The Engine

Although Asunto is a sailboat, she does have an engine.

In the world of sailboats, the engine is usually referred to as the auxiliary engine.  This stems from the fact that a sailboat is meant to be sailed, although most boats we see always seem to motoring somewhere… let’s assume this is because of the flukey winds in the Straight of Georgia.

Anyways, back to the engine. Asunto has a “diesel auxillary” engine that is mounted beneath the floor boards of the main salon. A lot of boats tend to have their engines beneath the companion way stairs leading down from the cockpit, however Catalina puts their engines very low in the boat, beneath the cabin sole.

Asunto is powered by a Yanmar JHE engine coupled to a transmission. The Yanmar has just over 1300 hours on it, which appears to be original as there is very little wear and tear on the engine. There is strong compression in all the cylinders and seems to pull full power. The rated horse power is 75 HP at 3600 RPM, but we usually cruise at somewhere between 2100-2600 RPM depending on the tides, or how big of a rush we are in.

I’ll be adding the recommended maintenance / service intervals for the Yanmar, both to help everyone else out, but to also make sure I stay on track as well!