A testimonial from the owner of Spirit:

We purchased our Passport 40, SPIRIT, in the spring of 2002.  The vessel was in generally good condition, but out of date in terms of electronics, safety equipment, and diesel power.

Substantial upgrades were added including an 8 man offshore life raft, 2000 watt radar and chart plotter at the helm, major running rigging refit, etc.  The single best upgrade we did was to replace the tired, old, oil-burning Perkins 4-108 with a 4 cylinder Yanmar 56 HP diesel.

The repower work was done by Oldport Marine of Newport , RI .  We could not be happier with the work that was performed.  The Perkins take-out and install of the Yanmar was flawless.  Both engines had to go through the main cabin overhead hatch!  Not a single scratch was made, a great concern with the solid teak interior.  Substantial rework of the engine bed was necessary as the original bed for the Perkins was flawed.  The work, again, was superb.

We also had Oldport add a Racor dual fuel pre-filter and install a Gori 2 speed folding propeller.  The combination of the new engine and the 2 speed prop has made performance under power and/or motor sailing nothing short of amazing.  When in "overdrive" with the prop (smooth water, light wind), we are able to get a consistent 7.1 knots at 2400 rpm.  When in "standard drive" (head seas, strong head winds) and 3000 to 3200 rpm, we "bust" right through the square waves and still maintain 7 knots.  Fall off in speed on particularly big waves is measured in 10ths of knots, not whole knots, and recovery is almost instantaneous.  This is with a boat that weighs about 31000 pounds cruise equipped with full tanks.

In terms of reliability of the Yanmar:  I left Newport , RI for Miami , FL with 5 hours total time on the new engine.  The entire trip south, the entire trip back to Newport , and another trip south to Oriental, NC this last fall was done without a single hiccup from this engine.  95% of the ICW trip was done with engine only, the last 5% was motor sailing.  Average fuel consumption has worked out to 1.16 gph with average speed being 7.1 knots.  This is without "pushing" the engine.  If I run the throttle up, average speed is 7.7 knots, very close to hull speed limit.

The entire process with Oldport Marine was an excellent experience.  Their staff could not be more thoughtful or professional.  If I had another boat that needed repower work, I would not hesitate to have Oldport Marine do the work.

Bill Pedersen

Concord , MA

Passport 40 SPIRIT