Repowering your boat
A new diesel gives a tired hull a new life — but the engine is only half the job. Luxfords supplies the Vetus M-Line repower and everything it drives through: matched exhaust, mounts, coupling, cooling and stern gear, specced together as one package.
A repower is a system, not an engine swap
Vetus' own repowering checklist runs well beyond the engine — and every item on it is something we stock or spec.
Exhaust
The classic mistake is reusing the old system. The wet exhaust gets designed for the new engine — hose diameter, waterlock capacity, gooseneck heights.
ExploreMounts & coupling
New engine, new weights and torque — mounts re-selected by load window, coupling matched to shaft and gearbox, then aligned properly.
ExploreCooling
Strainer, hoses and heat exchange matched to the new engine's flow — and the raw water circuit feeds the exhaust, so they're designed together.
ExploreStern gear
Shaft, cutlass bearing and shaft seal checked against the new driveline — repowers are when worn stern gear gets found.
ExploreThe light, modern diesel: Vetus M-Line
For auxiliary and displacement repowers from 12 to around 50 hp, the M-Line is built for exactly this job: proven Mitsubishi base engines in genuinely light packages — 107 kg for the two-cylinder models including gearbox, about 206 kg for the 4-cylinder turbo — with a self-bleeding fuel system, high-output alternator, and installation angles generous enough for older hulls (15° aft, 25° athwartships continuous). Every M-Line is HVO-ready for renewable diesel.
Sailboat with a dead Volvo Penta saildrive? Vetus makes a connection kit that bolts an M-Line straight to the existing saildrive — no hull modifications. And because the M-Line is quiet and compact, it usually drops the noise and the weight of whatever it replaces.
Model-by-model specs live in the diesel engine pages, with side-by-sides in the comparison tool.
Repowering FAQs
How do I know it's time to repower?
Vetus' checklist matches what we hear over the counter: the engine has become unreliable, it's down on power, fuel consumption keeps climbing, and maintenance is getting dearer and more frequent. When several of those line up — or parts supply for the old engine dries up — a repower often works out cheaper than keeping the old engine alive.
What else needs changing besides the engine?
Vetus' own repower list covers it: exhaust, propeller, fuel system, control cables, engine mounts, strainers, shaft, hoses and sound insulation all need assessing against the new engine. The two most-skipped items are the exhaust (duplicating the old system around a new engine is the classic repower mistake) and the stern gear — shaft, coupling and alignment must match the new engine and gearbox.
Why do the Vetus M-Line diesels suit repowers so well?
Weight and packaging. The M-Line runs 12 to around 50 hp on proven Mitsubishi blocks at genuinely light weights — 107 kg for the two-cylinder models with gearbox, about 206 kg for the 4-cylinder turbo — with a self-bleeding fuel system, high-output alternator and generous installation angles (15° aft, 25° athwartships continuous) that forgive older hulls. There's even a connection kit that bolts an M-Line straight onto an existing Volvo Penta saildrive without hull modifications.
Can you supply everything around the new engine, not just the engine?
Yes — that's the point of buying the repower from one place. Alongside the Vetus engine we supply the matched wet exhaust (sized for the new engine), flexible mounts and shaft coupling, heat exchange and raw-water cooling, and the stern gear it drives through — cutlass bearings and shaft seals. One enquiry covers the driveline end to end.
Will my old engine mounts and coupling fit the new engine?
Usually not as-is — a new engine has its own weight, torque and bed footprint, so the mounts get re-selected by load window and the coupling matched to the shaft and gearbox, then the whole driveline aligned afloat. Our mount and coupling selector does the load maths; send the engine and gearbox models and we'll confirm the parts.
Tell us the boat and the old engine
Make, model, what's behind it (gearbox, shaft, drive) and how the boat is used — we'll map the repower, flag the parts everyone forgets, and quote it as one package.
Engine, exhaust, mounts, coupling, cooling and stern gear — one supplier, one spec, one quote.
(03) 5973 6444