Once the cabin sole was in and the foam insulation sprayed I next turned my attention to the engine compartment.
Our engine was to be a 2.5 litre 61 hp Ford, marinised by Lancing Marine. It was a tedious job to get Lancing Marine to not only quote me for an engine but also to get them to supply a complete engine system that had all the parts that was required to make a yacht an auxiliary yacht.
They were helpful but very slow. I had to persevere as they were £2000 less than all of the other engine suppliers.
I also thought that having a Ford engine, in fact it was the same base engine as was fitted to the Transit Van,this I thought would make buying spare parts more easy around the world.
Transit vans are everywhere.
To cut a long, long story short Lancing Marine eventually got it right and delivered the engine. A crane lifted it in and I drilled the holes for the engine mounts and then fastened them to the engine bearers.
Next followed the lining up of the prop shaft to the gearbox. What a nightmare it took two days to get right and in the end there was a difference of two thousands of an inch all round. The completion of fitting the engine was a milestone.
