Sunseeker 375 Portofino - The journey so far

[mustiquee]

Hi!

I discovered this forum a while back trying to get info on Kad42:s and their overheating problems. Finally decided to join as i was inspired by petem:s "Andiamo - Let's Go!" thread.

This story starts back in april when we changed boat from Bavaria 32ht to this 375 Portofino in search of better build quality, more space and diesel engines. In early may it was launch time and time for a small cruise from one marina to our home marina as there is not a slip in our marina (info on this later). When we got past the speed limit area we gave her full gas and the result was dissapointing 24kts. We thought that we did something wrong and docked to our home port of Naantali. Also we discovered that the bow thruster pin behind the propeller was snapped but the dealership promised to take care of it.

About a month later it was time to go to a nearby (30Nm) marina for a nice lunch. When we got past the speed limits and opened her up the result was far slower 22kts maximum speed. This is weird as the factory informed top speed is 33-36kts. Obviously something is wrong. After about 20Nm i notice that te temp gauges are showing 120°c on the port engine and around 100°c on the stbd side and i immediately slow down to cool the engines. No alarm was sounded. After we notice that our lunch spot is full we turn back and head home. About a week later we end up trying another time this time a round trip of 140Nm. We sailed around 11kts to avoid overheating. About 2Nm from our destination for the night 70(ish)Nm from home i noticed a sudden jump of 200rpm on the starboard engine. didn´t think much of it until we got to the marina for the night we noticed that the stbd engine was vibrating a lot. After we tied her up our frends waiting there noticed that we had the front propeller missing. We limped the 70Nm back home with one engine around 6kts. Interesting trip i would say.

After that we finally went to the dealer from where the boat was bought and said that fix it. Today they put a replacement propeller to the stbd side and we went for a test drive. After launch we ran the engines in neutral gear so that the supercharger started to run and the service guy noticed that somewhere in the turbo was a leak and he managed to tighten that tube down and off we go (not sure what was the problem as i was manning the throttles). 35kts full gas and temps 80-90°c. Great. They also fixed the bow thruster finally. Today was a nice cruise back home at 27kts and 3300rpm.

After reading this you may notice that English is not my first language and i apologize for that. She is located in the Finnish waters in Turku archipelago. Our home port of Naantali (look it up it is very beautiful) is in and old town centre and we cruise to our own island nearby (10Nm) and often to other parts of the archipelago, Sweden or Estonia.

 

[petem]

Hi!

I discovered this forum a while back trying to get info on Kad42:s and their overheating problems. Finally decided to join as i was inspired by petem:s "Andiamo - Let's Go!" thread.

This story starts back in april when we changed boat from Bavaria 32ht to this 375 Portofino in search of better build quality, more space and diesel engines. In early may it was launch time and time for a small cruise from one marina to our home marina as there is not a slip in our marina (info on this later). When we got past the speed limit area we gave her full gas and the result was dissapointing 24kts. We thought that we did something wrong and docked to our home port of Naantali. Also we discovered that the bow thruster pin behind the propeller was snapped but the dealership promised to take care of it.

About a month later it was time to go to a nearby (30Nm) marina for a nice lunch. When we got past the speed limits and opened her up the result was far slower 22kts maximum speed. This is weird as the factory informed top speed is 33-36kts. Obviously something is wrong. After about 20Nm i notice that te temp gauges are showing 120°c on the port engine and around 100°c on the stbd side and i immediately slow down to cool the engines. No alarm was sounded. After we notice that our lunch spot is full we turn back and head home. About a week later we end up trying another time this time a round trip of 140Nm. We sailed around 11kts to avoid overheating. About 2Nm from our destination for the night 70(ish)Nm from home i noticed a sudden jump of 200rpm on the starboard engine. didn´t think much of it until we got to the marina for the night we noticed that the stbd engine was vibrating a lot. After we tied her up our frends waiting there noticed that we had the front propeller missing. We limped the 70Nm back home with one engine around 6kts. Interesting trip i would say.

After that we finally went to the dealer from where the boat was bought and said that fix it. Today they put a replacement propeller to the stbd side and we went for a test drive. After launch we ran the engines in neutral gear so that the supercharger started to run and the service guy noticed that somewhere in the turbo was a leak and he managed to tighten that tube down and off we go (not sure what was the problem as i was manning the throttles). 35kts full gas and temps 80-90°c. Great. They also fixed the bow thruster finally. Today was a nice cruise back home at 27kts and 3300rpm.

After reading this you may notice that English is not my first language and i apologize for that. She is located in the Finnish waters in Turku archipelago. Our home port of Naantali (look it up it is very beautiful) is in and old town centre and we cruise to our own island nearby (10Nm) and often to other parts of the archipelago, Sweden or Estonia.

