Received on 22 November 2001, Posted on 22 November 2001 - I have just bought a rather old (1975 - 78) Vire 7 complete with solid feet. She was fitted in a Dutch built 24' steel yacht and apparently gave good service. I intend to fix her in my 28' mahogany hulled racing boat. The booklets show flexible mountings, but at a price! They look very similar to the ones that I have minus the bit of rubber. Can I modify the ones that I've got or can I get away without changing them at all?
From Brian, UK. E-mail brian@bwkerry.fsnet.co.uk
Received on 19 July 2004, Posted on 20 January 2005 - I have a Vire 7 mounted in my Dehler Delanta 76 and want some information about the best way to mount it. At the moment the engine is mounted straight onto solid metal plates which are lamineted onto the boat. This results in a a very shaky situation. I would like to use dampers, but I have no space to go upwards. Can anybody give some advice?
From Gert van Amersfoort, Netherlands. E-mail amersfoort.gert_van@wxs.nl
From Mike Cole, USA - I used standard industrial flexible neoprene mounts and I don't have a pan or cradle or whatever they call it under the engine just glassed in 2" x 10" mounts. Vibration is not noticeable at most throttle settings.
From Simon Braine, Australia - I had a Vire 7 mounted in a 15 foot clinker launch. To keep noise down I used the largest and softest rubber mountings I could find to do the job. I had tried smaller soft mountings but the torque of the engine caused them to fail. I also isolated the engine from the propeller shaft by installing a drive shaft from a VW beetle. This was of the later type with two CV joints. Flanges had to be made up to complete this installation, but it worked very well. The propeller shaft emerged from the stern tube and was supported by a purpose made galvanised bracket fitted with a self aligning ball race in a pillow block, bolted to the keelson to take the thrust.
Advantages of this installation was that the engine did not require lining up and could be mounted level with the keel. It must be said though if the engine and shaft are not in line, any change in alignment pays a penalty for increased power loss. It could be debated however that if one does the traditional method of alignment, any movement of the hull and stern gland in relation to each other will probably cause more drag. The net result of the flexible mountings and VW shaft produced a very quiet and vibration free installation, in fact the only noise that I found irritating was the carburettor suction.