[Skyhawk]

I am on my first year of owning a 2008 Sovran with Volvo/Penta 435 HP engines and IPS drive system.  In the Volvo books it says if laying up in the water you must start the engines, run them up to operating temp., engage fwd and rev. a few times and run the helm from block to block a few times every 14 days.  Not ever owning Volvos before I am wondering if this is overkill.  Please advise.  Thanks
Mike
M/V Hombre

[MC1600]

Mike — I don’t think it’s specific to Volvos. Things go wrong when a boat sits and you start to impede the ability to achieve max performance. When we’re in the water (whether with Volvos, Cats, or gas engines), I try and run the boat at least once every two weeks. Once a week is my goal. Sometimes it’s just getting up on plane for 20-30mins and returning to the slip. It keeps everything moving, lubricated, and gives opportunities to identify issues before they become problems.

Good for the genny too! Puts a load on her and let’s her exercise.

[Skyhawk]

Mike — I don’t think it’s specific to Volvos. Things go wrong when a boat sits and you start to impede the ability to achieve max performance. When we’re in the water (whether with Volvos, Cats, or gas engines), I try and run the boat at least once every two weeks. Once a week is my goal. Sometimes it’s just getting up on plane for 20-30mins and returning to the slip. It keeps everything moving, lubricated, and gives opportunities to identify issues before they become problems.

Good for the genny too! Puts a load on her and let’s her exercise.

Hey thank you for responding to my two posts.  Great to have feedback from fellow boaters.
I agree with both of your posts and am getting an opinion from a diesel site also.  I've had MTU, Cat, and Cummins engines before and never felt so clueless about an engine.  For some reason Volvo and the IPS system intimidate me. Guess I'll chill out and have the Volvo stuff done every 14 days for this first year and see how it goes.  Can't hurt.
Again,
Thanks for taking the time to respond;.
Mike
M/V Hombre

[Sans Peur]

I run my engines every 2 weeks. When i bought the boat the previous owner had let it set for awhile. The engines had pitted cylinders and a ton of other issues from lack of use. I spent $100k just on the engines and generator. Then went into all the other crap like frozen seacocks and the like.

Worse thing you can do to a boat is not use it.

[hiccup]

Boats up north sit idle 6 months out of the year without ill effects. The only thing that would concern me here are the pods.