Going Down ?

[whisper]

It was a lovely day down in the South Hams today. Ideal for a gentle trip down the estuary to let boat-partners wife have her first taste of the relatively new possession.
Cast off and all was well for about 50m when strange smell started to permeate the wheelhouse and some strange noises came from the dashboard and drive belts. Thought we would get to a wider bit of water and investigate further. After a further 100m or so at slow speed we stopped the boat and lifted the engine compartment hatch to be greeted by a wonderful spray of seawater along with a cloud of steam. There was also about 9" of water in the bilge.
To my everlasting horror I realised that I had let myself be distracted when doing the pre departure checks and had not put the top back on the raw water filter. Unfortunately my cry of "don't panic, we're sinking" was not appreciated by the other crew members.
Bilges were duly pumped dry and we continued to potter down the estuary and went for a quick blast to Prawle Pt. and back. Sea as flat as a pancake & 32kts on the GPS for a few minutes.
On our return we liberally doused the engine and wiring with WD 40.

Having hung my head in shame, is there anything that I should do to prevent corrosion or other faults developing on the engine or ancilliaries ?

Thanks.

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[ccscott49]

I would douse everything with fresh water first, pump the bilges, dry, then get the old hairdyer, heat gun or fan heater out and dry everything then liberally dose everything with WD40 and re do the WD40 for a few days. Making sure all electrics are switched off!!! IMHO
A bit of washing up liquid wouldnt go amiss in the water either.
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[kimhollamby]

Aaaaagh

Bad luck. I've had a raw water pump let go and it's a major job afterwards.

You really need to get at every nook and cranny and especially watch out for the areas where the paint system on the engine is scuffed for where you have bare metal (such as pulleys).

Once you've got rid of as much of the salt as possible, instead of using WD40, would suggest soaking a rag in engine oil and giving everything that isn't going to be a problem being oily (not pulleys!) a good wipeover.

For electrical connections a good electrical contact cleaner (can get this from Maplins if you have a branch nearby) would be a good idea.

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[duncan]

as you know I went a little further than you with this trick..........

everything as above (but an alternative really to engine oil) I would recommend 'roc - oil' spray it all over your warm, washed off as best you can, engine.

Finally if salt water got liberally splashed over your belts and pulleys I would seriously consider removing the belts and going to town in an effort to prevent any rusting in teh pulleys and the inevitable issues that will follow over time.

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[Dave_Snelson]

Its of little consolation, I know - but have had similar happen to me...twice! The first time I was about 35nm from anywhere when one of my hoses started jetting water from a split and it "suger-frosted" my port engine with brilliant white salt. Cakes of it! I managed to effect a repair by shortening the hose run (it was too long anyway) and heading back to Pwllheli - for fresh water. I cleaned it down with fresh and then emptied a can of WD 40 on it.

The send time, on the same engine, a gas vapouriser hose came adrift and started filling the bilge with water to about 1ft. Luckily I was nearing my harbour and got there in plenty of time. It took 15 minutes for my bilge pump to empty the bilge!

Did the water get high enough to touch your starter motor?? Clean & spray it before it stops working!

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[kghowe]

I had a water pipe let go and filled the engine bay with water almost to the top! Trouble is I did it when on a sea trial with the prospective buyer. Guess what..............didn't buy it. Must have been the PanPan I put out that scared them off. Sold it later anyway.

KGH

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