Princess V39 Engine Problems

[Chill]

Hi All

I have been looking at Princess V39s and have noticed that two for sale have recently been re engined. Is there a problem with this boat? should i be looking out for somthing if it has its original engines??

Thanks Chill

 

[Piers]

Hi Chill, I used to have a 1995 V39 (Hull - MPPGB0325595) with KAD42 engines. There were two probs with these. First, the expansion bottle was too small and would appear empty when the engine was cold, but full when hot. This would lead to owners filling the bottle up before starting only to find spilt coolant in the bilges, and hours spent trying to find out why. Later, Volvo came out with a larger expansion bottle which (almost) solved the problem.

Second, and forgive my lack of technical terms knowledge on Volvos (senior moment), there were dissimilar metals in contact with each other where the exhaust mated with the drive unit (below the waterline). This caused corrosion, and at least one boat I know of sank when the corrosion made its way through the metal. Volvo came out with a plastic sleeve to put between the joint, and amended their service manual to include moving the engine fwd at each major service to check for corrosion - as if that's really possible!

Some boats had the mod done (as I did) but many never heard. Therefore, I just wonder if something may have happened with water ingress....maybe a call to the previous insureres or to Volvo for info on engine numbers may elicit some fact.

Loved the boat, though. Some pics here. Please excuse the old frameset style website!

 

[volvopaul]

New engines are definitely better, these kad42 series are getting on a bit now and the early ones were not very reliable, the basic engine block goes back in time so its well proven.

If your not sure and buying either private or from a broker then you have no warranty so have a survey for the boats structure and have an engine survey and sea trial with an engineer that can check running temperatures, check to see if the engine is breathing, look for excess smoke etc, check top engine and compare boat speeds.

The outdrives will need to be checked over as well, oil sample checked for water ingress, cables and trim system, also corrosion as piers said is always a problem.

Other boats to consider are the v40 and v42 and the fairline targa 37 and 38/39 same boat with longer bathing platform.

If you want anymore info or my number send a pm.

 

[alt]

I know nothing about KAD42's, but I think I recall on these forums something about Head Gasket problems??

 

[Chill]

Thanks for the info. Great pictures Piers. We are not going to look at any boats till our Targa 33 is sold. Paul thanks for that I will contact you when we are ready.

Chill

 

[[2068]]

Head gasket problems, exhaust pipe corrosion, oil sprayer nozzles dropping off, melting pistons: most of these problems were fixed on later serial numbers of the KAD42.

Most earlier KAD42's that had problems will have either gone bang by now and been fixed/replaced or are the later models, so chances are you should be okay, so long as you don't find one that is "very low hours, not used since 1999"....

dv.

 

[Chill]

So basically the boats we are interested in (V39, Targa 38, S37)at the budget we have will all be around 1995 ish with the most popular engine the Kad 42....The ones I have seen advertised that have been re-engined are over our budget but may be a better option. Or as we will be using the boat on the Thames should we not be so bothered?
Chill

 

[Whitelighter]

We are in the same market ish and the V39 seems to command increadibly high prices. I cant find any below 100K and most are still asking £110k-£120k for a 13 year old boat.

I suppose the fact that is is still basically in production helps, but I cant beleive there are that many people falling over themselves to buy boats of this age. Even Targa 38's are only just under the ton, so i suppose real sale prices are more likely to be in the £90k region which is still steep considering they are more like 93/94 boats /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Piers]

They are certainly holding their value since I sold mine in 2003 for 100k.

My view is that if the boat still has the original engines, they are probably OK. Just check they have the plastic insert on the exhaust elbows (see my posting above) and have them checked for corrosion.

One issue the V39 had was fresh water collecting in the engine bay. We managed to sort this after many months of searching. It was coming through the windscreen moulding, into the radar arch, and exiting into the engine bay. We created a collection tray in the arch which dumped the water overboard instead. Problem solved. Great sea boat. Loved every minute on her.