boats just break when they break!

Carpediem44DB

Well-Known Member
Aug 18, 2015
3,230
Sanfransico Bay area
Boat Info
2000 Carver 506
2006 44 DB Sedan Bridge
Engines
Volvo TAMD 74 P
Last night after being arm twisted by marina staff to participate in the lighted boat parade, I had the boat all lit up and mains fired and ready. We were to be the second boat in the parade. I fired my genny and prepared to cast lines when I heard the generator shut down with alarm sounding. I fired it up again and looked over the side and sure enough, no water out of the exhaust. I called in to cancel our appearance. First time in four years we had to scrub a mission due to mechanical issues. I replace the impeller every year and was actually planning to do all the seawater side of the boat starting tomorrow morning. Just shows that you can do all the reasonable scheduled preventative maintenance you want but there is still no guarantee things will work 100 percent of the time.
Just as well, five minutes later it started pouring rain (unforecasted BTW) so we spiked the egg nog and started the party early:)
I had a spare impeller, but was not about to rush a repair with a boat full of guests just to break with my normal “don’t boat at night policy”.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Carpe Diem
 
Mayhem is a sailer, for sure, and loves spending time on boats. Had mine go out on the hook. Better the gen impeller than one of the mains, I suppose.
 
Your genny probably being diesel maybe different than mine but on the gas genny's theres a plastic coupler that also fails as well. I found that out just recently, pretty easy fix tho.
 
Last night after being arm twisted by marina staff to participate in the lighted boat parade, I had the boat all lit up and mains fired and ready. We were to be the second boat in the parade. I fired my genny and prepared to cast lines when I heard the generator shut down with alarm sounding. I fired it up again and looked over the side and sure enough, no water out of the exhaust. I called in to cancel our appearance. First time in four years we had to scrub a mission due to mechanical issues. I replace the impeller every year and was actually planning to do all the seawater side of the boat starting tomorrow morning. Just shows that you can do all the reasonable scheduled preventative maintenance you want but there is still no guarantee things will work 100 percent of the time.
Just as well, five minutes later it started pouring rain (unforecasted BTW) so we spiked the egg nog and started the party early:)
I had a spare impeller, but was not about to rush a repair with a boat full of guests just to break with my normal “don’t boat at night policy”.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Carpe Diem
Hmmmm......I just don’t know....seems like your genny impeller should last much longer than a year unless you used it like crazy. I guess you’ll know shortly.
 
Hmmmm......I just don’t know....seems like your genny impeller should last much longer than a year unless you used it like crazy. I guess you’ll know shortly.
I run the genny whenever I'm under way. We run the boat on average about 80 hours a year and I'm of the belief that equipment that isn't used regularly will fail as a result. I change the impeller every year and once in a while I find it with missing chunks from the fingers but never had one fail on me on this boat. My Kohler 5e on the Rinker went thru them like they grew on trees though.
 
This was the first time in 3 years that we've been able to participate in the Christmas boat parade. Two years ago the genny impeller crapped out right after I'd untied the lines. Last year the genny wouldn't run.

My mechanic said it would likely cost north of $7K to fix it. I replaced the entire genny for $14K. The new one is still a 15KW but physically smaller and quieter than the old one. It also requires only a 15 second preheat before it will fire up.

So this year we participated in the parade and took first place in the decorations contest. Gotta love it.
 
I run the genny whenever I'm under way. We run the boat on average about 80 hours a year and I'm of the belief that equipment that isn't used regularly will fail as a result. I change the impeller every year and once in a while I find it with missing chunks from the fingers but never had one fail on me on this boat. My Kohler 5e on the Rinker went thru them like they grew on trees though.
Impeller was definitely shot, looked back in the records and remembered I inspected but did not replace it last spring. Decided to remove and clean the heat exchanger as well. Glad I did!
6F70B8C8-8AAD-4B82-9872-80CE1DE264CD.jpeg
8DE5BA2C-5391-4880-A96E-159FE4314826.jpeg

All of those impeller parts made their way thru the narrowed passage at HX inlet. Core was clean as a whistle. As far as I know this is the first time the system has been opened except for impeller and zinc replacements. I now have at least twice the water flow out of the genny exhaust and I think it’s a bit quieter too.
 

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