Sunken boat project.

Hot Property

Hot Property

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I have an opportunity to buy a modern sports cruiser that was submerged for 24 hours.

The outboard had a good dunking so is probably scrap.

If I do buy it, the first thing I'll do is pump freshwater into the cylinders, suck it out then spray penetrating oil in.

The interior will need washing in fresh water then drying etc

This should be relatively straightforward, just a bit of graft.

All electrical fittings will need flushing where possible. I expect most items will need replacing.

Do any forumites have any sage tips please

(apart from don't buy it)!!!
 
"Do any forumites have any sage tips please (apart from don't buy it)!!!"
Salt water ?

A Pearl is lying ashore just across the river from me, it has been there for many years.
Originally in Essex in the Boats .com yard after it sank.
Owned by several ? optimistic"restorers" in sucession with the price plummeting when each realised what they had taken on.
Lord only knows how much has been spent in restoration and yard fees over the last decade or two ?
Rumour is it was rewired, the engines were removed and available.
It would appear at the moment they cannot virtually give the boat away.

In the past Coastal Rides and Boats .Com have offered such insurance write offs to the general public , suspect there is a good reason they have not taken the opportunity to make a few quid themselves. ?
Any craft that has a sinking in its history is going to take a hit on its retail value making spending money on restoration even less sensible.
With the state of the boat market at the moment and likely to be around for some time, up and running boat will probably cost less in the end. ?
 
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oldgit said:
"Do any forumites have any sage tips please (apart from don't buy it)!!!"
Salt water ?

A Pearl is lying ashore just across the river from me, it has been there for many years.
Originally in Essex in the Boats .com yard after it sank.
Owned by several optimistic"restorers" in sucession with the price plummeting when each realised what they had taken on.
Lord only knows how much has been spent in restoration and yard fees over the last decade.
It would appear at the moment they cannot give it away.
Lets not mention the the JCL Mamba lying not a mile or two away thats been there for at least 25- 30 + years last price was ....Please Please take it away.
Click to expand...

That's my view of sunken boats.

But, the boat is quite new and at the price I'll pay it's low risk financially.

The outboard leg, prop and engine hood is worth nearly what I'll pay for it.

Fortunately there aren't dozens of electrical circuits and I suspect some fittings can be cleaned and re used.

From memory, Garmin chart plotters have waterproof connectors and the unit itself is quite water resistant. So £1,500 not spent etc.

Of more importance is storage costs.

I'll quickly have to decide if I'm going for a full restoration or just clean it up and sell on

I'll start a thread on the boat ( with photos) should I buy it.....
 
I was asked a few years ago to sort some electrics on a 35ft sail boat boat that had been very briefly semi sunk (laid on one side). It didn't look too bad, the upholstery had been washed and looked good, woodwork all looked good etc. It had to have some GRP repairs which were completed a few months later, at which point i went back to the boat. All of the buttons on the sofas had gone rusty, everything needed to be replaced. The woodwork needed some attention. But where the wiring had looked OK before, everything visible was corroded. Every terminal, every connect to anything. Light switches would not work, light fittings corroded, everything was knackered. Every single electric and electronic device on the boat needed to be replaced and i mean everything. The only electrical items that survived was the windlass and the radome, halfway up the mast. I cut the terminals off of wires and found the wires corroded, cut a bit more wire off, still corroded, more and more cut off, still corroded. The whole boat had to be rewired.
 
Its the latent problems that will appear in the future ?
Have been involved with a restoring few vehicles which have been flooded in fresh water , all bought for peanuts, it can take months for water ingress to complete its insidious worst with electric looms and the attached electronics .
Its not just the initial immersion, not infrequently a piece of kit first to go underwater will short and fry several others not yet under water.
 
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oldgit said:
Its the latent problems that will appear in the future ?
Have been involved with a restoring few vehicles which have been flooded in fresh water , all bought for peanuts, it can take months for water ingress to finishing its insidious worst with electric looms and attached electronics .
Its not just the initial emmersion, not infrequently a piece of kit first to go under will fry several others not yet under water.
Click to expand...

Noted thanks. I have the benefit of my brother ( and son No 2 ) being electronics engineers. So if a complete re-wire is required that's not a worry.

