Repower

Boat Repower – New Value for Your Yacht Investment

Grand Banks and Fine Yacht Repowering Experts

Repowering a fine diesel yacht can be one of the best investments you can ever make if your boat or yacht is one of the classics and you intend to keep it for a few more years to enjoy the fine sound of the new engines humming along as you are underway.

Maintenance Reduction

The Oxford Yacht Agency and its Dickerson Harbor boatyard are a marine engine dealer and boatyard in Trappe, MD. (oya.com) near Oxford on the Chesapeake Bay. We specialize in Grand Banks and Eastbay sales and service. As Grand Banks yachts age and some of the installed engine models become worn early because of poor design, we are seeing more and more fine yachts be repowered. It can be a great investment in an inflationary period like we may be facing, even if the engines still have a couple of years left in them.

CALL US for a Diesel Boat Repower Consultation: 410-822-8556

Expert Service You Can Count On

Over the years, we have always done quite a few diesel boat repower jobs on occasion. However, in 2020 we started seeing a lot more interest and now it is one of our major sources of repairs in our Dickerson Harbor boatyard. We work with customers to find a shortlist of new, used, or rebuilt marine engines that will provide many years of reliable service, fit easily into the existing boat mechanical systems, and be the right weight to horsepower ratio for excellent hydrodynamic performance. Sometimes this may be a new engine. At times, a good rebuilt engine is right for the customer. We will even find a boat with good quality engines, buy the boat and install the used engines in a fine quality yacht like a Grand Banks giving it years of new service life.

Here is a short movie clip of our yard removing a 3126 engine for installation of a new Yanmar 6LF engine.

How a Diesel Repower Project Works

Typically, in a twin diesel repower project, the boat yard costs will range from 30% to 50% of the total project cost including purchase of the engines. Because of that, we always strive to work with the customer to choose the right engines for their budget as well as all the constraints of installation and performance.

John Shannahan and the Oxford Yacht Agency was the first Grand Banks dealer to start ordering Cat and Cummins engines in Grand Banks yachts in the mid 1980s. The older two-stroke Ford Lehman engines were great engines for running at displacement speeds but lacked the horsepower and sophistication to push up speeds. The Cat 3208 was one of the first engines used and it is still in use in a lot of boats today.

The Cat 3208 got a bad reputation because of some early bad block castings and they generally had a lower service life than the smaller Cummings 6GTM which was put in marine service at about the same time. Cats were improved to the 3116 and then the 3126 with steady improvements in fuel injection sophistication and some reliability improvements. The Cat C7 is a very good engine, more the modern standard. Today the Yanmar engines, the earlier 6CXE and now the 6LF are reliable lightweight engines that are great for repower projects.

Boat Repower

We partner with over 50 new engine distributors, repowering shops, or used engine specialists to find our customers the best possible engine at a fair price.

We do all the engineering work to make the repower a success and solve any installation challenges in our experienced Dickerson Harbor Boatyard. We are your one-stop-shop for a rewarding repower experience on your fine yacht.