DIY engine replacement saves £1,500

Richard Reed explains how he saved cash by installing a 'new' second-hand engine himself

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Early in 2021 I was desperate to find another boat. I'd been forced to sell my beloved Moody 33 the previous year, as I was haemorrhaging cash thanks to the Covid lockdowns.

Thankfully by 2021, my finances had started to recover a little. I was still on a tight budget and my eye kept getting drawn to photos of a pretty plywood and GRP ketch called Seven Summers at Cobb's Quay in Poole Harbour. Described as a Santa Barbara 32, no-one seemed to know much about her origins.

It turned out her sweet 1970s lines had been drawn by East Coast designer Charles Greene, founder of Cruiser Kits Ltd, based in Bunghay, Suffolk, though she wasn't built until the 1990s.

Her elderly Bukh DV20 engine was plagued with problems, however. It had a tendency to run hot, and when starting from cold would smoke and spit gobs of oil out of the exhaust. I left the boat on the Isle of Wight and did little sailing over the next 18 months-partly due to a lack of confidence in the engine. By 2023 I was determined to get her back to Devon.

I set sail for Yarmouth from Bembridge that May, but had barely left harbour when the engine spluttered and died.

I managed to restart it and carry on, but by the time I got to Ryde it had died completely and I had to call SeaStart to tow me in.

Once safely in the harbour, a quick inspection of the filters showed serious fuel contamination-something which has become almost endemic with the advent of biodiesel.

I found someone who was able to remove most of the contaminated fuel, and I replaced the filters, but there was no inspection hatch in the tank so there was little more I could do other than hope we'd cured the problem.

Running out of patience