Goodbye Atomic Four, Hello Yanmar
by Don & Louise Streever

      We bought our 1978 10M when she was a year old in 1979. Since then, "Halekulani" (Hawaiian idiom for "A Good Place") has been our second home. We’ve spent memorable summers cruising the Maine coast from Connecticut and from Nova Scotia to The Abacos in the Bahamas. By today’s standards, we guess "Halekulani" is primitive. She still has an icebox, an alcohol stove, and until this summer, she was powered by an Atomic 4. To be more accurate, by two Atomic 4s (sequentially, of course).

      In 1991, our first Atomic 4 succumbed to hardening of its cooling arteries thanks to desalinization. That engine ran a 180 degree fever from the day we first left the dock in Mamaroneck until the day it gave up the ghost in the New Meadows River in Maine. In retrospect, we regretted replacing the original A4 with a rebuilt one. But we were on summer cruise and though Westerbekes were promoted, as "popping right into the A4’s engine bed," we were told that it wouldn’t fit in the 10M engine compartment without major modification to the galley.

Atomic 4 numero two served us well until about two years ago and from on we’ve had one dependability problem after another. Last June, thinking we had overcome most of the engine’s complaints, we set out for The Abacos. But after repair delays in Jacksonville, again in Daytona, again in Titusville and running hot to Fort Pierce, we gave up. We replaced the A4 with a diesel—not a decision arrived at casually!

Does it make economic sense, we asked ourselves, to put upwards of $12,000—half for the engine, half for installation—into a twenty-plus year-old boat that has an apparent market value in the lower half of the $30,000 range? Probably not. Salability might be enhanced, but we’re not selling.

     We didn’t know anything about diesels and our intimacy with the A4 didn’t seem to apply. What size engine would give us hull speed (never achieved with the A4)? What make—Westerbeke, Volvo, Detroit Diesel? Maybe we could get another year or so out of the A4?

Are we glad we made the change? Emphatically, yes! First, we felt we didn’t have many choices. We had become so anxiety-ridden by every little sound and smell or every change in temperature and exhaust color that we weren’t enjoying our passion anymore. Second, we have an emotional attachment to "Halekulani," despite her datedness. (The co-captains are getting a bit dated, too, though one won’t admit how dated and the other’s in denial.) Third, there is no way we could replicate "Halekulani" with an equivalent boat of more recent origin without approaching six figures. "Don’t even thinkaboutit," we told each other.

Fortunately, the yard where we faced our A4’s end had recently replaced one with a Yanmar in a P35. Unfortunately, yard management would not release the owner’s name without permission. ("Policy," they said. "To protect customer privacy.") They claimed they tried to reach him on several occasions but to no avail.

     They did, however, produce a line-by-line accounting of the parts and labor required to repower the P35. This was helpful, but scary—over 100 hours of labor (at the yard’s then price of $52 per hour—$55 an hour when it would be our turn) and $1,200 for parts (including $350 we added for an owner-supplied new prop). From the printout, it was evident that there had been quite a bit of difficulty aligning the engine to the P35’s redone engine bed. The mechanics finally built a wood mockup of the engine to avoid further shuttling of the 300-pound Yanmar in and out of the compartment trying to line up a fit. There were also expensive problems with the Yanmar-supplied engine mounts which had to be replaced with flexible mounts. We expected to benefit significantly from the mechanics’ learning curve.

     Barry Meehan and Ron Anderson’s "Replacing an Atomic 4 with a Diesel" (TPC, Vol. 4, No. 4) was a major source of reassurance. While they went with a Westerbeke, that seemed more a function of their yard’s offering than a deliberate preference.

We checked with a nearby Florida dealer who offered both Yanmar and Westerbeke. He was strongly in favor of Yanmar. The local yard, though not a Yanmar dealer, recommended them. Finally, we consulted our friends at Old Lyme Marina in Connecticut who had provided advice and parts over the years for our A4. They were Yanmar dealers, enthusiastically recommended them, had installed a dozen or so in 10Ms, and could sell us the 3GM30F without sales tax. Even though we had to pay freight ($225), the savings over the Florida yard’s quote, given Florida’s 6.5 percent sales tax, was significant ($468). As delivered, the engine included instrument panel, 55-amp alternator (versus the A4’s 30-amp), shaft coupling, flexible engine mounts, U-type exhaust riser, Racor fuel filter, tools, an owner’s manual in more languages than we knew existed, and a five-year warranty.

