Repower Albin 27FC

[GottaCruise]

Looking at Options for repower for the Albin 27FC. The Yanmar 4JH3-DTE looks like a good option. Is this too much horsepower (125hp)? Has anyone used this engine? As a 4 cylinder, I recognize it may have higher rpms for the power it produces, therefore somewhat noisier. I can live with that.

[tego]

It takes about 16HP to push our boats to hull speed. The original 60 Lehman was overkill but the factory kept putting in bigger engines for some obscure reason. I'm repowering mine with a BETA 43 and others have even used the BETA 38 as well as the 50. The Yanmar is a good engine and some of our owners have used the 60-100HP units. Personally, I despise turbo units as I've had several bad experiences with them in a marine environment. Good luck. Ben '87 27FC

[Ambler27FC]

There are several spirited threads on the A25/A27 page for this subject. I landed on a Beta 50, and typically hit hull speed at about 3/4 max power (2200 RPM). I understand Albin originally specified a 60 HP engine for this hull, and I think this is about right for fuel economy - which would be hitting hull speed at a reasonable RPM. I went with a 50 HP solely because I wanted to avoid a Turbo - similar to Tego's opinion. If hull speed can be done with less, I am very interested. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

The A25 seems to require a lot less power due to the lower weight and a more tapered hull in the back. Likewise, a similar sized sailboat requires much less power. There is a squareness to the back of an A27 hull that I suspect has a penalty - but also great space for storage! There are A27's with 120+ HP engines, but the hull stringers were modified for this, and you would make sure your boat is ready for this. The A27 feels like a displacement hull - just know that you are going to pay for everything over hull speed. Above hull speed the fuel vs. speed curve is exponential, not linear. But this is a lifestyle decision.

Plenty of good engines out there, but I love my Beta. A consideration if going with a new engine is something that can meat EPA Tier III specifications without a computer - a potential failure point.

[tego]

Ambler, What prop are you using? I've had a prop shop tell me to use a 18X12 so I could reach max RPM and I worked with a formula I found on-line that said I needed an 18X13. With a slow cruiser like ours, I figured it won't hurt anything if I stick with the original 18X14 since the BETA maxes out about 1000RPM less than my original LD28 Nissan.. I rarely got over 2000 with the Nissan, and that pushed me to 6.7Kts. I kinda like being a little overpropped anyway. I still need a new prop since the Nissan was a LH prop and the BETA is with a RH prop. I have a good prop shop near me that told me I could add or subtract an inch of pitch easily for about $200. We'll see when my engine finally gets here. It's been on order since Oct . Joe D. said it should be in this month. Advice I'd give to anyone considering an engine swap, I'd avoid turbos and the BETA doesn't have an electronic engine ECM (computer control). Early 1987 saw much larger stringers installed on the 27 for the engines (2 1/2" wide and about 8" tall). Kubota engines (BETA) are used in a lot more industrial uses than Yanmars because of their reliability. Ben

[Ambler27FC]

Tego, I had an 18x14 with my old 80HP engine but had it reduced to an 18x12 so that I could hit the max engine RPM, which was recommended. I have it in my mind that an 18x13 might be perfect for my motor. I also never run the engine at full RPM (except for periodic tests) and tend to think ~2000 RPM (2/3 of my maximum) is a good spot for cruising. Going full throttle doubles or triples my fuel consumption for an extra knot or two - so no thank you on that. I remember that modifying the prop did not cost much more than bottom paint at the time, so a worthy consideration.

A simple engine is best in my book. I don't want to press a brand, but simple=good in the middle of nowhere. I've also found that a clean bottom will increase speed by ~.6 knots, which is sadly significant. I've cleaned the bottom with dive gear and also unfortunately by crashing through large waves and the result was (amazingly to me) the same.

[tego]

Where the heck is everybody? I completed my repower last month with the BETA 43 and it' s running great!!! I put a 18x14" RH prop on her and I hit hull speed (6.5 kts) at about 1750 RPM, which is at the peak of the torque curve on this engine. Boy, is this engine quiet compared to the old Nissan, which I thought was quiet compared to the Lehman. I've only got about 35 hours on her so far. I sold and shipped my old Nissan to a man in Norway. It took me about 5 days for the swap and it went easy except the new tranny didn't like to shift out of gear. BETA had a new tranny on the way the next day and it was installed in a couple of hours. I like that kind of service! If any of you are contemplating a similar swap, give me a shout and I'd be glad to talk about it. I did all the work myself and had no problems even though I'm a tad short of 82 now. I love these boats! I'll be out on the water tomorrow, Christmas day. Ben

[GottaCruise]

Rather than start a new thread, I figured I would just pick this one back up. I suppose some context would be helpful: I purchased an '87 28fc about a year ago with the original Nissan ld28 block rebuilt but sitting on a pallet in the shipyard. All the engine peripheral components were lost in an estate sale. At the time, I had an Ebay purchase lined up for an exact Nissan full drive train replacement but the seller backed out and hence my original repower question at the top of this thread. I had to put the project mostly on hold, but perhaps that is for the best. Eventually we determined that without all the other components we were going to go in a different direction. Anecdotally I sold the Nissan block to a gentleman in Connecticut - hope that contributed to another 27fc in the water.

Last week I completed a fiberglass repair on the inside of the keel where there was some grounding damage which had been repaired on the outside but never addressed on the inside. Now that we are feeling good about the seaworthiness of the hull, its time to get real on the repower. For the reasons you all have stated very eloquently in this thread and others, we are selecting the Beta 50 for the repower. As Tego has proven its actually more than needed for hull speed but we will start out towing a dingy and dealing with wind etc. I want to have the illusion of getting that extra knot if really needed.

My hull does have the larger stringers that Tego mentions and they seem solid and dry. Mounting to the current driveshaft appears feasible and straight forward from my initial mockup. But I have some basic questions for you guys that have already done this same conversion.

-Are your stringers level when the boat is in the water? And do you know what angle your prop shaft has compared to the stringers? Do you believe there is an optimal angle for the prop relative to the hull? My shaft appears to be pitched about 3 or 4 degrees downward from the stringers which I am pretty sure is not original. I have not measured the exact angle yet.

-The Beta 50 is of course smaller and lighter than the Nissan.. There is considerable room to slide it forward or aft on the stringers but where my shaft currently sits the motor would be biased pretty far aft. I feel like that might be best for engine room maintenance/access and to accommodate for the reduction in ballast but I was wondering if that was a consideration for others.

-It sounds like Ambler was able to adjust his prop but Tego needed to replace his due to the original being LH (which mine is). Were you able to re-use your original propeller Ambler? And if so, how?

-Did you guys replace your entire exhaust when you did this conversion?