Knot In Court
Member
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2013
- Messages
- 11
- Fluid Motion Model
- C-28
- Hull Identification Number
- FMLT2715H314
- Vessel Name
- "Knot" In Court
I have a Ranger 27 that I purchased new in October of 2013. It has the Volvo Penta D-3 200i engine. The boat is located in SW Florida and kept on a covered lift on a canal behind the house. I previously had a 35’ Island Packet Cat that was kept at the dock in the water. The bottom had to be scraped by a diver every three weeks and I had to redo the bottom every 18 months. After 8 years of that, I bought the 27 hoping to avoid bottom paint and other maintenance issues. My wife and I do not take trips on the boat for more than 2 weeks at a time and I thought it would be doable to not put on bottom paint. We typically take 2-2 week trips in SW Florida with our boat club each year, one in the end of October and start of November, and the other the end of March and start of April. We had taken took two such trips since getting the boat and the bottom ended up with a few, small, white barnacles that were easily removed. When we take our trips the outside temperature is usually low 80s during the day and mid 60s at night with the water temperature around 70. We also towed the boat up to Minneapolis and went down the Mississippi River 250 miles and back for 2 weeks and had nothing on the bottom except some discoloration.
This October/November of 2015 we took our 2 week trip, which is the reason for this post. The outside air temperature was 90 to 92 every day and about 78 every night. After the trip I found out the water temperature was steady at 86 during our entire trip. New high temperature records were set during the two week trip that broke all records dating back to 1892!!! I started out the trip with 60 gallons of fuel and full water. We were basically traveling 125 miles north from Port Charlotte to Tarpon Springs and back. After 8 days we had traveled about 80 miles and used 30 gallons of fuel. The boat ran fine but on the 8th day I started to notice that my engine temp was approaching 200 to 203 degrees once I hit 3200 RPM. I topped off with fuel and water on the 9th day. We were traveling 25 miles and needed to travel at our faster speed, 3200+, in order to arrive at our destination in time to find a sports bar to watch the Vikings football game. I found that if I went over 3250, the temp would go right up to 205 to 207 at which time I immediately backed down to 3200. At 3200 it stayed right at 203, at 10.5 knots and 1.4 nmpg. It was a Sunday so I did not call anyone to address the problem. At 1700 rpm the boat ran at 174 as always. The temperature problem did not occur until I started to push it above 3000.
On Monday I started making calls as I wanted to be sure that I did not harm the engine by overheating it. I figured it was some sort of an engine problem and called Andrew at Ranger, my dealer in Florida and a number of mechanics. I was particularly interested at what temperature the engine could run without doing any damage. I did not get any good answers from Andrew or the dealer other than if the high temp alarm did not go off it was probably OK!! My mechanic said there were usually 3 things that caused the high temperature problem: first was a dirty bottom, second was too much weight and third was a possible raw water impeller failure or some other blockage in the cooling system. I assured him that the bottom was smooth as a baby’s butt, as I did not use bottom paint. I felt the engine was OK as it ran perfectly and the temp was normal at lower rpms. I immediately thought it must be the weight of full fuel and water because I added over 700 pounds of weight just before I started experiencing the problem. He suggested that I adjust the rpm to keep the temperature below 200 as the D-3 was meant to run about 195 at 3400 to 3600 rpm after which it would creep up over 200.
We had been anchoring out for 10 nights straight and I was going to have a mutiny unless I spent a few nights in a Marina!!! 90 degree temps and 95% humidity was getting to the Admiral!!! We decided to stay at the Dunedin, Florida City Marina and were given a slip next to the only Ranger Tug in the Marina, a 2014 29’, owned by Bob Barton. We spent two nights there, had a great time and learned a lot from Bob. We started discussing my overheating problem and he had story better than mine. His 29 had the Volvo D-4 260 hp engine. When he got the boat it had the same engine thru-hull and strainer as my 27. The thru-hull in the 27 has a 1” ID as does the input and output in the strainer. He had all sorts of overheating problems and his mechanic found out that his D-4 needs a 1 ½” ID thru-hull and strainer or his warranty would be voided. He contacted Ranger and they immediately sent him a new through hull and strainer and I believe paid for it to be installed. He has not had a problem since. Hopefully all 29s with D-4s now have the larger thru-hull and strainer. I surmise that it is not a problem when the water temperature is below 60 as it is in Seattle compared to above 80 in Florida. None the less, if you have a D-4 be sure you have the larger thru-hull and strainer. After learning this, I thought that I probably had the wrong thru-hull and strainer in my boat, which after much research, I do not think is the case.
