DePaul Diesel (slides) a new 1650 Hp CAT. into place.

11/19/08 Portsmouth RI. DePaul Diesel just completed a large re-power job that required a team of local specialists. It’s unusual for a relatively new Caterpillar C-32 to fail. But that’s what happened to the 108′ Hargraves motor yacht Freedom. The C-32 had only 1800 hours which is just the beginning for a rugged V-12 diesel. So this was a warranty job and Caterpillar took care of their customer with help from DePaul.

The challenge in re-powering a yacht is just that. It’s a yacht, and the engine lives under the main salon which is finished with fine fabrics and expensive woodwork. So the first thing that had to happen was gaining access. To do this New England Boatworks carpenters were brought in to disassemble the salon interior and cut open the floor. (Image 3) Even with the floor opened it was still necessary to remove the two turbo chargers, the after cooler, heat exchanger and exhaust manifolds so that the engine could be squeezed out. This made way for Santos welding who manufactured a steel supporting arch (image 4) to lift the engine up out of the hull. You will notice in the image that the whole area was tented off with a temporary room within a room. With the engine now in the salon it was lowered onto the custom made sled and pulled out into the cockpit / aft-deck. This area is covered so the crane still can’t get at it. The solution was to build a reverse set of stairs (image 12) to go over the ones leading to the swim platform and the massive piece is slid a little further. Finally the 2.5 ton CAT is accessible and now easy to handle with the Newport Shipyards crane.

The new power plant required the same treatment in reverse. Disassembly, crane, sliding and lowering with the Santos arch. Reassembly and in the end a seatrial. All done as Dennis puts it “with no one injured and no damage to the brightwork.” Dennis Klodner along with partner Jamie L Freitas operate the business located on Lagoon Road Portsmouth. In June DePaul Diesel will celebrate 30 years in business and they have just been added to the Super Yacht Captains hand book. You can reach them at www.depauldiesel.com

15 image slideshow

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