As I mentioned, I have a little while to consider what I want to do with the boat - a good clean and then sell on is one option. the other is to do all the work and probably keep it.

I already have a 6 metre cuddy so moving up a little bit isn't a big deal although anything longer will be better in the Solent chop.

Decision day is today!
 
I installed navigation equipment on a fishing boat in Scrabster, the boat went to Orkney and fished out of Kirkwall for many years, After about 15years she went down overnight and was raised the next morning, boat was cleaned etc. engines were removed and restored and the boat was brought to Wick where a friend got the job of restoring the electrics, he said everything checked fine, the radar had 230V AC coming to it and when you switched it on it went meh. The lad asked me to have a look at what was happening. The only connection for the electric was the verdigrise from the corroded copper in the wiring, under no load you got full voltage, turn the equipment on and it dropped to nothing. My friend then had to rewire the whole boat, I replaced the wiring for the radar and changed the crystals and the radar worked again, lucky the wheelhouse had not gone under the water.
 
The outboard was dunked and the yard couldn't turn it over as presumably the starter motor was soaked.

I'm going to flush the cylinders and inject penetrating oil or similar to stop further corrosion.

If I can turn the engine on the flywheel it will be a good sign.

Oil change. Filters changed too.

Every electrical connection with be flushed and inhibited.

I recon there's a more than 50% chance of me getting it running.

If not, spares or repairs...
 
Hot Property said:
The outboard was dunked and the yard couldn't turn it over as presumably the starter motor was soaked.

I'm going to flush the cylinders and inject penetrating oil or similar to stop further corrosion.

If I can turn the engine on the flywheel it will be a good sign.

Oil change. Filters changed too.

Every electrical connection with be flushed and inhibited.

I recon there's a more than 50% chance of me getting it running.

If not, spares or repairs...
Click to expand...
Unless the connections both ends are 100% watertight water wicks along the wiring, after a while you will start getting problem after problem.

The boat i mentioned in post #8 was fully rewired and the electronics all changed, the owner has had no issues since this was done 5 years ago.

Regarding the engine, this was removed and flushed etc then refitted, it was OK but the starter, alternator and wiring harness had to be changed.
 
I don’t think we can compare an outboard boat to a car...in the outboard boat all systems are separate...also if it’s a small boat there won’t be much in the way of electrics or electronics.
My concern would be...why did this boat sink ?
 
I would say that forgetting the bung is probably the number one cause of sinking in American boats...I had a Searay with a bung....I would search American sites as there might be more information available....although most boats with screw in bungs are lake boats so it would be mostly fresh water
 
My first boat was a fisher style eurostar 665 with the famous evibrude ficht ram 150 v6 for a scrap budget since it was sunken and totaled by insurance .

Try to dry blow the cylinders , change the oil ( 4 stroke ? ) and fire the engine up asap .

If the ecu is toast look for the prices . Also very important how advamced the electric / electronic system is on the boat .

What boat and what outboard are we talking ?
 
PaulRainbow said:
I was asked a few years ago to sort some electrics on a 35ft sail boat boat that had been very briefly semi sunk (laid on one side). It didn't look too bad, the upholstery had been washed and looked good, woodwork all looked good etc. It had to have some GRP repairs which were completed a few months later, at which point i went back to the boat. All of the buttons on the sofas had gone rusty, everything needed to be replaced. The woodwork needed some attention. But where the wiring had looked OK before, everything visible was corroded. Every terminal, every connect to anything. Light switches would not work, light fittings corroded, everything was knackered. Every single electric and electronic device on the boat needed to be replaced and i mean everything. The only electrical items that survived was the windlass and the radome, halfway up the mast. I cut the terminals off of wires and found the wires corroded, cut a bit more wire off, still corroded, more and more cut off, still corroded. The whole boat had to be rewired.
Click to expand...
Maybe sink it again in fresh water for a (long) while?
 
Dont know why you asked the question when the only answer is BUY IT!

1. Its an investment in forum content
2. We love a good told you so
3. Linked to number 1…..we are all bored due to naff weather

Jesting aside, it sounds a simple boat (as opposed to something like the Pearl mentioned). If you can get it for a cost where a replacement engine and full re-wire/ rekit doesnt put you out of pocket….id go for it. Anything saved is then a bonus. I’d go for it anyway on a wing and a pray but then I’m stupid
 
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