Advantages of Neanderthal technology!

No Regrets

No Regrets

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On the way back from the TVR last week, the No1 injector pipe decided to fracture, leading to a spray of DERV in the engine bay. Luckily, the B30 has a little vent up to the upper helm, and I smelt it, and shut the engine down, running home on our trusty little Nanni wing engine!

Called Thames marine, who will hopefully be fitting said pipe by the time we need her next, i.e. the BCC Boat handling...

Cost of pipe £34.90. Can you imagine how much a BMW/ Volvo/ etc part would be?

I'm actually surprised a 30 year old engine has parts available off-the-shelf to be honest, but Perkins seem to have it covered!

Fingers crossed...
 
Cuchilo said:
I thought youd just paid a couple of k to have things like that checked :confused:
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How would you detect a pipe that was about to crack due to vibration and/or old age?

NDT might find it (non destructive testing), but x-ray, dye penetrant or eddy current testing is a bit esoteric for boat engineers....
 
It was noted by the service engineer, and the pipe was on order, but it only had a tiny bit of moisture around the joint.

Fair play to the guys, I was advised, and acted on their advice.
 
You sure !

Today, 03:59 .....Blimming heck..... the only 3.59 I was aware of was the afternoon one when we pack up work and slide off home had no idea that there was another one ?
 
CX54WEK said:
Ah the joys of aging mechanical components.
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So how do you explain the water leaks in your Sealine?

Bad design, incompetent draining of the water system before the winter, or poor materials?

Things go wrong on multi-million dollar airliners (even brand new ones) which are monitored & maintained by highly trained professionals.

Of course boats have faults.

I think it is about time the childish sniping stopped.
 
As i spent last night replacing some aging mechanical components on the aging Ford Sierra we have tucked up in the garage, i was pointing out the joys of aging mechanical components, not having a dig.

The water leak on our boat was caused by us not draining the system as we use her every weekend,and the water in the pipes expanding. She had survived most of the winter intact as we spent every weekend there with the heating on. They take time to lose all of the heat put in. It is no coincidence that the pipe burst on the one weekend we couldnt make it as we couldnt get off the drive at home. Not aging components but extreme cold.
 
CX54WEK said:
Ah the joys of aging mechanical components.
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Actualy I had this happen twice on my Volvo AD31's, they had only done 130hrs and were only 3 years old, pipes split at the injector within a couple of hours of each other. Had them analysed at work and it was a duff extrusion, so Volvo maybe skimping on material costs around that time, engines are 2003 and pipes are identical to KAD32 pipes, i'd have look under that plastic cover if I was you.

Lost 40litres into the bilge before discovering the problem, thank god it wasn't petrol :eek: They are about £50 each from Volvo and I changed them all on that engine as a precaution.
 
Chris_d said:
Actualy I had this happen twice on my Volvo AD31's, they had only done 130hrs and were only 3 years old, pipes split at the injector within a couple of hours of each other. Had them analysed at work and it was a duff extrusion, so Volvo maybe skimping on material costs around that time, engines are 2003 and pipes are identical to KAD32 pipes, i'd have look under that plastic cover if I was you.

Lost 40litres into the bilge before discovering the problem, thank god it wasn't petrol :eek: They are about £50 each from Volvo and I changed them all on that engine as a precaution.
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The KAD32 is in fine fettle. Serviced it and gave it a good looking over last weekend so we know it is fine. Didnt bother changing the belts as after closer inspection they where good as new even after 18 months and almost 400 hours of service.

Under use is often the cause of a lot of mechanical failures. Leaving something sat around all year and then expecting it to be just as you left it is silly. 130 hours may make them sound new but over 3 years it isnt a lot of use.
 
