I'm not sure what a 'Vire' is......but whatever this boat has, its missing the power head: In the bilge, there is a gear with a drive chain around it. Assuming this is a 'Vire' setup, do you adapt a diesel engine's crankshaft to fit and do something with the shifting lever to make it work? How much of the lower unit actually extends below the hull? Maybe it would be easier to haul the boat, drop the lower unit, fiberglass the hole, and install an electric start outboard on the transom....?

Some boats have outboard 'wells' glassed in the bilge area. Don't know if that would work either. Can you do a conventional diesel/propshaft installation in these boats?  

Looks like the outboard otion would be the cheapest way out or find another power head.

Whaddaya think?

Bob has given you the info on the Vire.  

Your description is throwing me off a bit.  If you have no driveshaft running to the rear through a packing gland, then you sound like you may be wondering about the original saildrive unit.   If so, some have removed them and glassed over the hole where the lower unit extended under the hull.

The Yanmar YSE (B) or (M) series diesel might have had a chain drive for the manual starting system.  Can you send photos of what you have ?  The guys here have done a lot of work on these boats and may be able to tell you what you have.

Sounds like you will want to get the boat to a place where you can see what is under water.  Just shallow water and goggles might be enough to help you understand what is there.



Steve in San Jose
Dawson 26, "Banana Split"
Hull 270

I bet it is a Baldwin. Spoke to a mechanic who claimed to have the original Johnson powerhead. Offered to sell it to me for $200. Tempting....

Will post photos a.s.a.p.

Thanks

Sorry my profile had an old e-mail.
I just updated it.

Please note that you can't just bolt up a Johnson/Evinrude 9.5 powerhead.
There are several modifications that must be made for it to work.

There is also an "upper frame" that the motor sits on as well as
a raw water pump and special exhaust.

More descriptions of the setup:
The lower unit is a Johnson/Evenrude 9.5 skeg with a mounting plate welded to it.
The drive shaft protrudes vertically from the skeg into the boat.
On the verticle drive shaft there is a sprocket/ chain. This chain is used to drive the raw water pump.
The motor mount frame is 2 pieces. The lower piece holds the shift mechanism. The upper piece is where the power head is mounted to and the exhaust is bolted to.
The exhaust pipe is a very large gooseneck that acks as a riser to prevent backflow of sea water into the motor.
The water flow exiting the engine is critcal and is "necked down to ensure the entire powerhead has seawater cooling it. Also,
if certain ports are not blocked, sea water will enter the combustion chamber ruining the unit.

Lastly,
Lower end is an aluminum casting. If not taken good care of they will disolve away like the OMC units did in the 1980's. I made sure every year I stripped and re-coated it with high end (Interlux) coating for both corrosion resistance and fouling build up.




Steve Johnson