Pulling twin KAD44 with DPE drives

[aerobat]

Had yesterday the seatrail with volvo mechanics and promised you to report . it was , as life is , mostly good but not perfect .

Good side : both engines sound good , start cold immediately , no smoke , no oil leaks . Headgasket area dry , Edc works , no fault codes , no water in oil or oil in coolant .

Both hold temperature in 80-90 deg under prolonged Cruise at 3500 and even full power , both go very strong pushing the boat on plane very quick and burst easily thru +30 knots . Both compressors work and reach rated boost pressure .

Not good : stb engine drips water thru impellerpump , most probably shaft sealing .
Bb turbo struggles to spool up during "hole shot" quick enough . Compressor disengages , boost drops , engine notices it and reengages the compressor for a second to help the turbo and then it finally goes up to rated boost pressure . Only when you slam the throttles in kickdown mode , under smoother accleration everything is nice ( both engines hooked up to boost gauges during trials )

Mechanics say most people would not notice at this early stage but expect to change turbo in 1-2 seasons .

Also not good : small traces of water in stb drive and generator smokes white a bit .
They want to pressurize the drive to check

Thats the news ;-)

 

[jon and michie]

Many thanks for reporting back - So what is your thoughts now ? are you still planning on going ahead with the project ?

 

[petem]

Had yesterday the seatrail with volvo mechanics and promised you to report . it was , as life is , mostly good but not perfect .

Good side : both engines sound good , start cold immediately , no smoke , no oil leaks . Headgasket area dry , Edc works , no fault codes , no water in oil or oil in coolant .

Both hold temperature in 80-90 deg under prolonged Cruise at 3500 and even full power , both go very strong pushing the boat on plane very quick and burst easily thru +30 knots . Both compressors work and reach rated boost pressure .

Not good : stb engine drips water thru impellerpump , most probably shaft sealing .
Bb turbo struggles to spool up during "hole shot" quick enough . Compressor disengages , boost drops , engine notices it and reengages the compressor for a second to help the turbo and then it finally goes up to rated boost pressure . Only when you slam the throttles in kickdown mode , under smoother accleration everything is nice ( both engines hooked up to boost gauges during trials )

Mechanics say most people would not notice at this early stage but expect to change turbo in 1-2 seasons .

Also not good : small traces of water in stb drive and generator smokes white a bit .
They want to pressurize the drive to check

Thats the news ;-)

These are all common issues for these engines.

The impeller shaft seals are a simple fix (also make sure they're not dripping on engine cool down).

I wouldn't wait two seasons to fix the turbos as you're likely to have issues with them now if running in rough water. Check the independent turbo retailers for the OEM units (£800-1000 a side). You might need new exhaust elbows as well.

Legs often have water in them. Give them a flush and replace all of the seals. Check the prop seal as these can have wear grooves in them and will need welding / machining to make them watertight again.

 

[[164147]]

Don’t expect a 25 year old boat to have osmosis. I sold my 23 year old Sealine S37 a year ago. 23 years in the water and no sign of osmosis and nothing special about Sealine hulls, I would expect all boats to be the same.
The seller hasn’t actually broken his contract as far as I can see. There are wiser folk than me on this forum but you may have a problem getting your 10% back.
I echo others who say walk away

All fibreglass boats of that age will have some osmosis - it's a question of whether it is physically visible. I've seen plenty of boats that until measured out of the water had no obvious blistering and yet the cores were damp when fitting new skin fittings / transducers etc.

 

[47GC]

So what’s the plan? Get seller to get quotes for repair from dealer? Get them to resolve and then proceed with purchase?

 

[aerobat]

Legs often have water in them. Give them a flush and replace all of the seals. Check the prop seal as these can have wear grooves in them and will need welding / machining to make them watertight again.

should this be diagnosed : how much would you guess for changing seals by a shop ?

So what’s the plan? Get seller to get quotes for repair from dealer? Get them to resolve and then proceed with purchase?

the seller , past 70 is willing to reduce the price for anything found and officially quoted and wants me to take delivery of the boat . i,m still thinking because the options are mine but i have "not to exceed" quotings so will probably agree . The little bit of water in one leg needs of course to be resolved , we agreed on 50/50 on the turbo

We have to cooperate here a bit since he is really tired of this all . Funny enough , when the volvo mechanics asked us to now beat anything out of the engines , trim her out and keep on flatout , with open hatch , while one watched with a flashlight for any leaks and the other looked at the diagnostic results , the seller was close to cardiac arrest and said he is too old this all .

 

[DavidJ]

I’m thinking now to do both of you a favor.
Add up the costs add 10% (or so) contingency and make a new offer.
if he has any sense he will agree and not have a year of stress ahead of him

 

[47GC]

Sounds like your a reasonable guy & your not going to take advantage of the situation of his elderly status. Hopefully you can agree a reasonable settlement.