Bob put me in touch with his mechanic who referred me to Suncoast Diesel Marine. They were very helpful and knowledgeable. The D-3 operating heat range is basically 174 to 195 degrees from 700 RPM to 3600 RPM with a gradual increase over 200 as 4100 RPM is approached. The D-4 is designed to run at 185 degrees no matter what the RPM. The thermostat on the D-3 does not fully open until 203 degrees and the high temp alarm goes off at 208 degrees. They could not diagnose the problem without looking at the boat and suggested I head home at a speed and RPM that would keep the temperature below 200 and document everything. After getting the boat back to my dock I could schedule an appointment if necessary.
We travelled 75 miles the first day and 50 miles the second day on our trip back from Tarpon Springs. I determined that my best RPM was 2910, which kept the temperature at 199 and below. The speed was 8 to 9.3 knots depending on the current with a fuel burn of 1.4 nmpg. By the second day I had used up 80 gallons of fuel and only carried 20 gallons of water and still had the same overheating problem. That ruled out the "too much weight scenario". By then I thought it must be some sort of blockage or other problem in the cooling system. I arrived home, put the boat on the lift and it looked like the bottom had brown indoor-outdoor carpet on it!!!! I could not believe it!! Sometimes the most logical answer to a problem is overlooked due to preconceived ideas. It certainly would have been easy to jump over the side and check the bottom but I honestly never thought it could have been the problem. The good news is the engine is fine, the bad news is I have decided to bite the bullet and put bottom paint on the boat.
Sorry about the length of this post but hopefully the information, assuming it is correct, is helpful. It certainly was not readily available and I had to talk to numerous individuals to compile it. It is my guess that I am one of the few individuals that tried to get by without bottom paint. It worked for 2 years but the “Perfect Storm” caught up with me. Our boat will be out of the water and on our lift or the trailer a minimum of 9 months a year. The boat will be used primarily in saltwater but also in fresh water at least a few times a year. I would appreciate any feedback and recommendation as to the best bottom paint to use and any tips that would be helpful in applying it.
Thanks in advance.
This October/November of 2015 we took our 2 week trip, which is the reason for this post. The outside air temperature was 90 to 92 every day and about 78 every night. After the trip I found out the water temperature was steady at 86 during our entire trip. New high temperature records were set during the two week trip that broke all records dating back to 1892!!! I started out the trip with 60 gallons of fuel and full water. We were basically traveling 125 miles north from Port Charlotte to Tarpon Springs and back. After 8 days we had traveled about 80 miles and used 30 gallons of fuel. The boat ran fine but on the 8th day I started to notice that my engine temp was approaching 200 to 203 degrees once I hit 3200 RPM. I topped off with fuel and water on the 9th day. We were traveling 25 miles and needed to travel at our faster speed, 3200+, in order to arrive at our destination in time to find a sports bar to watch the Vikings football game. I found that if I went over 3250, the temp would go right up to 205 to 207 at which time I immediately backed down to 3200. At 3200 it stayed right at 203, at 10.5 knots and 1.4 nmpg. It was a Sunday so I did not call anyone to address the problem. At 1700 rpm the boat ran at 174 as always. The temperature problem did not occur until I started to push it above 3000.
