Re floating a sunken boat £££

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cyberpunx

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Can anyone give me a rough estimate how much and the best ways to re float a boat sunk on it's mooring in roughly 10 feet of water 100 meters from shore .
any ideas on wether best for divers to do it or try and drag it in with another work boat and leave till tide goes out?
any ideas welcome "im sick sick sick" only a small cruiser worth 3 grand but im sick 1st year of boating it's all went pete tong!!!
all idea welcome or come along and help all welcome port glasgow
££££ kerching maybe sell tickets and put it to buying a couple of axe's.
HELP!!!!! MAYDAY SOS "oh that only works on VHF"
 
I pulled a 20ft shetland under water with my 18 ft cruiser . I towed her to a slip and we where going to wait for the tide to go out but £20 to a passing crane barge did the trick . Cheapest way would be to let the tide do the work for you i think .
 
I would think airbags positioned inside the cabin in suitable areas and then inflated. Let it rise to the surface and then, at high tide, tow to a place where it will beach at low tide. You will need to ensure the water can escape from the hull as the tide goes out though
 
Watch out for the stresses induced by the buoyancy under the decking - don't forget that the hull was never designed for these stresses.

Not saying it cannot be done, just take it easy.

Perhaps better to attach the buoyancy to straps round the hull ?

Tom
 
I wouldn't think that airbags inside the cabin were a good idea ... the boat was never designed to take that stress ... best to pass lifting straps under the hull - make sure they are secured fore-aft .... the problem will be balancing her on the lift - as if one end tips up the straps could ping out and you'll loose the lot back to the bottom.

Hopefully the area she has settled is free of rocks or anything that could puncture the hull - but if you get her to a slipway then you can assess that as she drains.
 
a couple of years ago my 26' cruiser sunk on the river. I contracted the local mooring barge who put strops under the hull, lifted her until she was just breaking the surface then pumped her out so not causing any undue stress on the hull etc. cost £400 (well actually cost a bottle of whisky!) but the insurance paid £400! I think airbags inside are unlikely to damage the structure but may break windows etc. divers could pass strops under her and lift with airbags...allowing her to be towed to a beach... as stated above it is important to allow the boat to drain rapidly as the tide drops or she could rip apart as the hull is designed for pressure on the outside and the water inside will weigh several tons. Anyway if you can find some contacts you ought to be able to get the job done for about £500.. good luck Iain
 
It all depends on what resources you can lay your hands on as to how you tackle it.
I would recommend lifting by getting a pair of messenger lines under the hull and pulling through some strops. Once you have the strops in place you can get yourself a source of buoyancy eg plastic 45 gallon drums and attach them to the strop ends at low tide. At high tide use another boat to pull it as close as possible to the shore. The idea is to get it to a position such that at low tide the decks are above water level and pump her out.
I have used this system several times with good results. The important thing to remember is that the moment the engine surfaces the clock starts ticking in terms of getting the engine running.
Here is a suggested approach to sorting out the engine.
Drain carbs then remove the spark plugs ( I'm assuming its a petrol engine ) and spin the engine over to clear water from the cylinders. Drain the engine oil and replace. Once the engine has been spun over to clear the water spray inside the bores with WD40 or diesel and leave in while you dry out the alternator and other electrics. You may have to strip down the starter motor and dry it first but the important thing is to get the engine running as quickly as possible where its own heat will dry it out. If you can before you start hose it all down with fresh water to get rid of the salt. Use loads of wd40 to spray all over the engine and electrics ( you will be surprised how effective it is).
Don't be too downhearted you may be pleasently surprised at the amount that can be saved. Good luck.
 
1/ If its only worth 3K, is it worth doing all this. The costs that may arise in the salvage operation and then the cost to overhaul her and the time taken lets not forget.
How did she sink, was it damage,i.e holed and sunk naturally or say just an ingress of water over a period of time through covers etc etc.
If the tide goes right out and the hull isn't damaged/holed, then why not pump out what you can and simply install either a couple of airbags or large sealed drums so when the tide comes back and with most of the water out, surely the airbags would be suffice to lift her.
Good luck though,let us know how you get on.Do you have any pics?
 
Sorry to hear of your disaster, but many boats have sunk on their moorings & been reflaoted successfully. LOTS of work replacing electrics, furnishings etc, but can be done. SPEAK TO YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY - or better still, your broker if you have one.

Do you know what went wrong? There may be lessons for all of us I guess.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Yep. Also posted in the sunken Treasure thread in the PBO forum. Insurance not an option.

[/ QUOTE ] Thanks Cormac. Read it now.

Hope he tries the divers, it is his best and cheapest option.
 
This happened to a friend of mine and his 25ft sailboat many years ago. The winter had blocked the drains with leaves, snow fell, melted and swamped the cabin, thus she sunk at her swing mooring.
We came up with a great solution; cheap, effective, etc. I admit that her mast and rigging were still showing above the water (so she was partially bouyant luckily), but grounded and impossible to move in about 8 metres.

1. Bought a cheap water bed mattress (queen size)
... think it was equiv. of £25 then

2. Rowed out to boat, snorkel equip. on, stuffed the mattress thru the door and via a piece of garden hose and inflated it with an aqualung of another scuba-diving colleague.
- today I reckon a cheap air mattress from Lidl would do as well.

All you are doing is replacing the water ... there is no "stress" to worry about.

She floated higher, we dragged her in and as soon as her gunwales were above water simply bailed her out.

He still has the boat I believe and luckily his old outboard after a thorough fresh water rinse and some minor fixing also worked (Johnson 2 stroke) at the time.

This was in the Bergen newspaper ... she had sunk outside the UK ambassadors residence and it was a novelty piece as they had no other newsworthy items.

I was famous for a day !!!
 
As a BSAc Advanced diver...I'd suggest contacting the local BSAC club....cos they are non commercial and might do it for free if you provide the boat coffee/coacoa and bacon butties....

It would be a good publicity stunt....to get more divers into the club....you might need a mortgage for a Padi club/shop

10 ft isn't really that deep for a diver....in the past I have used numerous 25ltr plastic drums....taken them down full of water and filled them with air when secured...you'd need to know what the visibility was like and the sea bed....cos a ripped dry suit is not much fun when it fills up

Try here and look for the local club

http://www.bsac.com/meet/meetbranch.html

Good Luck....would love to arrange it myself but I live in Sassenach land

Steve
 
Thanks again to all who put folward input of one kind or another , i have decided to use the fellow who done my mooring he is a good decent guy and he is using his divers that does his moorings so im paying here goes £100 for the divers for the day and £200 for the guys mooring work boat "he usually charges £350 so i am really happy with this price so far no doubt getting the engine looked at tested will be another couple of hundred i think and whatever else needs done luckily im a spark so i can re wire myself and save a bit of cash the lesson here is INSURANCE does pay. i was 4 days too late. but i lived and ive learned no one was hurt only my pride .
thanks again everyone for the words of support i didnt realise i would have felt so bad but i did and now ive got to get on with it.
i ask myself should i keep it or not?
i believe it was the gator on the stern drive that initally let the water in and then bad weather finished it off. if i find out how to post a picture on here i will .
regards to everyone
cheers john.
 
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