Progress, but still more work to do

We made real progress yesterday in figuring out what is wrong with the engine, but still have a long way to go to get it fixed. All signs were pointing towards a fuel issue, but it now seems pretty clear that fuel delivery is not an issue and the problem is with the turbo booster. So that is progress. But this means we are now working on a problem covered by warranty, which means we can only work with licensed Volvo-Penta dealers if we don't want to void the warranty (which we don't) and the soonest one of them can send out a technician is the day after Memorial Day. We're hoping the dealer will agree that this repair is covered by our warranty and that the necessary parts are readily available. We really need to get underway by next weekend if we are going to make it to Norfolk by June 15th. The Bahamas unfortunately are out of the question at this point. Maybe we'll try again for them this fall. 

The independent mechanic that I hired to work on the boat yesterday was very competent and a very interesting (and nice) person. Ahmet immigrated from Turkey thirty years ago and started working on luxury yachts in Montauk in the summers -- traveling to Singapore and Hong Kong to work in the winter. He has been working on marine diesels for over thirty years, ranging from ocean-going cargo ships to cruise liners to luxury yachts to little boats like ours. Ahmet had no computer to hook up to the engine (only licensed Volvo-Penta guys get to use that technology); he just used common sense, experience and trial-and-error to work through possible causes. After poking around and opening up a couple different things and taking an hour-plus sea trial, he found that the short length of hose connecting the turbo discharge (on the left in the photo below) to the intercooler (whose inlet is on the right) was leaking at the turbo end even when clamped because the flange at the outlet of the turbo that the hose is supposed to press against has come loose (it can slide back and forth a little and spin around freely). The hose shows red where the clamps used to be -- Ahmet loosened the clamps and slid them off to the right -- because the whole engine is spray-painted after it is assembled. We figured that this hose expands as it gets hot and pushes the flange out of position so that some of the pressurized air coming out of the turbo booster leaks out. Less air to the engine means less power which means lower rpm and explains why we have seen a loss of rpm after cruising for about half an hour in our last three outings (Friday and Monday heading down the coast and yesterday during the sea trial with Ahmet).

We will blog again after the engine is repaired and we have actually cruised somewhere. I'm wondering if this whole episode isn't punishment for the hubris in blogging about a boat trip before it has even started. 

I stayed back while John had all this fun yesterday. Of course I got to hear firsthand all that you just read!  Because of the wait for the warranty decision and the repair, this morning we unloaded the boat of our belongings and food. That was sad.

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