Well I'm pleased (and amazed) that I've inspired someone to do something! Anyhow, getting 35kts from KAD42's on a 375 is a great result indeed.

No need to apologize for your English, it's excellent.

Any pics?

 

[Offshore57]

I took part in The European Offshore Championships with a great guy, Ian Stirling, at Forby near Sarkisalo in that archipelago, one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen..... a few years ago now but something I will never forget.

 

[mustiquee]

Well I'm pleased (and amazed) that I've inspired someone to do something! Anyhow, getting 35kts from KAD42's on a 375 is a great result indeed.

No need to apologize for your English, it's excellent.

Any pics?

No problem, i really enjoyed reading that story and all of the upgrades and so on. So far from my own experience kad´s are pretty solid engines that are easy to fix and parts are not that expencive. Just have to take care of them. I will post another post today and it will include some photos. Also i will make a list of some sort outlining things we have done and still need to do upgradewise.

I took part in The European Offshore Championships with a great guy, Ian Stirling, at Forby near Sarkisalo in that archipelago, one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen..... a few years ago now but something I will never forget.

Great place, been there many times. Great to hear that you liked it!

 

[petem]

No problem, i really enjoyed reading that story and all of the upgrades and so on. So far from my own experience kad´s are pretty solid engines that are easy to fix and parts are not that expencive. Just have to take care of them. I will post another post today and it will include some photos. Also i will make a list of some sort outlining things we have done and still need to do upgradewise.

I was going to say that you should read this thread (which is far more interesting than mine) however it's not the same since Photobucket messed everything up.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?415621-Back-to-the-UK-for-a-winter-refit

 

[mustiquee]

I was going to say that you should read this thread (which is far more interesting than mine) however it's not the same since Photobucket messed everything up.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?415621-Back-to-the-UK-for-a-winter-refit

Ah too bad that no photos available anymore. I´ll give it a read anyway

 

[mustiquee]

Ok. After a bit of thinking i finally compiled a list outlining everything done so far and another one with things yet to do.

Done:
-Changing the chart plotter from some old Lowrance to Raymarine C80. Loved the C70 and now it´s time for a bigger one.
-TV upgrade. There was some POS from early 2000s and that thing´s gotta go.
-Overall cleaning
-Engine service (by the seller, finally it works)

Yet to be done:
-Changing the Furuno radar to a Raymarine one. One less display in the helm.
-Maybe changing the autopilot from the original Cetrek one to Raymarine
-Generator install?
-New canvas (actually the first priority)
-Either a second fridge to the small island behind the drivers seat (no idea what this is called) or an ice chest for cold drinks.
-New VHF. The original one works fine but the speaker is dead. Might get a newer one with AIS. (Pretty urgent i would say)
-Metal letters for the name.
-New ropes. Current ones are crap and mismach.
-Matress for the sunbed in the bow.

If anything comes to mind, please tell me. I know i´m missing something

We went for a 15 minute test drive this evening and it was nice. Temps still under control and 33kts without pushing it. I noticed that the port engine is revving guite high, almost 4000rpm. That´s a lot for kad42´s? I think that the engine spec is 3600rpm max?

Ah. I will add the photos in the morning, i have to figure out how to turn them so they aren´t upside down

 

[mustiquee]

Hi. Finally back at it. Had to go onboard for a while so didn´t have the internet or time to update, sorry for that. Winter has come to Finland and the boat is in for storage. This time we opted for warm winter storage with access all winter round so time to work on the projects listed above. First we washed the hull and finished a few hours later. In the meantime i worked on the cockpit lighting under the arch. We noticed that water was getting into the arch and inside the lamp so i pulled the cover out and took the lamp apart. The inside part had some significant water damage so it has been leaking for quite a bit. I stripped the inside of the lamp for paint and todays objective is to paint it. I will try to write a recap with some photos later on the progress. P.S I also finally learned how to attach photos!

 

[mustiquee]

Ok. After a few days of thinking about it i compiled a list of repairs to be carried out in the coming months. First of all i would like to ask for help. I drew(?) some quick plans of the 375 and i would absolutely love to know where the water tank is located. I will investigate on my own next week when we continue the refit. The plan is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s9nuulilfn9e478/A3Sunseeker.pdf?dl=0 (PDF).

