Re-power Cruisemaster 700 with diesel

[ranmar850]

Err, are you confusing Stehr with Steyr? Steyr build heavy diesels.

[Marco1]

Stehr? Never heard of them
Steyr make real good top notch guns.
They also used to make diesel engines and cars and motorbikes but that is ancient history.
Their modern diesel engines are called "Chainsaw" engines because of high revs and light construction. Also the concept of no head gasket may seem great to the novice, but good luck if you need to do any work on the head.
Time will tell, they do look nice.
i would have gone for a Yanmar. and a V drive and dump the stern drive. Sure, some mucking around with the hull required.

[brett62]

No it's a Steyr diesel.

[brett62]

Stehr? Never heard of them
Steyr make real good top notch guns.
They also used to make diesel engines and cars and motorbikes but that is ancient history.
Their modern diesel engines are called "Chainsaw" engines because of high revs and light construction. Also the concept of no head gasket may seem great to the novice, but good luck if you need to do any work on the head.
Time will tell, they do look nice.
i would have gone for a Yanmar. and a V drive and dump the stern drive. Sure, some mucking around with the hull required.

The Yanmar is also a high revving chainsaw. The Yanmars are certainly great motors and proven their reliability over many years. I certainly didn't choose the Steyr because it had no head gasket. There is a lot more science behind my decision.

Having to do work on the valves is not a issue to me and pulling down the engine is also not a issue to me. As with any engine do the correct services and maintenance and you will be rewarded with a long service life before requiring any major repairs unless you have a really bad day.

If I was leaving the boat in the water a V drive would have been my choice also. This is a trailer boat and both stern drives and V drive have pro's and con's and for my setup stern drive ticked the right boxes for this style of boat and its intended use. I am not a fan of stern drives permanently in the water.

[giddyup58]

Progress???

[brett62]

Progress???

Hi Giddy,

Have been doing some long swings at work so not much progress on the boat.

Last time home I found myself doing a full bathroom rebuild at the daughters house and still need to complete it when I am home again in a week.

One thing I did do a couple days before returning to work was purchase a tinny so I can do some fishing while the project continued on the big boat. Was going to wait until I finished but project has grown as you know.

Will update when I get back home with some photos.

You must be ready to take on another project with the latest one near completed ?

[giddyup58]

Hi Giddy,
You must be ready to take on another project with the latest one near completed ?

Mate, I'm champing at the bit, but I'm out of room. The Mustang, Ventura and the 16 Haines take up the whole diveway, to the point where I can't get 2 cars out of the garage without going to a lot of effort.

But I'm pretty keen to do a Formula Haines or a yank Thunderbird or even a Donzi...

Maybe I'll just renovate the bathroom instead ;-)

[giddyup58]

Progress???

[brett62]

Hi giddy,

Still no progress on the boat !!!! Just headed back to work after a pretty busy time at home. I did complete the bathroom for the daughter, so glad that's over. Before heading home for my break this time we had lightning hit just near the boat shed and the bastard found its way up the earth stake for the shed which then found its way to the main house board which fried the lighting circuits and just about anything plugged in at the time. So pretty well was rewiring the house and replacing electrical equipment for the better part of the break between finishing the bathroom. Main board needs some work which I have a sparky doing while I am away.

My replacement engine arrived in Brisbane while home for the boat but didn't get time to pick it up either. Back home again mid December so hope to get moving again between the Christmas festivities and whatever else comes my way. Life was not meant to be easy hey ####

[brett62]

Well after a long time away from the project boat I am about to start back on her again.

Something that I have been avoiding is the customising of the dash area and building in a fridge in the seat which is going to take some work. Have the engine and drive ready to install but need to complete the modifications with dash as will entail cutting, glassing and sanding (big mess).

I reinstalled the helm seat to get measurements to make sure I have everything covered as for steering etc as installing hydraulic and the helm unit is different to the previous steering system. As you may see from the photo below I will be taking all step in/out profile off and give myself basically two flat areas. I also need to gain some extra room for flush mounting the MFD head units which need a min of 150mm. Changing the dash angle will give me a good 200mm so that works out well. Making the modifications and keeping in with the profile of what is left will be interesting. The side trims will all need to be modified also to suit the new profile.

I am still working on what units to install but the dash will allow me to install a EVO 12" and 9" or two 9". I may even go with a EVO 12" and a Furuno 588 but still haven't made my mind up yet.


