How to Haul an Engine in Sixteen Easy Steps:

Assign a project manager.

Gather the necessary tools.

Disconnect the engine from the stuff attached to it.

Is there fuel spilling all over the boat? Try this.

Cover your floor with cardboard. (This will be messy)

Make something strong to hang the engine from. (This is called a deadman and if it breaks it might kill you)

Sling the engine. (It may have lifting points bolted onto it somewhere, maybe trust those?)

Run two straps between the deadman and your engine. Put something in between them at the midpoint and twist to create a lifting action. This is called a Spanish windlass. People have been lifting heavy things this way for a very long time. The longer your bar is the more mechanical advantage you will have, but in tight spaces you can’t use a very long bar. If you let go of your bar it will unwind violently and smash things. If you happen to have a very sharp end of your bar (as pictured) this is an added danger, cover it to avoid accidental decapitation should something go wrong.

Attach a second line to the engine. Each lift with the Spanish windlass will only raise your engine about 8 inches before the line is too twisted to continue. Twisting the straps weakens them, so beware as you wind on. Use a second line (pictured here in blue) to hold the engine up while you reset the Spanish windlass by unwinding it and tightening the straps before winding on again.

Using force and verbal coercion, coax the engine forward out of the cave that it lives in. It will not want to make this journey.

Now, build a cradle so that the engine is resting on it’s mounts and not on the oil pan, which could crush under it’s own weight.

Put the engine on a wheeled dolly built specially for rolling over uneven surfaces carrying heavy things.

You will need to lift the engine again to place it in a good work space. This will require another deadman.

Do the Spanish windlass thing again.

Muscle the engine into place without crushing yourself.

Now you’ve got yourself a better situation for rebuilding a marine diesel onboard!