On to the main event then. Some of them are still in consideration but should happen.
-Finish cleaning the hull
-Every nob (and other things going through the arch) where the canvas snaps to place on top of the radar arch needs some filler or something to keep them from leaking to that one lamp
-Change the radar (Purchased already, yay for one less display! Anyone want to buy my spare c70 with gps antenna for a good price? )
-Paint the inside of the lamp. Spray paint didn´t stick too well so might try an emal based paint as the old one seemed like that.
-Get a new canvas. Will take it to Estonia as it is a lot cheaper there
-Remove the fender holders from the front (useless, ugly and disturbing the driving view.)
-Fill up the metal screw thingys on the front deck that hold the sunpad on place. (noticed a small leak to the inside last summer)
-Change all the G4:s. Ordered already, chose ones with color temprature on the cool side as white light is better than the ugly yellow
-SB trim for the outdrive wont move at all. Anyone here that can help with that? There is a story for this that might help.
-Open the heat exchangers as they propably havent been opened in a few years. Also to the same category if someone has useful tips.
-Clean all of the teak and make it nice.
-Metal letters for the name
-New fenders and fender socks (Managed to burn one with the exhaust for the eber heater )
-Watertank gauge. If any useful tips how to diagnose i´m all ears.
-New VHF?
-New ropes. Current ones are crap and mismatch.
-Matress for the sunbed in the front.

Propably forgot a lot of things, but the list will keep evolving as we go. The main headscratchers are the trim for the outdrive, watertank gauge and the heat exchangers. Any tips on these are welcome! :encouragement:

 

[petem]

-Change all the G4:s. Ordered already, chose ones with color temprature on the cool side as white light is better than the ugly yellow

Before you order, ensure that the new bulbs can tolerate a voltage range as your boat then on charge will be 13.5v or so.

-SB trim for the outdrive wont move at all. Anyone here that can help with that? There is a story for this that might help.

Outdrive relays are almost consumables. Check and clean the relay contacts and if necessary purchase new. Proper Volvo ones are around £50, non OEM ones are £10 or so. Easy DIY job to change.

-Metal letters for the name

Standing by .

-Watertank gauge. If any useful tips how to diagnose i´m all ears.

What's the issue?

 

[mustiquee]

Before you order, ensure that the new bulbs can tolerate a voltage range as your boat then on charge will be 13.5v or so.

Did that. Thanks for the care though!

Outdrive relays are almost consumables. Check and clean the relay contacts and if necessary purchase new. Proper Volvo ones are around £50, non OEM ones are £10 or so. Easy DIY job to change.

I had a photo of this but forgot to post it. When we took it to the service they did tighten some screw on top of the outdrive but not sure what. After that, no bueno. Also the buttons are really unresponsive as the plastic arrows are cracked away.
The photo from that is on the bottom of the post. It was the 2 screws side by side that they touched. Can this have to do anything with it or no?

Standing by .

Will send you a quick question probably tomorrow if that is ok.

What's the issue?

Doesnt work at all. I have to find the water tank before i can check the connections there. Could also be a loose connection behind the actual gauge but who knows.

 

[mustiquee]

Time for an update. Here it goes.

Original list:
-Finish cleaning the hull (done)
-Every nob (and other things going through the arch) where the canvas snaps to place on top of the radar arch needs some filler or something to keep them from leaking to that one lamp (done, shouldnt leak anymore!)
-Change the radar (Purchased already, yay for one less display! Anyone want to buy my spare c70 with gps antenna for a good price? ) Radar installed, tested etc.
-Paint the inside of the lamp. Spray paint didn´t stick too well so might try an emal based paint as the old one seemed like that. (done)
-Get a new canvas. Will take it to Estonia as it is a lot cheaper there (Currently being made, delivery next month i quess)
-Remove the fender holders from the front (useless, ugly and disturbing the driving view.)
-Fill up the metal screw thingys on the front deck that hold the sunpad on place. (noticed a small leak to the inside last summer)
-Change all the G4:s. Ordered already, chose ones with color temprature on the cool side as white light is better than the ugly yellow
-SB trim for the outdrive wont move at all. Anyone here that can help with that? There is a story for this that might help.
-Open the heat exchangers as they propably havent been opened in a few years. Also to the same category if someone has useful tips.
-Clean all of the teak and make it nice. (half done)
-Metal letters for the name
-New fenders and fender socks (Managed to burn one with the exhaust for the eber heater)
-Watertank gauge. If any useful tips how to diagnose i´m all ears.
-New VHF?
-New ropes. Current ones are crap and mismatch.he list is propably engine service and the outdrive trim
-Matress for the sunbed in the front.

Radar install was an interesting project. The new data cable run to the arch was stupidly difficult as we had to stick a pvc pipe through from the instrument cluster to the engine room as the cable itself didn´t manage to find it´s way through. Then we fished the old cable with some small line to the engine room and pulled the new cable up with the line on top of the arch. Managed to also save the old radar data cable. At first it didn´t seem like that was going to be the case. Next on the list is going to be engine service and the trim for the outdrive.