On Monday I started making calls as I wanted to be sure that I did not harm the engine by overheating it. I figured it was some sort of an engine problem and called Andrew at Ranger, my dealer in Florida and a number of mechanics. I was particularly interested at what temperature the engine could run without doing any damage. I did not get any good answers from Andrew or the dealer other than if the high temp alarm did not go off it was probably OK!! My mechanic said there were usually 3 things that caused the high temperature problem: first was a dirty bottom, second was too much weight and third was a possible raw water impeller failure or some other blockage in the cooling system. I assured him that the bottom was smooth as a baby’s butt, as I did not use bottom paint. I felt the engine was OK as it ran perfectly and the temp was normal at lower rpms. I immediately thought it must be the weight of full fuel and water because I added over 700 pounds of weight just before I started experiencing the problem. He suggested that I adjust the rpm to keep the temperature below 200 as the D-3 was meant to run about 195 at 3400 to 3600 rpm after which it would creep up over 200.
We had been anchoring out for 10 nights straight and I was going to have a mutiny unless I spent a few nights in a Marina!!! 90 degree temps and 95% humidity was getting to the Admiral!!! We decided to stay at the Dunedin, Florida City Marina and were given a slip next to the only Ranger Tug in the Marina, a 2014 29’, owned by Bob Barton. We spent two nights there, had a great time and learned a lot from Bob. We started discussing my overheating problem and he had story better than mine. His 29 had the Volvo D-4 260 hp engine. When he got the boat it had the same engine thru-hull and strainer as my 27. The thru-hull in the 27 has a 1” ID as does the input and output in the strainer. He had all sorts of overheating problems and his mechanic found out that his D-4 needs a 1 ½” ID thru-hull and strainer or his warranty would be voided. He contacted Ranger and they immediately sent him a new through hull and strainer and I believe paid for it to be installed. He has not had a problem since. Hopefully all 29s with D-4s now have the larger thru-hull and strainer. I surmise that it is not a problem when the water temperature is below 60 as it is in Seattle compared to above 80 in Florida. None the less, if you have a D-4 be sure you have the larger thru-hull and strainer. After learning this, I thought that I probably had the wrong thru-hull and strainer in my boat, which after much research, I do not think is the case.
Bob put me in touch with his mechanic who referred me to Suncoast Diesel Marine. They were very helpful and knowledgeable. The D-3 operating heat range is basically 174 to 195 degrees from 700 RPM to 3600 RPM with a gradual increase over 200 as 4100 RPM is approached. The D-4 is designed to run at 185 degrees no matter what the RPM. The thermostat on the D-3 does not fully open until 203 degrees and the high temp alarm goes off at 208 degrees. They could not diagnose the problem without looking at the boat and suggested I head home at a speed and RPM that would keep the temperature below 200 and document everything. After getting the boat back to my dock I could schedule an appointment if necessary.
We travelled 75 miles the first day and 50 miles the second day on our trip back from Tarpon Springs. I determined that my best RPM was 2910, which kept the temperature at 199 and below. The speed was 8 to 9.3 knots depending on the current with a fuel burn of 1.4 nmpg. By the second day I had used up 80 gallons of fuel and only carried 20 gallons of water and still had the same overheating problem. That ruled out the "too much weight scenario". By then I thought it must be some sort of blockage or other problem in the cooling system. I arrived home, put the boat on the lift and it looked like the bottom had brown indoor-outdoor carpet on it!!!! I could not believe it!! Sometimes the most logical answer to a problem is overlooked due to preconceived ideas. It certainly would have been easy to jump over the side and check the bottom but I honestly never thought it could have been the problem. The good news is the engine is fine, the bad news is I have decided to bite the bullet and put bottom paint on the boat.
Sorry about the length of this post but hopefully the information, assuming it is correct, is helpful. It certainly was not readily available and I had to talk to numerous individuals to compile it. It is my guess that I am one of the few individuals that tried to get by without bottom paint. It worked for 2 years but the “Perfect Storm” caught up with me. Our boat will be out of the water and on our lift or the trailer a minimum of 9 months a year. The boat will be used primarily in saltwater but also in fresh water at least a few times a year. I would appreciate any feedback and recommendation as to the best bottom paint to use and any tips that would be helpful in applying it.
Thanks in advance.