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"For me, it was
always wanting to be on the water," says Bob Dunn, captain and owner
of Moonshadow, a 29-foot Ocean he charters out of Penna’s
Marina in Beach Haven, New Jersey. "And as long as I was making that
decision, I decided I was going to do it right and within my means."
Dunn is a charter fisherman
who along with his son Bob, Jr., operates his boat from spring to late
fall. While most of his business comes from half-day family charters,
he looks forward to canyon runs for white marlin and tuna during the summer
months.
He says he first saw
Moonshadow in 1998 and decided she was the perfect vessel for his
needs. "She had a pair of 350-hp [gasoline] Crusaders with very low
hours on them," he recalls. "The boat cost me $65,000, and I
fished her all that season and was getting killed on fuel costs. When
I put her up on the hard after my second year, I knew I needed a pair
of diesels if I was going to make things work."
Dunn came to his decision
with engine-swapping experience already in his wake. He’d replaced
the 85-hp diesel in his previous boat, a 29-foot Prairie trawler–which
he had for 20 years before buying Moonshadow–with a 200-hp
Perkins diesel. He did his homework all winter, attending most of the
boat shows and finally decided on a pair of 300-hp Yanmar 6LPSTEs. "Price,
weight-to-horsepower ratio, engine size, range and fuel consumption, application,
trade-in for my engines, resale value, and finally reputation were key
factors for me," he says.
Dunn says the price
tag for the Yanmars came to $38,751 (with Crusader trade in), including
Hurth 630A1 2:1 ratio down-angle gears (unlike the Crusaders, these diesels
would be installed flat), engine mounts, 80-amp alternators, couplers,
wiring harnesses, L-type mixing elbows, and freight.
With that decision out
of the way, Dunn sought out a yard to do the installation. "It’s
crucial to get the right team for the job," he warns. "Time
is money, and when you’re a working stiff like me, $75 per hour for
a decent mechanic takes on more meaning. The last thing you want is someone
without a plan." For him, the decision was easy. Steve Westberg,
Penna’s yard foreman and head mechanic, had done the Perkins exchange
on the Prairie, and Dunn had been pleased with the way that job came out.
To keep costs down,
Dunn did most of the grunt work, unhooking the old engines, readying the
wiring harnesses, hoses, and Racors, draining the tanks, and doing some
minor fiberglass and duct work. Once the Crusaders were removed, Westberg
fashioned new beds, boxes, and engine vents.
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