Boat sunk - Advice on cushions

conks01

conks01

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Having spent almost 2 years restoring my Westerly pageant and launched in May she sank on the weekend.

Absolutely gutted as she was fully restored.

A hose had blown of a cockpit drain seacock and she went under within an hour.

We managed to bail out, refloat and recover to the club pontoons where she is currently lying.

We've done all the essentials and have managed to clean out, drained the raw water out of the engine, gear box and fuel tank but its then leather cushions causing me concern (as well as the electrics!).

The cushions are sealed with no zip. I've recovered all to home and have today hung them on a line allowing them to drain. I've since power washed with fresh water.

The inners are foam.

I'm not sure if they will stink going forward and whether I need to cut through the leather and see if I can then get an upholsterer to add zips thus replacing the foam inner in each.

Any advice appreciated.

Many thanks
 
I doubt the cushions are actually leather?
You should be able to unpick one seam, the bottom back one for instance and remove the foam.

The foam will be a sod to dry. I tried everything, wet vac, treading it between old towels, hot room and dehumidifer, it still took ages.
I only got a couple of cushions very wet luckily.
Probably best to rinse the salt out then wash in something like bio washing powder and rinse well before attempting to dry.
If they are not too wet inside, I might live with a bit of salt? The drying process was that much of a wind-up!
 
Sorry to hear such news. My old Anderson 22 sank due to mooring issues and we never got the cushions sorted adequately, though Bristol Channel mud didnt help.

Lots of fresh water plus hot summer weather
 
As another says ... unpick a seam and pull the foam out .....

I've just unpicked seams on 5 cushions in my boat - so I could wash the covers ... the inner - I put back 3 but other 2 are awful - so I will buy a couple of 'Pet Dog' cushions and use those as inner ..
 
That's terrible news.

This may seem like an odd question but I don't have much experience with monohulls but your cockpit drains clearly exit below the waterline. Why is it designed like that and is that usual for monohulls?

Richard
 
RichardS said:
Why is it designed like that and is that usual for monohulls?
Click to expand...
Cockpit floors are often not much higher than the sea level outside.. Sit 3 people in a small boat cockpit and you can have a few inches of sea coming in !
Heeled over can add more sea so the drain hoses are crossed to exit the opposite side to the drain hole to avoid ingress of seawater.
My friends rustler has a 3 inch opening in the transom as well as cockpit drains but occasionally a wave comes in and the helmsman gets wet feet..
 
RichardS said:
That's terrible news.

This may seem like an odd question but I don't have much experience with monohulls but your cockpit drains clearly exit below the waterline. Why is it designed like that and is that usual for monohulls?

Richard
Click to expand...

Many boats like mine ... Centaurs .. Pageants ... Colvics etc. - the drain outlet is at or just below waterline. Reason being - the cockpit sole is only a few cms or inches above W/L. So to get it to drain .. the outlet is slightly lower.

Mine in fact - I need to close the drains when motoring or sailing hard - unless I want wet feet !!
 
I agree with others, unpick a seam which is normally out of sight and get the foam out. You must wash all the salt out of the foam, because even if you fully dry the foam salt is hygroscopic and the foam will get damp again and again by absorbing moisture from the air. If the covers really are leather clean them with saddle soap, but if they are fake leather which is usually backed by some sort of fabric, just hand wash with soap flakes. I would get an upholsterer to fit zips.
 
Sorry to read your bad news. I'd get an upholsterer to replace the foam, adding zips.

Also sorry to say, if salt water has got in the electrics, that's going to be some serious trouble. Switches, circuit breakers, wiring, anything really, that has been in contact with salt water will need to be thoroughly cleaned out, you can try blasting everything with contact cleaner, then WD40 or similar. But in my experience, not much survives long term.
 
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PaulRainbow said:
Sorry to read your bad news. I'd get an upholsterer to replace the foam, adding zips.

Also sorry to say, if salt water has got in the electrics, that's going to be some serious trouble. Switches, circuit breakers, wiring, anything really, that has been in contact with salt water will need to be thoroughly cleaned out, you can try blasting everything with contact cleaner, then WD40 or similar. But in my experience, not much survives long term.
Click to expand...

Agreed, the cushions are surely the least of his worries.
 
Have to also agree ...

Flooding of my boat years ago on the hard ... which got into the engine (4-99) ... despite flushing out .. clearing etc. - engine seized after about 5 hours use causing me to call on sailing skills to get from Folly Inn (bow facing upstream and hemmed in by serious rafts ahead and astern) out to Solent and then to berth at Hayling Yacht Co .... not an easy feat !!

Engine was *******'d. Replaced with 4-107.

I hope that OP's engine is ok ..
 
Refueler said:
Many boats like mine ... Centaurs .. Pageants ... Colvics etc. - the drain outlet is at or just below waterline. Reason being - the cockpit sole is only a few cms or inches above W/L. So to get it to drain .. the outlet is slightly lower.

Mine in fact - I need to close the drains when motoring or sailing hard - unless I want wet feet !!
Click to expand...
My LM27 manual specifically warns against more that 9 in cockpit or water will come back up the drains. Goodness knows how one could fit 9 around the cockpit table, but I take the point. Single drain with inlet about 4cm below cockpit sole and outlet about 40cm below waterline and very carefully maintained seacock and piping,
 
Sorry to hear about your catastrophe.

conks01 said:
We've done all the essentials and have managed to clean out, drained the raw water out of the engine, gear box and fuel tank but its then leather cushions causing me concern (as well as the electrics!).
Click to expand...

You will be well advised to do a lot more to the engine (and perhaps gearbox) than just drain the water out, if you haven't already done so, and urgently.

If you haven't already done so get detailed advice of what to do to the engine by asking this forum, or someone else who really knows what they're talking about. It's much more urgent and important/costly than cushions.
 
oldmanofthehills said:
My LM27 manual specifically warns against more that 9 in cockpit or water will come back up the drains. Goodness knows how one could fit 9 around the cockpit table, but I take the point.
Click to expand...

A previous LM27 owner found that out when he had, IIRC, 11 people in the cockpit :D. (I assume the cockpit table was in the retracted position at the time. )

Those of us with the earlier models of the LM27 have no such trouble, as we have the benefit (?:unsure:) of non-self-draining cockpits!
 
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