Removing a Westerbeke diesel engine

Before beginning to remove the engine I will need to make room. The table needs to be removed and all the cushions removed in what could turn out to be a messy job in removing the engine.


Here is the Westerbeke 27 as it sits in what one mechanic called the tunnel. This is actually the rear of the engine which faces toward the bow of the boat. The V drive transmission is shown at the bottom of the photo. Not a lot of room to work in there so I will

REMOVING THE TRANSMISSION

I had all my tools and a two day time limit to move the Westerbeke 27 engine into the cabin area to be removed by the yard crane. If I did not get it done in that time the engine would stay on board until late spring at the earliest. There was no time to waste but, I had absolutely no experience in doing this either. I got some helpful advice and encouragement from fellow Nonsuch owners at the International Nonsuch Association list serv. But, I would be on my own once on the boat. First I still needed to get the transmission off of the engine. So I set up my hoist system over the hatch as shown in the photo below:

Then I slid back the shaft that had been that had been the cause of the work stoppage in the previous attempt to remove the transmission.

I tied some strong braided line around the transmission and attached it to hoist. I did this to help lift the transmission slightly and hold it suspended while I worked it of of the engine shaft. Removing the transmission was harder than I thought it would be. It did not slid off the engine shaft as easily as I thought it would. I guess after being mated to the engine for twenty years the shaft and transmission get pretty attached to one another. I had to pry and tap it off for about 45 minutes. All the time thinking that I might be doing something wrong because at first it hardly budged. But, finally it came loose after my gentle nudging. once the transmission was removed it was time to tackle the rest of the engine

NEXT: THE FIRST LIFT

The first lift of the engine

The transmission was finally removed from the engine. I had spent most of the morning on the transmission but, things were about to move along. It was now time to do the big lift of the engine. In happier times I referred to the Westerbeke 27 as the "iron jenny" when it reliably started and allowed the boat to motor when the wind dropped. But, after a year of looking at it, dealing with mechanics scratching their heads at $75.00 per hour and more. I know refer to it now as the "iron pig" as it continued eat dollars from my wallet and prevented me from leaving the mooring all season.


So there it sat for over twenty years in the same place. With it's business end wide open like a mouth just daring me to come near. One slip up and I might have a crushed hand or 424 pounds of engine crashing down on the hull. In the back of my mind I'm thinking if there is an accident and I get my hand or arm caught between the hull and the engine would anybody be able to hear my crys for help. NOTE : Keep the cell phone handy.

The first thing to do was remove all the nuts to the bolts that held the motor mounts to the engine stringers. I had had conflicting information on how the bolts on the brackets that the engines mounts were sitting on were made. So I would need to find this out. I also removed the nuts and bolts that went through the side of the engine stringers that held the "L" brackets in place. Once this was done it was time to to lift the engine. I first took the two 18 inch pieces of chain and wrap them around the two arms sticking out from the engine and where the motor mounts attached. These chains were then attached to the hoist. As shown in the photo below:

Below is another shot showing both points of the lift.

I now lifted this end of the engine enough so I could then see how the angle brackets and bolts would come off of the engine stringers. They actually turned out be nothing but two bolts screwed or spot welded into the metal brackets and they just lifted off the stringers. There was however a hole cut into the stringers to accommodate the head of the bolts that would have prevented the bracket from just sliding forward. If I had attempted to just slide the engine forward I would have done a lot of damage to the stringers. One of the "L" brackets is shown in the photo below: With new confidence that I could lift the engine by myself. It was now time to turn to the other end of the engine and do the same there. But, I would not be able to duplicate what I had just done in the confined space of the engine compartment. It would require a different approach.

NEXT: LIFTING THE OTHER END