Any insights into this barn find (Midlands, UK)?

[Mike-in-Suffolk]

A friend has stumbled across a part-built project, and has very little time to deal with it. If anyone has any idea what this is it might just help to move it along to someone who can finish the job. Otherwise it will be broken up.







That's a Volvo Penta engine, apparently.

[John Meachen]

Looks vaguely Maurice Griffiths.I would be curious about the driveshaft with universal joint on the port side.

[schlaboatnic]

Looks vaguely Maurice Griffiths.I would be curious about the driveshaft with universal joint on the port side.

I wondered that as well. Part of the steering mechanicals?

[LarixMaximus]

Looks vaguely Maurice Griffiths.I would be curious about the driveshaft with universal joint on the port side.

Almost like a butchered Eventide with additional decking, but no transom rake.

[Mike-in-Suffolk]

Almost like a butchered Eventide with additional decking, but no transom rake.

I see what you mean. I reckon it's just a motor boat, though.

My approach would be to take the engine/ gearbox/ propshaft out, salvage whatever timber was salvageable, and break up the hull. Does anyone have any strong views otherwise?

[Larks]

It looks like a reasonably well built older hull with everything that is unpainted somewhat poorly added on. I wonder if it’d be worth salvaging the timber etc as you say but offering the hull alone for sale without all of the rubbishy additional unpainted structure. It’d be easier to move and easier for someone to see themselves using it as the basis of a new project.

[The Q]

It looks possibly like one of Percy Blandfords designs much extended and butchered.

[wizbang 13]

Dat be some top shelf house carpentry added to dat vessel

[johngsandusky]

You might start by offering the whole thing for the price of the engine. Let the buyer decide what to do with it.
Good luck whatever you decide.
-Suffolk County, New York

[Peerie Maa]

A friend has stumbled across a part-built project, and has very little time to deal with it. If anyone has any idea what this is it might just help to move it along to someone who can finish the job. Otherwise it will be broken up.



That's a Volvo Penta engine, apparently.

D1 - 13, 20, or 30?
My bad, it looks like the two cylinder D1- 13.

[Mike-in-Suffolk]

You might start by offering the whole thing for the price of the engine. Let the buyer decide .....

Now that's a sensible idea.

[Andrew2]

Could be wrong, but is the basic hull GRP? with ply added to raise the topsides?
Engine could even have been new back when. Has the Volvo muffler/watertrap system. Or, might have been part of the original boat. Needs a good look at by an experienced bloke.
Could be a project boat for someone keen and no pink specs.

Edit: Quite narrow transomed for a mobo, so possibly a conversion from sailing.

[Mike-in-Suffolk]

Could be wrong, but is the basic hull GRP? with ply added to raise the topsides?....

That's what my friend thought too. He has no experience of boats whatsoever, but that was his guess. I thought it might be a ply build, glassed over. It looked like a dog's dinner to me, but I said I'd put it on here in case the more knowledgeable thought there was any merit hiding behind all the DIY toot. There doesn't seem to be any great hint of that yet.

[Andrew2]

Essentially, in the current market, it worth what someone will pay to get the mechanics. That depends on condition of same. If you/friend are lucky, it might attract a buyer with some imagination and a bit of cash. Not easy.
Personally, I would keep the forward cabin, lop off the framing for the square deckhouse and work from there, but not at all my type of boat. Hell of a lot of work to get on the water and there are many more out ther looking for homes.

Try the bay of pigs

[Mike-in-Suffolk]

Anyone any idea what the engine & gearbox are worth?

[Andrew2]

What someone will pay for them. Sounds trite, but if you have no history, you need some one to give an informed opinion about condition. If new, prob worth a bit. If used and left for a long time, not a lot. Cost of Volvo spares tends to scare people a bit..
Any chance of finding some some history?

[Peerie Maa]

Anyone any idea what the engine & gearbox are worth?

You need to know when it last ran, its service record and how it was preserved when laid up.

[Mike-in-Suffolk]

No one will ever know, I guess, as the builder died in the middle of this project, apparently. That's why the workshop is being cleared.

[Peerie Maa]

No one will ever know, I guess, as the builder died in the middle of this project, apparently. That's why the workshop is being cleared.

Half of the price of a new one, with all those bits of auxiliary gear, less the cost of a total strip down and overhaul with gasket sets etc and the possibility of honing the cylinders and replacing the rings.

[hawkeye54]

I wondered that as well. Part of the steering mechanicals?

Perhaps a mechanically-driven anchor windlass ?

[AndanteEd]

Anyone any idea what the engine & gearbox are worth?

I reckon that's a raw water-cooled Volvo Penta 2002.

Dates from the mid 1980s. Basic spare parts (seals, gaskets, water pumps, impellors etc) are readily available, but a lot of the other parts are getting very scarce now. That being said there's not a lot to go wrong with them and they can be a reliable, if somewhat noisy, old workhorse. As long as it's been looked after then it should thump on for a few more years at least.

They tend to fetch about GBP 1000 - 1,500 in working condition with a reasonably known history. There's an ad for one here:

VP 2002.jpg

https://www.youboat.com/uk/kw/engine...lvo-penta+2002

There's a current eBay listing for one (without gearbox) that looks in need of a rebuild for GBP 595. No bids at the moment.

VP 2002 a.jpg

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284372977...YAAOSww6pg8Jvo

Given a clean, a service and the assumtion the thing fires up then I reckon you might perhaps see about GBP 800 - 1,200 for it.

I know that some second-hand marine diesel dealers might take it either to break for parts (like I said, they are getting scarce) or to tidy up and resell. The people who posted the ad in the Youboat link above appear to be a commercial outfit. Perhaps an idea to give them a call and see what they would buy it for, but I'd suspect their offer may not be worth the effort involved to complete the sale.

[LarixMaximus]

If it is a 2000 series, that was the engine that gave Volvo Penta a sullied reputation for years.

[AndanteEd]

If it is a 2000 series, that was the engine that gave Volvo Penta a sullied reputation for years.

Yup, they were an unsophisticated engine that was built to a price to fulfil the demand of many production boat builders of that era. They were slightly noisy, leaky things and they certainly didn't help Volvo's reputation, but that was very much the fault of Volvo corporate strategy rather than the engine itself. Had they been sold under another brand then they would have perhaps been less of a disappointment to owners.

The upside of them being basic engines is that they are straightforward for owners to work on, assuming you can i) find the parts & ii) afford them when you do.

From what I understand, the main gripe on the 2000 series related to the engine's voracious appetite for gearbox splines. That aside if you can put up with the rather agricultural nature of them, and are willing to run the gauntlet of parts availability, then they are actually OK as a cheap marine diesel.

[Mike-in-Suffolk]

That's brilliant, AndanteEd. Many thanks.

[Hugh MacD]

As a follow-up for Volvo parts, I found a good supply in, of all places, Sofia, Bulgaria. Mine's not a 200 series but an old MD-7A, but they had parts and they were a fraction of what Volvo Sweden wanted. And they fit and worked.