“What would you do?” (asking for a friend of a friend)

[Kukri]

This was what the William Garden 41ft ketch owned by Terence who is a friend of my friend Jerry, in Hong Kong, looked like, this morning. She is still on her mooring.

At least the liferaft won’t need re-packing!

Terence has circumnavigated single handed, in the past, but he is seventy and he doesn’t have a lot of spare cash. Jerry, whose own boat is on the next mooring, wants to help.

Skin fitting - it’s thought that there was a strong wind during the night which heeled her until the sink was below the waterline, the seacock was frozen open and this is the result.

She is going to be lifted on Friday. The engine is a turbocharged Nanni.

The boat is built like a pocket battleship, all solid teak joinery, etc, but…

Jerry wants to help and has been asking me for advice.

1. Engine.

I’ve said “Get the starter and alternator off and into bags full of distilled water, get the high pressure pumps and injectors off and into distilled water, and thence to a diesel shop, get some oil into the cylinders asap drain the lubricant system replace it with cheap oil turn the engine over by hand and repeat the process, spray everything with WD40”.

Comments, please?

2. Woodwork below deck.

Pressure wash with lots of fresh water. In fact use the pressure washer throughout the boat, throughly.

3. Headlining.

Probably kaput?

4. Cushions.

Unzip the covers, wash them, rinse the foam?

5. Electrics.

Rinse, dry carefully, lots of WD40… ?

What do people suggest?

 

[Fiddlesticks]

Nothing useful to add, but best wishes.
"Rise again!"

 

[Wing Mark]

Regarding the engine, one school of thought is that the diesel system will still be full of diesel, the bearings with still be full of oil, the best thing may be to do the minimum and get it running ASAP.
Hose it down, Drain the sump, fresh oil and filter, temporary diesel supply ,crank it over to get the oil around and fire it up. There will be water in the diesel tanks of course.

Things like the alternator and starter, may have water in the bearings , various bits may never be the same, take your chance and budget for new.

Pressure washers can do a lot of damage, lots of freshwater and then drying is what most things need.

Is it insured?

 

[Kukri]

Regarding the engine, one school of thought is that the diesel system will still be full of diesel, the bearings with still be full of oil, the best thing may be to do the minimum and get it running ASAP.
Hose it down, Drain the sump, fresh oil and filter, temporary diesel supply ,crank it over to get the oil around and fire it up. There will be water in the diesel tanks of course.

Things like the alternator and starter, may have water in the bearings , various bits may never be the same, take your chance and budget for new.

Pressure washers can do a lot of damage, lots of freshwater and then drying is what most things need.

Is it insured?

Thanks very much. I once sank a Yanmar 1GM10 and I think that’s what we did with it. It was right as rain.

“not very” insured!

 

[Poignard]

It's a long time since I lived in Hong Kong, and had a yacht there, but cheap labour was plentiful; especially around the typhoon shelters.

You said money was tight but it might be worth getting help with the mundane cleaning , leaving the owner free to sort out the technical stuff.

Also, ventilation, ventilation, ventilation!

My boat used to suffer from mould inside if ever I forgot to leave hatches open in that humid climate.

 

[jamie N]

As others are stating, with the engine and the electrics they're bits of metal until power's put onto them. A good rinse with fresh water and WD40 ASAP that they're in air, will give you your best chance. The diesel's the same I believe I reckon, with my personal experience matching yours with a 1GM10!
Teak and wood will be fine. soft furnishing I've no idea, and SWMBO isn't talking to me, so can't get 3rd party advice there!
Good luck, and there's a warning on seacock's to be heeded in all of this.

 

[KompetentKrew]

Regarding the engine, I have this PDF bookmarked: https://turbo36.files.wordpress.com...ics-for-boat-users-8-water-flooded-engine.pdf

 

[PaulRainbow]

Engine should be recoverable, doubtful the starter and alternator will be.

In my experience, pretty much everything electrical will be very lucky to survive, no matter what you do.

 

[scottie]

As Rainbow says and The wiring will need replacing as the salt corrosion will leech through

 

[fisherman]

After an incident we were told to get our electrics into a tub of fresh water, and take them to the leccy folk still in the water. Heard the same for alternator, starter, and, maybe, fuel pump? Certainly a few engines round here that have had a swim.

