Carver 444 exhaust problems

[Ross Hammond]

I have recently purchased a Carver 444 2003 model, we sailed the motor yacht from Victoria to New South Wales Australia( 649 nm) and have been experiencing exhaust system failures, the fibre glass exhaust tubing on the starboard engine is delaminating and leaking water and exhaust fumes.
On the sea run prior to leaving after I had the engines serviced the first exhaust section after the turbo fell off due to weakening of the end of the pipe, we replaced that section with a stainless steel section however the rest of the system is leaking fumes and water through the skin of the pipes,
they are also getting soft.
I have located a US Coast Guard recall No 070042T that refers to muffler problems, is anyone aware of anything in reference to exhaust tubing and a replacement /repair methodology.

[Boatmiester]

Ross:

I have a 2002 / 444 and you need to focus on the Coast Guard recall that you found. In 2004 Carver replaced the entire exhaust system on my vessel in accordance with that recall. It was anticipated that there would be a total failure of the exhaust system such as you are experiencing. At this date I doubt that you can get carver to make good on the problem since it should have been addressed 10 years ago -- but you will need to replace the entire exhaust system to resolve the problem.

[ttam]

I just recently purchased a 2002 Carver 444 CPMY. I sent in the warranty card for the 3rd owner to Carver. They sent me a letter acknowledging me. Two weeks later I received a letter from Carver indicating that they had no record of my boat having the mufflers inspected regarding the recall. They instructed me to contact my carver dealer and have them inspected. If they are part of the recall all work and parts would be covered by Carver. I have done this and the mufflers are in the recall although at this time are not leaking. The dealer is trying to find replacement mufflers or someone that can remanufacture the system. They also said all work and parts will be paid for by Carver. Right now they are trying to line everything up so my boat won't be out of commission for very long. Biggest problem is tearing out the counter of the aft head to get to the starboard muffler.

I would contact your dealer or Carver directly.

[Lyndon670]

What engines do you have?

[Mobcat]

You have to watch this and have it well inspected My carver 444 2004 nearly sank when the fiberglass exhaust blew out @ the exhaust elbow close to the turbo, the amount of water that was pumping out of the exhaust at high speed 2300 rpm on the volvos nearly filled the engine room in the soul very quickly....we where on the fly bridge and didnt hear the problem if i hadn't of noticed the slight noise difference the 444 would of swamped it self and because of the way the bilge runs under the batteries in a 444 when the boat starts filling from one side the boat has to have quite a bit of water in around the engine area before the bildge pumps cut in but there is no way the bilge pumps can keep up with what is pumping out the broken exhaust very dangerous situation to be in and very hard to detect because the fiberglass exhasts show no signs of deterioration i may of seen a slight weep prior to the failure but i but it was more or less nothing i thought... how wrong i was TAKE THIS PROBLEM SERIOUSLY and have it well checked out the 444s are a fantastic boat and we loved ours and logged around 6000nm miles in her and we found this to be the only serious problem with our 444 oh and maybe the volvo bow thrusters are a bit of a fire risk with the isalator that is near the genie ours nearly melted it self into a liquid due to over heating from needing the bow thruster more than normal due to a very heavy crosswind docking might be a good idea to replace the isalator with a much larger current rating like we did, i think i replaced it with one that handeld twice the current
Over all though i had a 444 for 6 years and my family and i loved her ,we now have a Marquis 59 and we love her as well

[Ross Hammond]

What engines do you have?

The engines are volvo 375 HP TAMD63P-A, the tube that initially failed was on the starboard engine at the turbo elbow, it has now been replaced with a stainless steel section.

So far I have identified further leaks in the starboard exhaust lines, I have fibre glass wrapped these and no more leaking to date, these sections are generally supported at the joining points along the line.

