To date, Eleanor Tarr had a gasoline auxillary engine that had been removed in the summer of 2013. I have been (and still am) keeping my eye on the electric yacht motor scene, but until that seems a little more feasible for a cruising yacht i have been saving my pennies for a diesel engine 15-20 hp.
A new engine was going to set us back close to ten thousand bucks, and that had been my plan until i heard rumor of an older, rebuilt volvo diesel. To be honest ten thousand bucks is not the sort of money i have to spend, particularly on an engine, that same money could/would/will go so much farther if spent on rigging, sails etc.
So it so happened that mid august i heard of a 2 cylinder volvo diesel for sale, a couple of hours away. So i took off with my trailer at 4:00 am and headed down to the shore. What I found was an early 70’s volvo MD2, 17 hp lifeboat engine, hand cranked with decompression levers, for a song of a price.
The engine has had a thorough going over. Over the past couple of years I’ve added electric start, and alternator /charging system, and a fresh water cooling circuit to replace the raw water cooling. This system integrates a copper-nickle heat exchanger with an aluminum header tank, two new water pumps and a welded 316 stainless exhaust mixer. The fuel system now includes dual Racor 215 fuel filters at 10 and 2 micron respectively. Fuel injectors have been rebuilt and spares have been obtained.
The engine has been painted, and following some minor reassembly will be ready for installation.
Sailing Vessel Eleanor Tarr 