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Our 1980 424 had the same material. Our solution was to leave it in place and cover it with a carpeting made for boats. I don’t remember the manufacturer, but the carpeting is mildew and water resistant. I chose a neutral beige color, which looks great with teak. Using contact cement applied with a paint brush, installation was easy. Cutting sections to fit wasn’t very hard. They can be cut generally close with final trim done with a razor knife. We’ve had no problems after 9 years in Hawai’i and the finished look is great.Dan KJolly Lama #135Keehi Lagoon, O’ahu$19k sounds like the ballpark. My total ran around $16k. This includes yard fees as I had her hauled and had to pay for the yard’s crane to lift the Westy out. I did wind up saving around $3.5k as my son works at West and we enjoyed his BIG discount on batteries andi all the small bits & pieces. Adding the West employee savings to my out of pocket puts me near your total.
The packaged electric motor systems I’ve seen are all plug and play. The challenge comes in the custom mounting of all the components to your boat. In my experience, the actual mounting of the motor was the most difficult.
The 424 presents a fairly straightforward installation as the boat has a great spot where the old Vdrive was. Mounting here puts you in close proximity with the prop shaft. However, there is the need for some kind of “spacer” of around 3.5″ needed to get the motor and prop shafts on the same plane.
I solved this spatial positioning by using 2.5″ square aluminum tubing. By attaching bolts with nuts pointing upward to receive the motor frame, I created an adjustable mount bed. Holes were bored on the opposite side from the bolts to allow socket tool access. This was also done for the bolts that attached the square tube to the old Vdrive rails. The pix below give a clear representation.
I had to have a custom coupling machined that would mount on the motor drive shaft and interface cleanly with the old prop shaft coupling. The couplings were mounted on their respective shafts and bolted together tightly. The adjustable mount bed was then used to perfect the shaft alignment. The last step was then affixing the whole assembly to the old Vdrive shelf.
After starting the motor for the sea trial, I was amazed at how smoothly the motor/shaft assembly ran!
Vibration was barely perceptible.Attachments:
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The instant torque pushes an amazing amount of water in the blink of an eye. This makes forward and reverse maneuvering a snap. We had no problem docking to a starboard side tie in 15k of breeze to starboard. The really amazing thing is how the freewheeling prop turns the motor into a generator. While sailing with just the job in 15k, we were doing a little over 5k and regenerated probably half of the juice we used when we were testing the motor during sea trial.Nine years ago, I replaced the cracked prop that came with my 1980 424 ketch with a fixed 18″x12 on the 1.5″ shaft. This was what was recommended to me. Worked fine. I just recently dumped the old, tired Westie and went electric. This prop seems to work well with the new set up.Your photo shows a round “thing” aft of the breaker panel. I have an empty hole there and often wondered what was originally mounted there. What is it?
I just went through this PITA. I finally had to loosen the cables to the chain, remove the compass, and pry it off the sprocket to aft. But this was easy after I removed the fuel tank and engine. Make sure you don’t move the wheel so you can keep rudder alignment. Then there’s enough room to get the clamp out. I could then get the cables out. Since I am going electric, I didn’t have to try and replace the cables and that damned clamp. Have fun!Dan424 ketch #135Keehi Lagoon, O’ahuI have the original opening ports in the head, shower, galley, and aft cabin. I pulled them all out, had them sand blasted, powder coated, and installed new lenses. I found no manufacturer ID on any of them.Thanks for your insight Rich. It’s great to have access to all the experience on this site!Dan424 Ketch #135Keehi Lagoon, O’ahuI’ve long wondered how the throw rugs in my cabin can migrate across the floor. This flexing could be the reason.Aloha Bob: I’ve been totally absorbed in assembling and installing the systems for my 424 electric motor conversion. I still have the old W58 stored and will contact you when I my head’s above water.DanThanks for the info all! I used a product called freeze off, which is a form of penetrant that lowers the temp of the frozen part and breaks the rust binding. It came free with minimal coaxing.My concern was having a fuel fountain if I broke the shutoff fitting. Now I don’t have to climb in the lazerette to fool with the tank fitting.I can now disconnect the fuel line from the engine and she’s ready to pull out for Tuesday’s haul out. Then it’s bye bye forever for the Westerbeast.Once out, I can start pulling off parts for all those that were interested.Dan KalinowskiJolly Lama #135Keehi Lagoon, O’ahuThanks Rich. That valve is frozen in the open position (of course). If I open the fuel line without closing that valve, any idea how much fuel will spill out? Do you know if it will be just the fuel in the line from the tank, or is there a siphon effect that will keep it coming?Thanks.Dan