[Hugo]

One other component of the exhaust you'll need to redo is the cast exhaust elbow coming off the turbo. Look where the dry pipe meets the wet pipe and where the water is injected into the riser. What you'll see is that when (it's not if it's when) this fails one day the water will gravity feed into the turbo (it's it's not already). This can cost you a turbo at best or an engine at worst. I had mine redone in stainless with the water injection further down so that it gravity feeds away from the turbo and when it fails, water cannot get into the turbo. These are also ceramic coated in and out so you possibly eliminate the issue of the diesel byproducts eating through the stainless which is common on stainless exhausts.

There was a good weight reduction in the elbow by doing this and eliminates one of the VBand clamps. You end up with a longer dry pipe section and a shorter wet section.

Change the VBand clamp at the turbo also as those do fail and that's a big mess.

Take a look at these pictures of the before and after, you can see how I moved the water injection away from the turbo.

[Hugo]

You have to watch this and have it well inspected My carver 444 2004 nearly sank when the fiberglass exhaust blew out @ the exhaust elbow close to the turbo, the amount of water that was pumping out of the exhaust at high speed 2300 rpm on the volvos nearly filled the engine room in the soul very quickly....we where on the fly bridge and didnt hear the problem if i hadn't of noticed the slight noise difference the 444 would of swamped it self and because of the way the bilge runs under the batteries in a 444 when the boat starts filling from one side the boat has to have quite a bit of water in around the engine area before the bildge pumps cut in but there is no way the bilge pumps can keep up with what is pumping out the broken exhaust very dangerous situation to be in and very hard to detect because the fiberglass exhasts show no signs of deterioration i may of seen a slight weep prior to the failure but i but it was more or less nothing i thought... how wrong i was TAKE THIS PROBLEM SERIOUSLY and have it well checked out the 444s are a fantastic boat and we loved ours and logged around 6000nm miles in her and we found this to be the only serious problem with our 444 oh and maybe the volvo bow thrusters are a bit of a fire risk with the isalator that is near the genie ours nearly melted it self into a liquid due to over heating from needing the bow thruster more than normal due to a very heavy crosswind docking might be a good idea to replace the isalator with a much larger current rating like we did, i think i replaced it with one that handeld twice the current
Over all though i had a 444 for 6 years and my family and i loved her ,we now have a Marquis 59 and we love her as well

The engines have an isolated compartment under them because of the large amount of oil we carry in diesel engines. Regulations require this so that if something were to happen we don't pump oil over board.

I like you was concerned with having a potential water leak under the engine and not know until it was too late so I installed a water witch sensor (I believe the Coast Guard uses these sensors in their boats) wired to the existing high water alarm under each engine.

I also installed pumps under each engine but again using a water witch sensor which will only activate under the presence of water and will not turn the pump on if there's oil - best of both worlds.

[capt ric]

Hugo...nice install....do you just replace the v clamps every so often or did you upgrade??? Looks like the same type of clamp....and what is the fitting welded to the bottom of the pipe for ???? thanxs...rick

[Hugo]

Source of the post Hugo...nice install....do you just replace the v clamps every so often or did you upgrade??? Looks like the same type of clamp....and what is the fitting welded to the bottom of the pipe for ???? thanxs...rick

The V clamps should be good for a long time if installed properly. You need to make sure that the mating surfaces of the two flanges are clean and flat. Put the clamp on and torque to the spec on the clamp. After you go through a couple of heat cycles where you run the engine and let them cool down check the torque again. I take that part of the exhaust apart every five years or so just to check everything and at that point just replace the clamp. Technically they should be good for a long time provided you don't over tighten them but I figure while I'm there it's an insurance to replace the clamps... You need a good "inch-lbs" torque wrench to tighten them properly.

The fitting is for a pyrometer (EGT sensor) so you can measure exhaust temperatures. EGT and Boost pressure gauges are a must I think to properly monitor the load on these mechanical engines. Without those you won't know if you'e running in an overload condition until you do the WOT test and find out that the engines have been running out of spec.