 

[mustiquee]

Last update was done from the shore, so here we go. This boat was sold in May of this year. We decided to upscale a bit more, so this had to go. All of the fixes listed above was completed before sale. The Portofino gave some good memories for the year or so in ownership. It was an excellent boat for the size and condition that it was in.

 

[Spongesaki]

Hi guys, i searched for stuff for our 375 Portofino and this thread came up and turns out, this is the exact same boat that is now in our ownership Was reading this journey with excitement as we obviously need to fix her a bit to get back to her glory. If @mustiquee is still reading the Forum, would be great to get some feedback on the refit done and some issues that we are struggling . Like the leaking of the arch , that is unfortunately happening again . We are also experiencing loss of power on the starboard side engine, which runs fine and everything, until we pass the 2000 something rpm and the turbos should kick in and the compressors are starting to shut down. Thats when you need to push the lever much further than the port engine, which is revving clean and powerful to the earlier mentioned almost 4000rpm . Next step is to check if the turbos are just old and needs to be replaced, but there is also the possiblity for an air leak etc... Anyone has any ideas ? Hours acording to the instrument panel are 984 hours approx.

 

[dragoon]

Hi guys, i searched for stuff for our 375 Portofino and this thread came up and turns out, this is the exact same boat that is now in our ownership Was reading this journey with excitement as we obviously need to fix her a bit to get back to her glory. If @mustiquee is still reading the Forum, would be great to get some feedback on the refit done and some issues that we are struggling . Like the leaking of the arch , that is unfortunately happening again . We are also experiencing loss of power on the starboard side engine, which runs fine and everything, until we pass the 2000 something rpm and the turbos should kick in and the compressors are starting to shut down. Thats when you need to push the lever much further than the port engine, which is revving clean and powerful to the earlier mentioned almost 4000rpm . Next step is to check if the turbos are just old and needs to be replaced, but there is also the possiblity for an air leak etc... Anyone has any ideas ? Hours acording to the instrument panel are 984 hours approx.

On KADs you can get a situation where the as the compressors engage, the belts start to slip due to increased load. As the belts drive the alternator (which provides the signal for the rev counter), the apparent drop in revs is shown on the Rev counter. I’ve seen this and it‘s convincing enough to make you believe the engine is losing Revs, when actually it’s just struggling to engage the compressor,

is this what you’re seeing? There is a kit for upgrading the pulleys on the KAD42s to overcome earlier issues with this design.

 

[Mr Googler]

Supercharger comes in about 1800 and drops out about 2800 from memory.

it is activated in 2 ways. Speed sensor or “kick down” switch which is activated when levers are pushed most of the way forward.

Could be the speed sensor is dirty/broken wire or the s/c control module is faulty. Could be other things too of course but if the engine performs fine and the only issue is you have to push the lever right forward to get it there……I’d be looking at the speed sensor

do some testing….you should hear when the sc comes in and drops out

 

[Spongesaki]

Thanks @dragoon and @Mr Googler for the replies. We will check more, but for now it seems that the ”faulty” engine is not keeping up in the range when the turbo should kick in, until that both levers travel perfectly together and the power is there. The difference starts to show closer to the revs when the SC droppes out and the turbo should kick in. But as you said, there are many possibilities. We thought of changing the turbos into the opposite engines, that way the problem should move to the other engine IF it is the turbo. Any pics or ”map” where to locate the speed sensor, if changing those as a test to opposite engines could also be possible to test. The problem is the money saving, otherwise just all new thanks for all the help !

 

[Mr Googler]

What revs are the superchargers cutting out at? Both cutting out at the same revs?

 

[DavidJ]

Does feel like turbos to me. I had a similar experience with my KAD43’s
Turbos don’t kick in so much but should be doing a good pressure job by the time the supercharger cuts out which will probably be at a critical point just before you are properly on the plane.

As well as suggestions above I would get a pressure test done, which has to be done under load. Either buy the equipment or hire a VP man for a couple of hours.
My boat has only done 400 hrs but 20 years of very close to salt water did it’s worst.
Changing turbos over including draining coolent and new gaskets is not a pleasant job.
I was scared off having a recon job by some horror stories on here but new from Borg Warner are about £850 each (a lot more from VP)
Maybe pop the hose off and sent a pic of the rotor on here. There are people on here who can read these things rather well.

 

[Mr Googler]

Agreed…take the exhaust elbow off and take a picture of the exhaust turbine.

i would say new turbo too but the information from op is thin