     Old Lyme had told us that we should figure on about $1,000 for parts (not including a new prop) and 60-70 hours for labor. That turned out to be a pretty good estimate. We pestered the Florida yard for a detailed time-and-materials budget, but the chief mechanic persisted in referring us to the P35 printout. After a week’s delay, we received a fax, (we had returned to Savannah), that asked us to approve a work order that included haul, wash, block and launch, installation parts at $650, and labor at $4,675, plus tax, which added $346. The labor seemed a bit high to us, equivalent to 82 hours. We didn’t object, because we mistakenly thought that this was an estimate, not a firm price.

The conversion, all said and done, amounted to the aforementioned "firm price" of $650 for parts, $4,675 labor, $346 tax, plus owner-supplied engine, $6,824, and new prop and Edson pedestal controls, $584.49. That’s a total of $13,079. When relaunch day arrived, we expected a detailed accounting of the parts and labor, á la the P35 printout. That’s when the misunderstanding about firm price versus time-and-materials surfaced. The chief mechanic, who we liked and trusted, dismissed our concern, saying that though parts had run over, labor had been under the fax quote so the two were a wash. In response to our concern he said the installation had taken 70 hours, but parts ran substantially over the "firm price" estimate. We requested a printout of the parts list which confirmed the $1,157.32, plus the onerous 6.5% tax. The major items on this list were things like an exhaust water hose, control cable, raw water strainer, through-hulls, and a waterlock. These accounted for half the parts bill. The other half involved 46 items averaging $11 each.

We wrote the check in October and launched. The sea trial went without incident. The Yanmar started promptly and backed straight out of the travel lift’s slip (an unheard-of-experience with the A4). We had no trouble hitting 6 knots at 2400 RPM and at 3600 the GPS read 8 knots.

Not being engineers, we don’t quite understand why a diesel rated at 27hp puts a 30hp gas engine to shame. We asked the mechanic for a non-technical explanation, since we couldn’t find one in the literature. "Because it’s a diesel," was his explanation. One big difference: we’re swinging a 15-inch, 3-bladed prop (specifically 15X13-3), instead of the former 12-inch, 2-blade. Curiously, Michigan Wheel suggested a 17-inch 2-blade prop when we responded to their web-page questionnaire. Their local dealer, our mechanic, and Old Lyme all recommended the 15-inch 3-blade.

     As of this writing, we have only about twenty hours on the Yanmar, but they’ve been delightful. We’ve got power! On one six-mile stretch at 2400 RPM with an 18 knot headwind, a foul current, and towing our inflatable with its ten-horse outboard and half-full fuel tank, we pushed past other motoring sailboats. A new-found thrill!

     Admittedly, we haven’t had enough experience with the new engine to provide a serious report on operating specifics or problems. So far, we seem to be using about a half gallon of fuel per hour. We’ve kept our batteries topped up at anchor with a half-hour running time every other day.

     Any disappointments? Not really, though we’d prefer analog to some of the instrument panel’s idiot lights. And though the manual claims an hour meter is part of the panel, it’s not on ours. We’re using the old one with a toggle switch (which we tend to forget to turn on and off). So we will have to wire the clock into the ignition switch and we’ll install analog instruments in the future.

The manual leaves something to be desired. One big plus for the Yanmar is it’s fresh water cooling with a seawater heat exchanger for temperature control. The manual describes and recommends periodic inspection and replacement of a sacrificial zinc anode designed to avoid corrosion. We couldn’t find it. After buying a shop manual, we discovered that the fresh water-cooled engine doesn’t have one. Add $54.50 to the investment, plus, don’t forget, 6.5 percent.

     Checking engine and transmission oil requires a bit of contortionism compared with the A4. We may enlarge the cabinet door to permit easier access. And we will definitely have to remove the panel next to the companionway steps to do oil changes. On the other hand, oil changes, after the first, are recommended every 100 hours compared to our 50-hour practice with the A4.

    After relaunching, we spent another week in the yard with finishing work and then almost four weeks to November waiting for north winds to abate in the Gulf Stream. They didn’t and we didn’t. So having run out of time, "Halekulani" will have to wait for Spring to cross to head back to The Abacos. Stay tuned.