Volvo D4 Pre-purchase survey on Thames

[Teddy]

Can anyone give me some idea how you can possibly do an engine survey on the Thames (upper)? Clearly it will be impossible to run the engines at full power, so the engines will never be fully tested.

Is the survey then just a matter of checking the obvious once they have warmed up as much as possible? I have heard the word "Vodatool?" mentioned. Is this perhaps a diagnostic check which reveals all?

Are there likely to be any problems with a D4-210 which has been regularly serviced and has only done 220 hrs?

 

[oldgit]

Can anyone give me some idea how you can possibly do an engine survey on the Thames (upper)? Clearly it will be impossible to run the engines at full power, so the engines will never be fully tested.

Is the survey then just a matter of checking the obvious once they have warmed up as much as possible? I have heard the word "Vodatool?" mentioned. Is this perhaps a diagnostic check which reveals all?

Are there likely to be any problems with a D4-210 which has been regularly serviced and has only done 220 hrs?

Would nip over to the very civilised and erudite Thames forum and pose this question
Problem has come up before and seem to remember that the speed thing can be sorted by arrangement.

 

[Teddy]

Thanks for that.

In the meantime, if anybody has any recommendations regarding the D4 in general, I would be pleased to hear.

 

[Pendana]

I think there are ways that some boatyards can overcome the speed limits, albeit for brief periods.
I bought my boat from Brundal on the river Yare. The Volvo Penta man placed "Speed limit exempt" boards on the railings and we did 3 or 4 runs to bring the engines up to full revs for about 20 to 30 seconds, each time hitting about 35 knots! Don't suppose the local twitchers were too happy about it but never heard of any complaints.

Eddie

 

[mlines]

Well it certainly looks like boatyards can get "enthusiastic" on the Thames, how "legal" this is I don't know....heres a picture from an online advert

 

[Chris_d]

Well it certainly looks like boatyards can get "enthusiastic" on the Thames, how "legal" this is I don't know....heres a picture from an online advert

Totaly illegal but some do it anyway, there is no such thing as an exemption on the Thames, except for rowing coaching and umpire launches but they have to be low wash.

Penton Hook however have a "testing lake" linked through to the marina where speed tests can be done.

 

[Dave_Seager]

I have used the lake at Penton Hook when buying a boat from their brokerage and it did provide a useful test but the distance available is quite short.

Another technique, used by an marine engineer that I used was to run one engine at full speed with the steering on maximum lock in the middle of a wide stretch of the river. It would be difficult to prove that we were travelling at more than the local speed limit (8kph) this way. It was enough to determine when an overheating problem was present and later fixed.

 

[crazy4557]

Hope thisn't a dumb answer but if your'e spending loads of dosh on a nice new boaty why not take it down river to where the unlimited speed zones starts and give it some welly in peace?