I bought mine from Zero Dollars! Ha!

I refreshed my "spare" engine. Read all about it here:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=9381

[Wes Keyes]

Thanks Willie C,
Thanks for the confidence. The owner wants 9K and as far as I can see that would be the price for a repowered boat in excellent condition. This is a boat that has sat outside and uncovered in New England. I am headed to see it today. I will report back.

WCK

[kerrye]

Hmm? Re-engined boat in excellent condition for $9k. Seems way low to me

[DesertAlbin736]

"A nice newish Yanmar in an old Albin is priceless..."

I guess that would describe La Dolce Vita to a T.
Might also say a newish Yanmar in an old Albin is 'pricey' as well. We paid more than twice $9K in initial purchase for our boat that came with a Yanmar 3GM30F which is a late 1980s engine and have put almost that much more again into the boat since then for everything else besides the engine. But was it worth it? Yes!

Another question is how much is much is your time worth? How old is the boat & what model engine is in it, AD21, MD3C, or MD17C?

I'm in the Yanmar camp, but others like WillieC and dkirsop have done wonders with Volvo rebuilds. With a rebuild by the time you're done you'll know that engine inside & out. But being in Maine where the two seasons are winter & July, your 2018 boating season will be a write-off.

Sent while aboard & docked at Blaine harbor, WA.

[DesertAlbin736]

By the way, this isn't one of those boats sitting in the yard at Joe DeMer's Sound Marine Diesel shop in Plainville, CT is it?

[Beta Don]

A repowered 25 for $9K? - IMO, that's a pipe dream

A new 25 to 30 HP diesel will run you between $10K and $15K, depending on what you buy. Paying a yard to yank out the old engine and install the new one might add another $5K to $7K - Depends on whether you have to replace the shaft, prop, coupling, exhaust and coolant hoses, strainer etc, etc

If he's asking $9K and you plan to reduce that by what it would cost you to repower, he would have to give you the boat for free and probably write YOU a check for $9K

You're doing pretty good when you sell a boat and get back HALF what you spent in major upgrades, like a repower . . . . which is why I recommended you quit looking at boats that may NEED a rebuild or a repower and start looking at boats which have already been rebuilt or repowered

But, we're all guys who love messing about in old boats and we will never learn - We ALL look for bargains to fix up and if we're smart, we never EVER keep track of the money or the hours we pour into them. I suspect way down deep, many of us actually love working on them more than we love cruising in them - It sure seems that way, doesn't it? We can't all be so stupid that we can't see the forest for the trees . . . . can we??

I've repowered 3 boats in my lifetime and basically lost my shirt every time when I sold them . . . . even though I always did ALL the work myself and the repower probably cost me about half what it would have cost if I had paid the yard to do the job

Yes, looking back, I WAS that stupid and for a long time too!

A nice, clean, well kept A25 with a newish Yanmar in it would easily be worth $20K in my book. If you are limiting your budget to half that, be prepared to shell out lots more than that before you have a nice, reliable boat . . . . maybe a bit less if you can do 100% of your work, as Willie has done - But what is your time worth? I could have done lots more boating and saved myself hundreds of hours of work and lots of money if I had just followed my own advice and bought nicer boats to begin with. If I had paid double what I did for every boat I've owned in my lifetime, I would have ended up so MUCH better off. Lesson(s) learned!

Don