Engine Room Problems

Engine Room access ladder not possible to remove

The engine room access ladder was stuck in place due to misaligned sockets and impossible to remove in order to access the genset/inverters area. We have notified Princess about the issue during our Plymouth visit. The yard took no action and the issue resurfaced during handover checks after which they have fixed it.

Status: Fixed in 43 days

Engine room access ladder needs to be removed in order to access genset/inverters/chargers area behind it.

Heat Extraction Problems

A Mastervolt Lithium-Ion battery system has been ordered to replace the old style low performing lead acid batteries and fitted by the yard (an 85.000 EUR option - you may find the full story in "Mastervolt Lithium System" section). In order to cool down the area where the genset and all the inverters/chargers are located (or rather mislocated!), we have asked the yard to add an extractor fan in that section. They have fitted a small extractor fan (100W) and instead of ducting it out separately, they took a shortcut anh Y'ed the outlet in to the port side Engine Room extractor fan. Inevitably, this resulted in air sucked in by the new lazarette extractor to be backfed to the engine room as opposed to being "extracted" overboard. In a way, the heat of the lazarette was transferred to the engine room which then returned to the lazarette. It also worked the other way around in a much more emphasized way, that is heat extracted from engine room extractor, which is much more powerful (500W) being backfed to the lazarette, further aggravating the situation by quickly heating up the inverters area that is supposed to stay as cool as possible.

Princess could not find a solution to this issue asserting that the plenum on the outer hull did not have enough space to accomodate another outlet duct. They have proposed to reverse the flow direction (pushing in air instead of sucking out) and install an inlet duct on the cockpit storage locker. We have accepted it as we had no time for a major modification. The extractor has been reversed but unfortunately did not help in cooling the area due to insufficient power and wrong choice of inlet vent fitting. As a result, lazarette ambient temp frequently reached 40C causing inverters/chargers to derate (more covered in this topic in the "Mastervolt" section)

Princess finally understood that weather conditions in the med are not same as in UK and promised to come up with a permanent solution. We crossed our fingers hoping that the solution is implemented this season.
Status: Pending since 25 January 2018

Newly fitted extractor fan in lazarette area Y'ed in to Port side Engine Room extractor ducting inevitably causing backfeeding.

Port side engine room extractor fan, which is much more powerful due to its radial design.
Most of the air "extracted" by this fan was being backfed to the lazarette.

Cockpit storage locker where the inlet duct of the reversed lazarette extractor has been fitted.
Notice the highly restrictive outlet vent used without considering the very low suction capacity of the axial fan at the other end. Result is considerably reduced airflow, not sufficient to dissipate the heat generated.

Blower outlet (circled green) in lazarette area. We tweaked the outlet duct to deflect air flow to the Inverter combis' lower section (where they suck in air) and to the charger. Inverter/Chargers are electronic equipment sensitive to ambient heat. They gradually derate once 40C is reached. The generator is producing a considerable amount of heat in the area and the blower/extractor fans are nowhere near sufficient to dissipate the heat. Ambient temp in Lazarette quickly goes above 40C when the genset is running and chargers are active. As an interim measure, we reduced charging current limits of the combis and chargers to 85% of their capacity.

Update 25Jun2018: Whilst air temperatures are rising and we are still waiting for Princess to ponder about how to solve the overheating issue, we cut the vent grills away in the cockpit storage locker in order to let the fan suck in more air. Following the modification, we have noticed an +80% increase in air velocity from the outlet duct. The vent was indeed highly restrictive, and certainly not designed for this application. Apparently it was the only option the local chandler had in stock at that time.

Port Engine Seacock Valve Movement Restriction

During prehandover inspections, as we tried to operate water inlet seacocks of the engines, we have noticed that the port engine seacock valve was restricted by the watermaker low pressure pump intake hose. In order to operate the valve, one had to push the hose to the side, which would eventually result in cracking or damage to the watewrmaker intake hose.
We have asked Princess to modify the installation to allow operation of the seacock without being restricted by the watermaker low pressure pump hose.
Status: Fixed in 8 days

Watermaker low pressure pump intake hose (marked in red) restricting the movement range of the port engine seacock valve

Bent Oil Dipstick

We have noticed during our inspection that the Port engine oil dipstick was bent and not locking in place, risking popping up and leaking oil underway. Princess has been informed about the issue and swapped the dipstick with one of their stock boat's Volvo engines.

Status: Fixed in 2 days

Bent oil dipstick not locking in place

Depleted Anodes on Engine intake strainers

It is normal practice in GRP boats to bond the engine raw water strainer casings to earth  to prevent galvanic corrosion. Some strainers have plastic filtering baskets, some have it in metal. Those who have metal elements must also be protected with anodes. In our case, baskets were fitted with anodes but they were depleted and gone unnoticed. Princess has been asked to replace these anodes prior to handover.

Status: Fixed in 10 days

Anodes on engine strainer baskets were depleted

Bilge cover not properly aligned

This one is minor but still worth mentioning due to the length of time it took Princess to fix this simple issue. 

Engine room center bilge area cover not sitting flush in recess thus rattling when engines, generator, or water maker pump is running. 
This misalignment also proved to be a great hazard for people getting in and out of the engine room as stepping on the protruding part would dislodge the cover and cause injuries (happened once with a Princess technician whose back of his right feet bled due to dislodged cover)

Princess was notified about the problem during our last visit to Plymouth in March but took no action until it resurfaced.

Status: Pending since 03 May 2018

Bilge cover not sitting flush in recess causing rattling