CX54WEK said:
Under use is often the cause of a lot of mechanical failures. Leaving something sat around all year and then expecting it to be just as you left it is silly. 130 hours may make them sound new but over 3 years it isnt a lot of use.
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Yep in this case it was gentle inland use followed by a thrash at sea, I bought the boat at 69hrs, they were brand new engines but had had gentle use for a couple of years. When the failure's occoured it had just done about 30hours at sea 3000rpm+ constant use, the increased vibration found the weak points, have since run up many hundreds more hours of mixed use.
Its easy to run up loads of hours with inland use, but sea work is more short bursts at high revs of a couple of hours at a time.

My point was expect the unexpected if going to sea and carry spares, tools accordingly, even well cared for engines fail, especialy if the boat is inland based.
 
Chris_d said:
Actualy I had this happen twice on my Volvo AD31's, they had only done 130hrs and were only 3 years old, pipes split at the injector within a couple of hours of each other. Had them analysed at work and it was a duff extrusion, so Volvo maybe skimping on material costs around that time, engines are 2003 and pipes are identical to KAD32 pipes, i'd have look under that plastic cover if I was you.

Lost 40litres into the bilge before discovering the problem, thank god it wasn't petrol :eek: They are about £50 each from Volvo and I changed them all on that engine as a precaution.
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I know all about new components breaking. I too had a injector pipe split on my AD31 on my
previous boat. She was only 18 months old at the time.

I won't go on about the problems I had with electronics on my current boat! Thankfully all sorted now.
 
Chris_d said:
Yep in this case it was gentle inland use followed by a thrash at sea, I bought the boat at 69hrs, they were brand new engines but had had gentle use for a couple of years. When the failure's occoured it had just done about 30hours at sea 3000rpm+ constant use, the increased vibration found the weak points, have since run up many hundreds more hours of mixed use.
Its easy to run up loads of hours with inland use, but sea work is more short bursts at high revs of a couple of hours at a time.

My point was expect the unexpected if going to sea and carry spares, tools accordingly, even well cared for engines fail, especialy if the boat is inland based.
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Thats why we took her for a good run on the Humber in March before setting off to sea at the end of this month, to make sure she was in good order. The three hours dash back at a cruising speed of about 26 knots should have shown up any potential problems. As it happens she ran sweet as a nut for the whole week we where playing around. The run did her some good no doubt.

We do of course carry a full set of spares and the appropriate tools just in case.
 
Some years ago, I re-engined a Birchwood we had at the time. Stuck in a couple of Ivecos - lovely engines. But we had five component failures within the first 50 hours, all 'add-on' bits eg starter motor solenoids, injectors etc, and not manufactured by Iveco themselves. But they were all manufactured by Bosch - so much for German quality!
 
Total cost of said pipe, including labour and cleaning out the bilges: £70.

You know what you can do with 'yer Volvos....ROFL

I had a boat with a flash Volvo engine and EVC, nice at 24 months old, not at 24 years old!

In fairness, the old Perkins is thirty years old, and was totally rebuilt around 5 years ago, but runs smoothly, no smoke unless being belted to St Kats, and uses half a gallon an hour.

Nothing beats that to this day...
 
CX54WEK said:
Thats why we took her for a good run on the Humber in March before setting off to sea at the end of this month, to make sure she was in good order. The three hours dash back at a cruising speed of about 26 knots should have shown up any potential problems. As it happens she ran sweet as a nut for the whole week we where playing around. The run did her some good no doubt.

We do of course carry a full set of spares and the appropriate tools just in case.
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Zzzzzz somebody wake me up when they have finished.
 
No Regrets said:
Total cost of said pipe, including labour and cleaning out the bilges: £70.

You know what you can do with 'yer Volvos....ROFL

I had a boat with a flash Volvo engine and EVC, nice at 24 months old, not at 24 years old!

In fairness, the old Perkins is thirty years old, and was totally rebuilt around 5 years ago, but runs smoothly, no smoke unless being belted to St Kats, and uses half a gallon an hour.

Nothing beats that to this day...
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Why would i be keeping the Volvo until its 24. I dont think we will be keeping the current boat for another 17 years!!!!

Only smoke we get from the Volvo is the odd puff at fire up nowadays. A few long high speed runs has done her the world of good.
 
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