Dream come true

Sea Turtle's Perkins motor was running okay, but as with all Perkins, it constantly leaked oil in the bilge. What a mess it would leave. It was also starting to get pretty old. Jordan has dreamed of having a new motor and a clean bilge so he finally ordered a Beta 43 from the United Kingdom - and Langkawi Malaysia, a duty free port, was the perfect place to have it delivered.

The Beta 43's main component is a diesel motor made by Kubota, a Japanese equipment manufacturer. Beta Marine, an English marine engine company, buys them and then makes them marine-ready with all the systems necessary for boats and then resells as a complete unit including transmission.

It was waiting for us in storage when we returned from our South Africa trip.

Jordan labouriously totally dismantled the Perkins (the only way it could be extracted through the small companionway). To prepare for the new motor, he then completely cleaned the engine compartment and bilge and refurbished the bilge pump and hoses.

The oily beast

To accept the new motor, Sea Turtle was moved over to the shear sided seawall. There, a crane lowered the delivered motor in, but not before certain appendages were removed in order to squeeze it through the opening.

Down she goes

Now it was time to start the major part of the installation work.

In she goes

Big smiles - oil free and clean

Working for days on end, Jordan had to make several adjustments and changes to make it adapt it the uniqueness of our particular boat. An adapter to extend the prop shaft had to be machined, an exhaust high rise had to be fabricated, motor mounts had to be designed and built with almost perfect dimension for accurate alignment to the prop shaft, etc. etc. He also removed a lot of redundant wiring associated with the old motor controls.

Motor mounts - plywood mock-ups

Motor mounts - finished product

The day finally arrived to start the new red installed motor. On November 23rd, with fingers crossed, Jordan turned the key, and she purred beautifully, and running much quieter than the old noisy Perkins. A dream come true of a clean bilge!