A Quick Boost

As regular readers of the blog will know, during our trip back across the Wash in July of this year we had a sudden and inexplicable loss of power which left us plodding along at five knots rather then skimming the waves at twenty five knots. We had initially put this down to a worn turbo or leaking turbo seals.

However since then a couple more theories have surfaced and on our recent trip to West Stockwith, Naughty-Cal lifted up her skirt and performed effortlessly on the high speed run. Further confusion followed.

We had almost decided that this winter we were going to whip the turbo off and send it away for refurbishment anyway but now looking at it more closely it is looking ever more likely that it is a much bigger job than initially anticipated with the engine likely to have to come out to get the turbo off.

A chance meeting with the crew of Moonshine last weekend gave us a good idea to check that the turbo is at fault before we resort to pulling the engine out. So this weekend we are going to fit a turbo boost gauge, on a temporary basis at first and then we will fit it in a more permanent fashion once the boat is out of the water in a week or so. Then on Sunday we will head out onto the Trent and give her a few blasts to see just what boost pressure the turbo is generating. If it is not too far from it's design 1.65 bar then we will leave it in-situ and not refurbish it. If not it is going to be an expensive winter ahead!