Perfect day... then engine trouble - opinions please?

[superheat6k]

Why not just use a vacuum gauge?, that will tell you if there's a restriction.

Indeed, see I struggled to keep it simple.

 

[neale]

Could you have hit the bottom when entering Brighton, the bit when you said the crew were knocked off their feet. A slight grounding of the prop could have bent the blades or worse, the shaft. Bit of a long shot, as I would have thought you would know you had hit the bottom if you had, but you never know.

 

[jfm]

Why not just use a vacuum gauge?, that will tell you if there's a restriction.

I expect EDC/EVC would give you an error code for low fuel pressure if that was the problem

 

[aquapower]

I expect EDC/EVC would give you an error code for low fuel pressure if that was the problem

Would expect something to show up but would never rely on EVC for diagnostics, how often do you hear it said that the Vodia/EVC isn't showing a fault so must mean there's nothing wrong.

 

[BetweenBoats]

Thanks all for the additional suggestions.

Volvo engineer is taking the boat out today to investigate further. Will keep you posted and updated to improved the our body of knowledge on such matters.

I'm embarrassed that I might not of spotted it, but he thinks the exhaust riser may have shifted and is now vibrating against the engine room ceiling when under load... we shall see

 

[BetweenBoats]

So... update on this old thread for those who may be interested...

Volvo engineer took the boat out. About 30meters off it's berth, the boat lost all drive on the port-side. Transpired that the port-side shaft snapped just after the P-Bracket and the propellor flew off.

Marina wouldn't let an amateur diver retrieve the propeller, insisted on a 5 man dive team at great expense.

Propeller retrieved. Boat lifted. Shafts removed. Port-side prop damaged starboard prop as it made its exit.

Both shafts pulled. New shaft and check/refurb of other. Both props refinished and balanced.

Many weeks later, boat ready for sea-trial.

Worst part - insurance refusing to pay up. I put forward that I must have had an underwater collision with a submerged object - they "opine" wear and tear and shaft failure. Nothing showed up on my pre-purchase survey in February. ££££££+

The joys of boating!

 

[burgundyben]

I would be interested to see pics of the damaged parts.

 

[Mike k]

and to know which insurance company you dealt with

 

[Andrew M]

That all sounds like a bit of aggro, but thanks very much for the interesting update, keep us posted on any developments with the insurance side if appropriate to put on here.

Andy

 

[lionelz]

Well that sounds expensive, Be interesting to know what insurance company, I think your honesty has cost you here, Its very likely that you hit something in Brighton and now the fault come to light in an obvious way! Or there was a fault in the shafts which everyone has missed previously. Hope it gets fixed soon.

 

[longjohnsilver]

I'm guessing your shafts are 2" or more? I can understand a shaft getting slightly bent, but snapping would seem to be virtually impossible unless there was an existing fault when it was made. Is there anything that indicates how or why it snapped?

If it had been me, I'd have donned my dive kit and just recovered the missing prop, seems someone took you to the cleaners with a 5 man dive team! Which marina are you berthed in?

 

[burgundyben]

Is there anything that indicates how or why it snapped?

That's why I asked about pics, OP says it snapped just aft the P bracket, I wonder if crevice corrosion is a cause?

 

[benjenbav]

So... update on this old thread for those who may be interested...

Volvo engineer took the boat out. About 30meters off it's berth, the boat lost all drive on the port-side. Transpired that the port-side shaft snapped just after the P-Bracket and the propellor flew off.

Marina wouldn't let an amateur diver retrieve the propeller, insisted on a 5 man dive team at great expense.

Propeller retrieved. Boat lifted. Shafts removed. Port-side prop damaged starboard prop as it made its exit.

Both shafts pulled. New shaft and check/refurb of other. Both props refinished and balanced.

Many weeks later, boat ready for sea-trial.

Worst part - insurance refusing to pay up. I put forward that I must have had an underwater collision with a submerged object - they "opine" wear and tear and shaft failure. Nothing showed up on my pre-purchase survey in February. ££££££+

The joys of boating!

Wear and tear, eh? Guess you'd better replace the other shaft before the same thing happens...

I think I'd want a second opinion on the causation.

 

[Jonmendez]

My entire sympathises as we have just been through something similar, boat went off to be fuelled loud bang just off the fuel berth, no port drive. Back to home berth and lifted and port prop completely missing, small ding in the rudder where if flew off. Net result new props on both side as cheaper than matching the old one and off we go again - the joy of boating!!

 

[BetweenBoats]

Hi All - Answers to questions here...

Insurance company - won't name and shame yet - will give them another chance at coming good even though I've had to fork out 1000's

Marina - Sovereign Harbour Eastbourne

Had the other shaft x-rayed and scanned - all good.

 

[Bandit]

Unless you had rope cutters fitted which have been removed before photo it looks as if the shaft failed inside the prop probably at the end of the key way.

are there any marks on the prop consistent with a strike on wood ( a pallet or a baulk of timber) a rope, net or tarpaulin?

 

[tico]

From what i can see it looks very much like a Low cycle fatigue fracture starting from a crack/sharp edge of the keyway at 6 o'clock.
Striations show how the crack has grown.... it's not a sudden bang crack

 

[julians]

I had similar'ish last year when the inner shaft on my volvo dph duoprop outdrive sheared off. I have no idea what caused mine either, there was no warning, no excessive vibration etc.

In my case the insurance company paid out without question. I know my failure was an outdrive not a shaft, but IMO your ins co should be covering this.

 

[hector]

The same thing happened to us coming back from Dartmouth. We were just of the Needles when we Had a vibration ,I slowed down and try to throw off what I thought was a rope. When I powered up there was a loud bang and when lifted my shaft had snapped in the same place as yours. However my insurance paid out no problem even though the engineer said that I hadn't hit/ picked up anything, it was a latent defective which was covered, and they happily paid out £10,000+ on a five year old boat.
Keep having a go at them... Best of luck.

 

[SC500]

If you have the old shaft that snapped it is easy to see whether the failure was caused by a sudden break due to striking something or whether it is caused by wear and tear. Generally there are fatigue surface cracks that occurr prior to failure, with age these discolour and show corrosion showing signs of weakness prior to total failure. If you stuck something there will be a pretty clean break all nice and clean. I suggest you take your shaft to a professional for analysis of failure and then submit this to the insurance company if relevent. This will give your claim support and they may pay for the proffesional examination. Examinations don't cost too much.