Westerbeke 15 HP four-cylinder "mini-diesel"

[Christian Williams]

New one on me, But it says here that this small diesel was just right for (or would have been just right for) the Ericson 29 and 32. Anybody have one?

MINI-DIESEL is the smallest four-cylinder water cooled diesel in the world. Its compact dimensions fit into many small sail boats around 30 feet, providing diesel safety and reliability. In many cases it can replace ""- the smallest four-cylinder gasoline engines.

https://www.westerbeke.com/advanced%20specs/wtbk_four-60.pdf

 

[Loren Beach]

430 pounds..... that's heavy for that size engine.
Is this a current ad?
The link looks like a photocopy of an old flyer.

 

[Alan Gomes]

Over 500 pounds with gearbox? Yikes!

 

[Christian Williams]

Ancient. I just happened to hear from an owner of a Cascade 29 who declares himself delighted with it, and I wondered if it was a novelty or a success. The photo purports to show a Cal 37"--with a 15-horse engine?

 

[kapnkd]

New one on me, But it says here that this small diesel was just right for (or would have been just right for) the Ericson 29 and 32. Anybody have one?

MINI-DIESEL is the smallest four-cylinder water cooled diesel in the world. Its compact dimensions fit into many small sail boats around 30 feet, providing diesel safety and reliability. In many cases it can replace ""- the smallest four-cylinder gasoline engines.

https://www.westerbeke.com/advanced%20specs/wtbk_four-60.pdf

VERY interesting!!! ...Wonder when (what years) it was produced?

We replaced our worn out A-4 in the very early 90’s with a Westerbeke 2 cylinder 18hp and at that time no 4 cylinder 15hp was offered. Although I had concerns about the vibrations of a 2 cylinder, I was pleasantly surprised by the actual smoothness of it.

The best part for us was the WB fit right back in place of the A-4. Only modification was to flip two engine mounts upside down to get the proper alignment angle to the prop.

Sadly, WB stopped producing this little gem a few years back but I’ve seen a couple offered on eBay.

Ours is still going strong now for ...GEEZ!!!...30 years now!!! (Didn’t think about how long we’ve had it!)

 

[Loren Beach]

We replaced our worn out A-4 in the very early 90’s with a Westerbeke 2 cylinder 18hp and at that time no 4 cylinder 15hp was offered. Although I had concerns about the vibrations of a 2 cylinder, I was pleasantly surprised by the actual smoothness of it.

The best part for us was the WB fit right back in place of the A-4. Only modification was to flip two engine mounts upside down to get the proper alignment angle to the prop.

Not enough HP for your boat, probably, but the long out-of-production Yanmar YSM12 was a real good replacement for the flathead A4, also. It had a single horizontal cylinder, and mounted very low. I know of at least one local 33 foot sailboat with one of these, and while the engine runs well, the owner had quite a struggle finding some parts for the oil pump, a few years ago.

Observation: finding a good drop-in replacement (equivalent HP) for an A4 was difficult due to boat builders previously taking advantage of the low height of the flathead A4 design to shoehorn it into places like under a settee or an aft bunk top.

Cheer up... could be worse. At least EY seldom used a V-drive configuration. Those have further maintenance challenges....
And then there is the maintenance nightmare of the "modern" sail drive engines that put a multi-thousand $ bite on the wallet of the owners every 7 to 10 years.

 

[markvone]

Per this history thread the Universal M30 was a designed direct replacement for the A4:

Universal Engine History

In my continuing search for Universal to Kubota crossover charts, a few gems appear now and then. Note to Moderator; please archive this for future reference This has been published on the Catalina 30 website but this version is from Hess Marine? and it varies slightly from the version on the...

ericsonyachts.org

Only made from 1988-1997, ~470 sold.

Mark

 

[kapnkd]

Not enough HP for your boat, probably, but the long out-of-production Yanmar YSM12 was a real good replacement for the flathead A4, also. It had a single horizontal cylinder, and mounted very low. I know of at least one local 33 foot sailboat with one of these, and while the engine runs well, the owner had quite a struggle finding some parts for the oil pump, a few years ago.

Observation: finding a good drop-in replacement (equivalent HP) for an A4 was difficult due to boat builders previously taking advantage of the low height of the flathead A4 design to shoehorn it into places like under a settee.

Cheer up... could be worse. At least EY seldom used a V-drive configuration. Those have further maintenance challenges....
And then there is the maintenance nightmare of the "modern" sail drive engines that put a multi-thousand $ bite on the wallet of owners every 7 to 10 years.

When purchasing my 18hp WB, I was all actually set to buy their 3cyl 25hp model. When I explained the size/weight of my 32, he steered me to the less expensive 2 cyl.

Said it would do just fine. He was correct! It pushed me along equally as fast and with incredible torque and strength.

Not sure what actual size vessel is being discussed (thought it was 29 - 32??) but the hp between diesel & gasoline engines isn’t similar at all due to the higher torque output of a Diesel engine.

 

[Christian Williams]

The "Westerbeke Four-60 Mini-Diesel" manual, from 1972.

https://www.westerbeke.com/parts%20manual/4-60%20parts%20and%20tech%20016521.pdf

Internet at random, no citation:

"The base engine for the Westerbeke 4-60 is a diesel version of the 1-litre gas engine used in the original Austin Minis and many other small British cars."

 

[markvone]

Per this history thread the Universal M30 was a designed direct replacement for the A4:

Universal Engine History

In my continuing search for Universal to Kubota crossover charts, a few gems appear now and then. Note to Moderator; please archive this for future reference This has been published on the Catalina 30 website but this version is from Hess Marine? and it varies slightly from the version on the...

ericsonyachts.org

Only made from 1988-1997, ~470 sold.

Mark

CORRECTION: The M4-30 was the diesel replacement for the A4.

 

[racushman]

These caught my eye a few years ago, the crated engine costs were a pretty good deal compared to other options.

Maybe it's the yellow. My understanding is these are marinized Mitsubishi blocks. Anyone have one?

Products

Make boating enjoyable

www.vetus.com

 

[Dave G.]

When I was looking for a boat I looked at a Tartan 33 that had a recent 24hp Vetus engine installed. I did a little research and found there were not a lot in the US so couldn't really find a source to review it's performance/reliability. They indeed are based on Mitsubishi small tractor diesels & seem to be at a much lower price point than competitors. No real time experience to report & yes VERY yellow is what I recall. Fairly new to the US I think, they are based in the Netherlands so much more prevalent in Europe.