Breaking in a new boat

[Jdubb16]

My wife and I have a new boat on order. I downloaded the boat manual and the Volvo engine manual. The engine manual had a 20 hour 'break-in' routine that inlcuded no WOT for the first 2 hours and then slowly going to WOT for shorter periods that increased in length as you got closer to the 20 hour mark.

My question is that I have not heard fo people doing this. In addition, when we demo'ed a brand new boat at the dealer (our model) with only 0.6 hours on it, the dealer ran it to WOT for about 2-3 minutes to show us how it handled a little chop at higher speeds. Did he do some damage?

Will my warranty be in question if I don't follow the break-in guidelines to the letter?

What are your experiences?

FYI - The boat is a Chaparral SSi210 with the Volvo 270hp engine

Thanks

Jon

 

[QC]

Re: Breaking in a new boat

My experience is:

a) Break-in as manufacturer defines if possible

b) Most guys and dealers don't, and most boats never have serious engine problems related to break-in

c) Some of this has to do with breaking in the drive . . .

d) Most boats, with proper maintenance never have serious drive issues either . . .

e) Don't worry about it and do what you can.

My professional experience is with diesel, so don't listen to me, but we give them all they can take after about 5 minutes of warm-up. My personal experience is with 3 new marine engines, and I never have had any issues. I did break-in properly though. I have friends who have run their new boats hard right out of the box. No issues with drives or engines.

I would NOT run around below planing speeds forever though when new. Excessive idling when new is pretty much agreed upon as bad . . . In gear at idle is not any better. At least run the RPM up a little. Yes, I know that in some marinas/harbors this is tough.

 

[JustJason]

Re: Breaking in a new boat

You'll probably hear mixed opinions on this subject, however i'll give you the one given to me when I went to tech school many moons ago.
The "break in" period, is more designed to give operaters time to adjust to their new equipment. They don't want you to hit WOT for 20 hours because they want you to get a feel for the boat before you go screaming around the bays and lakes.
When you start building engines and drives by hand, (as opposed to the factory where mostly machines do it) there are a hundred different measurements that have to be made and they are all on the thousandth of an inch scale. There are tolerances such as say a measurement "X" that has to be 0.010-.013. They give you a range because no 2 humans will measure the same distance with different brand tools and get the same exact number. And that range, or tolerance is still very small.
When a powerplant is brand new, like I said before, there are a hundred different things that are measured inside of it all. As the powerplant gets used and wears, those measurements will eventually get bigger and bigger until there is a failure or it is just plain worn out. If the powerplant is well maintained, (ie~ oils, lubricants, not overheating, not knocking with b/c of bad fuel) it will last a fairly long time. Gas sterndrive powerplants are designed to last in excess of 2000 hours before they are expected to have a major failure or "wear out".
In the span of 2000 hours, what you do with it in the first 20 isn't going to effect all of the critical measurements. Bearings to not need to "polish" as polishing is the act of removing material and increasing tolerences. And rings to not need to "seat", as they are fitted during assembly.
One a final note, with whatever boat you operate, keep in mind that 90% of the wear typically happens in the last 10% of the WOT operating RPM. If the engine has a spec of say 5K RPM for WOT, cruise between 4-4500. It will last alot longer with less problems overall. Same goes for fuel economy, just easing back 10% or so on the throttle will save you boatloads of fuel... No pun intended.

 

[JustJason]

Re: Breaking in a new boat

My professional experience is with diesel, so don't listen to me, but we give them all they can take after about 5 minutes of warm-up.

this is definitely true. Every user of any engine, from a weedeater to a jet turbine, should let the engine warm up to operating temp before they go making that powerplant do any kind of work.

 

[gcboat]

Re: Breaking in a new boat

Here's the instructions that I received with my new 5.7. I'm gonna' say that they are all pretty much the same.
5.7L engine break in procedures Break-inTaking care to break-in your 5.7L Marine Engine is very important. Whenbroken in properly, your engine will last longer, run better, and requirefewer repairs over its lifetime. Your 5.7L engine does not require anelaborate break-in procedure, just a little care and common sense for thefirst few hours. Change your oil after 10-15 hrs of runtime. Break-in TipsALWAYS let the engine warm up to normal operating temperature beforeaccelerating. Avoid fast accelerations and don?t carry or pull a heavy load during thisperiod. Check the engine oil frequently. During the 1st 50-100 hours, the engine canuse more oil than usual. Maintain oil at proper level but do NOT overfill. Vary the boat speed during break-in. Do not run on the same RPM for verylong. Observe gauge readings and check for loose mountings, fittings, nuts, bolts,and clamps. Report any abnormal operation, noises, or vibrations to Michigan Motorz. Break-in StepsFor the 1st hour, do not exceed 2000 RPM and vary RPM continuously.For the 2nd hour, do not exceed 3000 RPM.For the next 5 hours, do not exceed 4000 RPM. After the first 10 hours of operation, change your engine oil and oil filterand have an engine checkup. If you do not know how to do this procedure,then have a certified mechanic or boat dealer properly do this. During the final ten hours of break-in, after warming the engine tooperating temperature, it is permissible to operate at full throttle forfive to ten minutes at a time. Momentarily reduce then increase engine speedto assist break-in of rings and bearings. Occasionally reduce engine speedto idle to provide cooling periods. After the break-in, your engine may be operated at any RPM within the limitsfor the engine. Engine Oil requirements Michigan Motorz recommends using 15W40 Oil meeting the API specifications ofSJ/CH4/CG4 is acceptable. Penzoil Marine 15W-40 is recommended. Synthetic oil that meets the API specifications of SJ/CH4/CG4 is acceptableto use AFTER 100 hours of operation with the recommended conventional oil.

 

[Hoss the Hermit]

Re: Breaking in a new boat

Drive it like ya stole it

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Breaking in a new boat

Break-in, Shmake-in! They don't give racing engines a break-in---but then again, a dragster engine is rebuilt after five seconds of full throttle running time. Nuff said?

 

[kwikk9]

Re: Breaking in a new boat

Back in the 60's I did a tour of the GM assembly plant in Framingham, MA. They built the Cutlass which was a very popular model. Every car that rolled off the assembly line was taken to a staging area, started, and given the pedal to the metal treatment. That was GM quality control back then, if it started and didn't blow up, OK to ship.
My point is you don't know what that engine has done before you bought it as "new".
I believe in following the manufacturer's break-in instructions.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Breaking in a new boat

Nobody knows a Volvo like Volvo. Ask them.

I just bought a new farm tractor with a Cummins Diesel. The tractor's owners/operators manual had some recipies for success which I had never heard of and essentially said to baby the engine for the first ........

Well, I know you need to seat the rings (otherwise it can/will burn oil the rest of it's life) and the way you do that is work the sucker. Other manuals I have read say to hook it to a plow and pull as long as it doesn't get hot on you.

So I called the guys that built the engine. They told me what their engine needed (take it out, work it, and don't look back) .....also, after the first oil change I could run 100% syn oil in it if I wanted. (Shell Rotella T 5w-40 is the perfect candidate if interested.)

I put a copy of their email in my records in case there is any warranty squabbles later; but I doubt it.

HTH,

Mark