It’s been a trying week! After getting the engines back in the boat, we ran into an issue where neither engine would reach full power, and at anything above about 25% throttle, we would get plumes of black smoke pouring out behind the boat.
Our mechanics spent HOURS trying to diagnose the issue. The first thing we discovered was that the Turbos we had installed back in November were not to the same spec as the ones sold by the manufacturer. We went directly to the turbo manufacturer to save about $2,000 each when we ordered them. What we found out is that there is something different (or we got two bad turbos). We will send the turbos out to find out, but to get us moving. We ordered two new turbos from Yanmar, the engine manufacturer.
We put these in on Friday, but because of high wind and rain, we could not test them until Saturday morning. We took the boat out for a sea trial, and it improved the performance a little, but still, we were getting tons of black smoke and not coming up to full RPM.
We are on the edge of a No-Go date for our trip, and on Sunday, Brenda and I concluded that we probably would not be able to take our trip this year as it looked like there was no easy solution to the issue. Our mechanic Michael is the best and most experienced Yanmar (and most other major marine diesel engines) mechanic in the area, and he was confounded over this one!
On Sunday, Michael called and said that he had called in a favor from the Yanmar distributor and had had a conference call about the issue. He had arranged for some assistance from the engine manufacturer.
Monday (Memorial Day), he brought Randy from the US Yanmar distributor to the boat, and they video-conferenced with Mark, a Yanmar specialist from Atlanta. Within an hour, they determined that the fuel injector pump had an issue with a diaphragm that adjusts the fuel pressure when you increase RPM. After taking apart a part of the fuel injector pump (which you should NEVER do, except with guidance from the manufacturer), we found a part that had some corrosion on it. Mark also noticed that the injectors were out of tolerance from the manufacturer’s specification and walked us through the adjustment.
After 2 hours of adjusting and tuning, we took the boat out for another run. As soon as we went out of idle, we could tell that there was a vast improvement! When we got out of the no-wake zone, we pushed up the throttles and got full RPM with no smoke! Halleluiah!
We ran down the bay for a couple of miles, checking out the performance at varying RPM’s and everything checked out. We actually improved our top-end speed by a couple of knots! Everyone involved said that this was one for the history books. Everything “seemed” to be working correctly, yet nothing made sense. It was such an odd issue that we were about to haul the boat out of the water to ensure we were not dragging a crab pot or something!
Back at the dock, we had a celebratory toast with some Aberfeldy Scotch Whisky. Our trip was saved!
I would like to take a moment to share Brenda and my thanks to Randy and Mark, from Mack-Boring, the Yanmar distributor, for their help, and to Michael and Mendy from A&M Engine and Marine for all their hard work and dedication in resolving this issue. Our engines are 17 years old and have not been manufactured for over 12 years. Still, the manufacturer and our mechanics went out of their way on a holiday weekend to come to the boat to help solve the problem. Again, thank you to all!
On Tuesday, with happy hearts, we finished packing up the boat and putting it back together. We returned the rental car and finally were able to put the floor back in the engine room and lay the last section of our new carpet!
(Click gallery images to enlarge. Touch/Mouse over for captions.)
At 7:00 am Wednesday, we left Georgetown, heading for Wacca Wachee Marina for fuel and to meet our friends on Indigo that we will be traveling with for the next year.
We did 82 miles and ended the day in Southport, NC. The boat ran great! Tomorrow we head to Wrightsville Beach, NC.
Thanks for visiting! –Tom & Brenda
3 Comments
Y’all are troopers, hanging in and getting it done. Your story gives faith in there are still some knowledgeable and talented mechanics. Makes me wish I had Yanmars.
I cannot thank you enough for this post. I had almost made up my mind to buy a trawler and I read this post. As I sit here in my penthouse at Marlin Quay looking at the boats pass by I can thank you for helping me keep my money in the bank. I will now stay focused on my VO at 4 PM and think What If. I wish you safe travels and please keep the great stories coming.
Wow….What an ordeal !!! Hope everything goes smoothly now…John