Meet serial boat owners David and Raewyn Peet. Over their 55 years of married life, they’ve owned more than a dozen yachts. Two have been built from scratch, a couple rebuilt from basket cases, and the remainder have been titivated from average to pristine.
“I have to have a boat project on the go, that’s my happy place. I’m really lucky Raewyn supports my passion, we’re a team,” said David.
Blessed with a sharp eye for a bargain and, just as importantly, a boat’s future potential, when David came across an Upfold 40 launch on TradeMe eight years ago, he pounced. The launch, then named Betty May, had been built by Bill Upfold to a hull and decks stage in 1990, then finished off by its owner.
“This was our first launch and we’ve always liked Bill’s boats, especially his silent chines.”
The survey revealed that while the launch’s structure was in excellent condition, the finishing wasn’t to the same standard. Additionally, there were concerns over its engine, a 1990 Mercedes 250hp V8 diesel, but more on that later.
Over the next eight winters the Peets transformed the Upfold launch into a sleek modern craft that now gets up and boogies as her designer intended. Cannily, there’s been no loss of boating time. The Peets have based the Upfold at Gulf Harbour every summer for cruising, then brought it back to their Tauranga home base every winter for the next stage in its restoration.
David’s first job was a major decluttering, followed by replacing the wiring loom, a confusing maze of wires and poor connections. With the electrical system up to scratch, he fitted a bow thruster and upgraded the anchor windlass.
The master cabin was next. Originally, this had been fitted with a WC and hand basin completely open to the rest of the cabin. Not a great look, and who wants to sleep beside a WC? David took great delight in removing the WC and basin and converting the extra space into a far more useful clothing locker. The heads compartment opposite was restored with new joinery and paint.
David built the lightweight hardtop in his garage from ply, cedar, foam and glass. The completed unit was installed onto the launch with the help of friends and the marina mast gantry.
With the hardtop installed, David finished off Betty May’s exterior by rebuilding the boarding platform, then commissioning Tauranga-based master painter Bob Newcomb, who has since retired, to undertake a full exterior paint job in two-pack. The final exterior touch was a name change to Excel.
The main cabin was next. David completely gutted the cabin and built all new joinery, including the new galley. One of many neat features is a TV unit which disappears vertically into a console when not in use. The only original item retained was the table, although this required considerable work to bring it up to David’s exacting standards.
Speaking of standards. Now retired, David spent over 45 years as a manufacturing jeweller and his workmanship is impeccable. For example, the dovetailed corners on his joinery rival any professional joiner’s, with a half-lapped joint to prevent vertical movement.
“David’s as good as any professional boatbuilder – his eye for detail is amazing,” confirmed Upfold.
With Excel now transformed aesthetically, the elephant in the room lurked beneath the floorboards. While reliable, the V8 Mercedes only developed 250hp, well below the 450hp Upfold had originally specified.
This limited Excel to around 12 knots cruise speed, whereas she’d been designed to cruise at 18 knots. While the Peets had at first accepted the performance limitations, with Excel now restored, the engine’s limitations became increasingly obvious. They briefly considered buying a bigger Upfold launch, but in the end decided that rather than take on another set of problems, the wiser option was to repower Excel.
“Better the devil you know, and Excel does everything we want,” said Raewyn.
Repowering a launch is a significant investment and quality professional advice is essential. David commissioned Upfold to establish horsepower, shaft and propeller specifications, along with providing a detailed drawing for the new engine beds.
“Bill’s been fantastic – not only has he been spot-on with his calculations, he’s become a great friend,” said David.
The decision to use Yanmar over other engine brands was
a no-brainer for David; he’s been a valued customer of the local Yanmar dealer, Marine Diesel Services Ltd, for over 35 years.
“This is the third new engine I’ve bought from Dave [Molloy], we’ve had a great relationship.”
These sentiments were echoed by Molloy, “Dave’s a great customer and a lot of the credit to the installation goes to him, he’s great craftsman.”
