can you alter idle speed on a.volvo d4.260?

[julians]

,

I recently bought a windy 25 with the Volvo d4 260 engine,and dph drive. The boat is great but the minimum speed ie when idling along in gear is way too fast for precise close quarters maneuvering. The slowest the boat will go is 5knots.

The engine is idling at 700rpm, which is correct as per the Volvo specs, but it's too fast for the boat.

Im getting by ,by knocking it in and out of gear ,butthis is very unsatisfactory, and renders any precise moves a failure.

Any sugestions as to how I might be able to reduce the minimum speed down to approx 2 knots?

 

[Geoffs]

I don't think you can, 700rpm is about right and can't be reduced, at least that's what Volvo have told me.

I have a similar difficulty, about 4.5 knots at tick over. You do get the hang of slipping in and out of gear, I find I get a bit of steerage off the leg acting like a rudder.

The hardest thing I find to master, is the half second delay in selecting a gear and it actually engaging. I know half a second isn't much , but it can seem like an eternity.

Volvo did introducing a sort of slipping clutch arrangement for the DPH drive a few years back. It was supposed to assist this long speed handling issue. Not heard of it lately.

 

[rafiki_]

Knocking in and out gear is the way to manoeuvre slowly. My Snazi will travel at 6 kn at idle, way to fast for mooring, so knocking in and out of gear minimises the speed, and helps the blood pressure.

 

[julians]

Thanks, looks like I'll just have to get used to it then. I feared that might be the case. I've only had the boat 2days,so hopefully will get used to it.

I've driven a windy 37 extensively which has twin d4s, and that had the same problem, but could be mitigated much more successfully by using just a single engine for low speed stuff. I don't have that option on my single engined boat.