InkedIMG_20210319_173155_LI.jpgIMG_20210319_173237.jpg

I also packed up the helm seat 50mm to give me some more fridge capacity plus I will raise the foot rest position up 50mm. This should give me 250L capacity using 75mm insulation. Anyone who has installed a fridge/freezer unit I would be interested in what you used and size. I have the room to install the unit under the seat which will give it plenty of air circulation. I will also go 12v/240v for when I am on shore power. Like I said if you have done something like this would love to hear your ideas.

I am back off to work for 3 weeks and looking forward to getting back and getting itchy.

IMG_20210319_173308.jpgIMG_20210319_173255.jpg

[Lovey80]

Mate this build is an epic.

[ranmar850]

On the subject of the refrigeration, I've done a couple of projects in this direction. By far, the usual choice for this is the Danfoss/Secop range. For 275 litres, refrigeration, with 75mm insulation, you'll need a BD-50. It will not freeze at this capacity, not well reliably, anyway. You need to decide on whether to go with the cold plate type of evaporator, or a fan blower evap. I installed a fan blower unit with a BD-50 in a 150 litre unit intended as a freezer for mobile use. I bought mine as a package from Dometic, after talking to their tech department. They assured me I could feeze to 200, and refrigerate to 300, IIRC. As it turns out, they were a bit optimistic. It will certainly freeze down to under -20deg c in reasonable ambients, but starts to struggle at ambients over 32deg. It will only get -12 at 37 deg ambient. There are a couple of reasons for this, such as only going with 50mm insulation on two sides, and apparently, an undersized condensor. The condensor is the little radiator type thing with the fan running through it, which cools the returned gas, if you didn't know.The latter only came to light when I consulted a marine refrigeration specialist --he is a Dometic agent,, but said they commonly supply undersized condensors with their packages, and this means they struggle as the load goes right up with high ambients. So beware of that, quiz the fridgie you decide on buying from. Also investigate the possibilities of variable speed compressor controls--the Danfoss BD35/50 runs at the minimum speed of 2000rpm as supplied, but there are cheap control units which can vary that up to get more grunt out of them, provided everything is correctly sized. The Frigoboat range of Danfoss setups comes highly recommended, and there are Australian agents.

The 150 litre in question was built by me 10 years ago, still going strong, with the only problem being the high ambient thing mentioned. This really only came to life when the original thermostat failed, and I started looking into it. Most of it's use has been in winter, so it hadn't ever been a problem. I also built a 50 litre fridge two years ago for the boat, BD50 with 50mm insulation. I only bought the BD50 instead of the BD35 because it was $150 cheaper at the time. BD35 would be the normal choice for a fridge freezer of this size. It actually has to be run at the warmest setting or it freezes everything. But, because of that, it actually uses very little power as a fridge.

Most of these units, as supplied, can be installed yourself by any reasonably intelligent person. The gas is already in the various components, with connections that make as you tighten them down. You really only need to decide what size you want to run, and where you are going to install it, with regards to adequate ventilation to dissipate the heat generated by the compressor and condensor. Just plug power into the 12/24v supply terminals, and away you go. Youtube is your friend. I highly recommend the Coastal Climate range of videos--they cover all aspects of the BD35/50 Danfoss range, with short, easy to understand videos. If refrigeration has always been a bit of a mystery, spend a few hours on these, it will all become clear. These are very simple systems.

[brett62]

Thanks for the information. You have answered some of the questions I have been thinking.

Considering you are using 50mm insulation the results are pretty good. I am not after freezing so much but pulling down fish in a reasonable time is one of the issues I was concerned about. It's one of those things where bigger is better and thank you for giving me the information.

[brett62]

Finally took to the dash with the saber saw. Wasn't a easy job not to mention finger coming into contact with the blade with the saber saw winning that tussel .As I said have been avoiding it for some time,well it's done now ready to start the new improved arrangement to suit electronics now. Boat was built back in 1999 when people's needs were rather different.

The plan is to make a ply shell first and hold in place with screws and apply a couple of layers of glass to hold it all together and then remove out of the boat and glass the inside and out. Then reinstall, epoxy glue and glass into the existing structure. I may even do most of the gelcoating out of the boat with just having to do the joins in position. This will save a lot of mess and also much easier I think.

While I have clear access to the back of the helm I will glue timber battens against the head BHD so I have something to screw to for cable management. Hope to get most of the shell completed before work calls again and start glassing next time home.

Certainly a large amount of time to modify the dash but it had to be done.

A couple of photos along the way.

[scottar]

Considered a hinge arrangement for access?