With a Yanmar 6LY440 and hydraulic 2.43:1 gearbox ordered, David took Excel out of the water, removed the hulking Mercedes, and got busy removing 30 years’ worth of detritus from the engine room.
The original engine beds were retained with new beds to suit the Yanmar installed inside them, a strong and simple solution. David built the new engine beds from laminations of Oregon, cedar and paulownia timber, sheathed both sides with 12mm plywood, and heavily glassed in DB cloth. For reasons soon apparent, four 20mm steel blocks were glued inside the beds. The finished beds were then glued and glassed against the inside of original beds.
Marine Diesel Services carried out the engine installation. The Yanmar was craned into position, the mounting bolt positions marked, which were then drilled and tapped into the aforementioned steel blocks. It’s an incredibly strong arrangement and one that Molloy favours when repowering launches or yachts.
Fortunately, the original shaft was beefy enough to handle the extra horsepower; it just needed some minor machining to accept the new flexible coupling. A new Briski propeller was ordered and a new bellows for the PSS seal was installed while the shaft was out.
The auxiliary systems were a little more complex. One of the quirks of the Mercedes was its 24V starter, while the Yanmar had 12V starting. As the bow thruster and anchor windlass were also 24V, swapping everything back to 12V wasn’t a viable option.
The solution was to maintain dual 12V and 24V systems, charging the latter by mounting a second 24V alternator on the Yanmar. Another bracket was crafted and installed on the engine for the fridge/freezer compressor.
Gordon Woods from Marine Diesel Services crafted the brackets and also built the new exhaust system, which discharges underwater, cutting back hugely on noise and fumes in the cockpit.
Besides fairing and painting the engine room, David finished off the installation by adding two lightweight ladders to access the engine room and battery compartments.
Both compartments are a massive credit to everyone involved in the repower – the standard of workmanship throughout is nothing short of impeccable.
But enough of the nuts and bolts, how does Excel go?
In short, she’s been transformed. Having been aboard Excel many times when she was powered by the old V8, the first thing this writer noticed was the significant decrease in noise, vibration and fumes in the cockpit. The second impression was the massive improvement in Excel’s performance. Despite its throaty V8 rumble, the Mercedes always felt sluggish, whereas the Yanmar just effortlessly pushes Excel’s 8,500kg of displacement up and onto the plane with half the noise. Running at her optimum cruising speed of 18 knots, Excel feels considerably happier than when trundling along at her previous 12-knot cruise, where she always felt strained. Top speed at the Yanmar’s maximum 3,350rpm is now better than 25 knots.
Two tweaks were made after commissioning the new engine; the propeller pitch was increased slightly to bring the engines down to Yanmar specifications, and the flat plate stainless steel rudder blade was modified slightly to better handle the increased speed and propeller thrust.
Certainly, the Peets are more than delighted with the result. At the time of writing, having just finished three weeks cruising, they are over the moon with the better performance, decreased fuel consumption and lower noise.
While exact fuel consumption figures for the Mercedes aren’t available, back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate that the fuel burn of the Yanmar at 18 knots is less than the Mercedes was at 12 knots.
According to Upfold there are three reasons for this. The warped V hull is optimised to cruise at 18 knots, whereas at 12 knots the hull is in its transition from displacement to planing speeds. Secondly, the Yanmar’s electronically controlled fuel delivery system is far more efficient compared to the mechanical governor on the Mercedes. Lastly, at cruise speed, the Yanmar is operating well inside its horsepower limit, whereas the Mercedes was getting near its maximum.
Besides the benefits already mentioned, the smaller and lighter Yanmar benefits from a massive increase in space around it for servicing, while David’s finishing work has transformed the engine room aesthetically.
And while the Peets have no intention of selling Excel anytime soon, no question that the repower has made her
a far more marketable proposition than she was with the old power plant.
While it has taken them eight years, the overall project has given the Peets a virtually new 12.2m launch well under the cost of an equivalent new boat. Money aside, their sense of personal satisfaction in a job well done is priceless.
