Hi there lurkers!
Our 35 hp Lees Marine (based on a ford Dexta/ Perkins 3 cylinder tractor engine) chucked a sad a little while back The rubber diaphram thingie that is a essential part of the governor dissolved and the old clunker picked up its heels and ran silly........made for interesting times as we struggled to shut it down as it looked as though it could jump off the mounts and it threatened to rattled itself out through the side of the hull.....luckily we were able to do so before it picked up the oil out of the sump and went into a feeding frenzy. This has really pissed me off as this engine is only 50 odd years old, I thought those poms would make something that would last.
I took the engine out and stripped it down...fearing the worst I was quite surprised to find minimal damage. I took the opportunity to give the old thing a total go over, with new bearings, seals etc and had the offending governor rebuilt. (apparently stuff in modern diesel does this to old rubber!) still...it's an old engine and will need replacing at some stage
I did note that the hole where the engine came out of was quite a nice spot and my mind got to wondering if there was a better way to fill it than with a noisey/ smelly and ancient engine. At the same time I read an article in Classic Boat where Niki Perryman describes how they have fitted out Siandra with an electric engine. This sounds fantastic.....but they have had difficulties getting the prop to regenerate enough electricity and have to rely on wind/ solar panels.
I was wondering if anybody has gone down this track....and perhaps included a diesel generator into the equation?
"Kristina" is a similar hull design to "Siandra", but we are blessed with a ketch rig.