 

[Boater Sam]

As a boat sinks, the engine "may" fill the sump with water and possibly one or two cylinders.
The oil will rise up the bores and with a fair wind into the combustion chambers.
Get it up and wash everything but do NOT turn the engine over. Fuel pumps will be OK as long as you don't turn it over
Drain off the sump and filters both oil and fuel. Drain water from fuel tanks.
Remove the heater plugs if it has them else loosen the injectors. Wind it over.
Fresh oil, new filters only if contaminated with water. Bleed the fuel system with fresh fuel.
Check the batteries, many will not take in water when submerged if they are the sealed type. Wash and dry starter and alternator.

Fire it up, run for a short while, change old filters and replace oil and it should be fine.

 

[burgundyben]

Sorry to see that.

In my experience of submerged engines, regardless of what triage you do, the long term prognosis is poor. I've known several go under and all have ended up in the scrap bin.

 

[Wing Mark]

Sorry to see that.

In my experience of submerged engines, regardless of what triage you do, the long term prognosis is poor. I've known several go under and all have ended up in the scrap bin.

Not my experience.
A mate had an outboard which was underwater for a week, still running OK years later.
I've known Landrovers which were immersed while running, this involves a risk of bent rods.

Of course, if there's a lot of labour to be paid for, and the engine was a fair way from new anyway, a new one may be the sensible choice.

 

[Kukri]

Both views have distinguished adherents. When I sank my 1GM10, one of those whom I asked for advice was a friend who had just retired as MD of P&O Containers, after a stellar career which included having been the youngest Chief Engineer of a British ship … this ship …

John told me it would never be any good.
Fortunately I ignored his advice.?

 

[Kelpie]

I know a guy who built a boat on a tight budget. He was offered an engine for free, the snag being that it was still in the fishing boat in which it had sunk, which was on the seabed.
He raised it, repaired it, fitted it, and then completed an Atlantic circuit on the boat.

Slightly less dramatically, I've worked on boats where the engine has been completely submerged and was running again the same day. Starter didn't last long after that on one of them.

 

[jamie N]

One thing that's not been mentioned is to basically unplug/remove/ dry and clean connectors/remove fuses from every connector and cable. The wiring should be OK, as it's just metal, so long as its not had any power on it.
However, with this amount of checking involved, the possibility of it being simpler, safer & cheaper to entirely refit the boat with 'new', works as an opportunity also, although none of this will be light on the pocket.
Paul Rainbow would know better if this is the case, than I do.

 

[seadog30]

HI

iTEM 1 = GET THE BATTERIES OUT ASAP (the acid will not help anyone)

then lots of good advice above

Good luck

 

[Daydream believer]

Well if it was my boat it would be insured. In which case it would be taken to a suitable yard & left to them. 6 months later I would ring up & say " is it done yet?"
Lot to be said for insurance.

 

[Kukri]

She’s one of these:

SailboatData.com - FORMOSA 41 Sailboat

A popular long keel cruising ketch designed in the seventies, the equivalent here would be a Victory 40 or an Atlantic ketch perhaps

 

[AntarcticPilot]

When I was at school, after A-levels, the canal boat of a friend of mine sank. It was recovered, but for some reason that I forget, the insurance company refused to pay out for the engine; something to do with my friends family not having recovered it promptly. My friend and I spent a week or so dismantling and cleaning the starter motor and dynamo; we got them working! No internet or even manuals in those days; just common sense and the knowledge that it was already broken; we couldn't make it worse! Nice post A-level project. That was "fresh" water - but in those days, "fresh" water in those parts (Heavy Woollen district of Yorkshire) was usually pretty heavily polluted with the effluent from dye works; the starter and dynamo were pretty filthy.

I'm sure most people of my generation have stories about drowned Seagull outboards; my brother and I certainly have. But they were easy; dry them out, clean the plug and they'd go!

Basically, there's nothing to lose on the engines; clean them up, change the oil and see what happens! But if you've got time and a place to work, dismantling, cleaning and drying engine components will work wonders.