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Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Hi to all, and a happy New Year. If anyone can see through their hangovers to read this, let it be known that I'm looking for help. My Seacraft sunk while diving on Tuesday off of Miami Beach. It's in about 20 - 25 feet of water. I'm sure I could salvage it with some lift bags and a gas powered pump. I'm a BoatUS member, but they only tow, and for them to lift and tow it in would cost me $4,000...exactly what I have in the boat.
I have dive gear, another boat and a gas powered compressor and I would like to salvage it asap. I need some lift bags. If anyone knows where to rent them, or has some they would rent, loan or whatever please let me know. Any help on the subject would be appreciated. I can also be contacted @ 786 252 2622. I'm willing to pay, just not $4000. Thanks in advance, and I will be posting more details of how it happened when I get more time. Right now there is a lot to prepare and deal with. Thanks again, Till in Miami |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Truck tire inner tubes make a great lifting bags, and are easy to attach. Most boats when they go down, turtle, and are upside down. You will have to lift, and then flip it. I would use the lifting and bow eyes as attachement points.
Maybe put a tube on the front and on one side of the back to flip it, if it's upside down. If it had a leak, you probably want to plug it. Once you get it near the surface, you could use 2 straps underneath it with tubes on each side to get the gunnels above the surface. If it is a stock cutout transom, you are going to have to work hard to get the back end "above water" before trying to pump it out. I have seen people try to tow swamped boats, and more often they roll over. Be careful if you have a line between the boats that you don't sink 2 trying to raise one. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Good idea on the truck tubes they should work, good luck and keep us posted
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Thanks, we're considering all kinds of options. The tow is a possibility, but like you said, it would be hard to keep it from flipping.
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
if you need any help let me know. i live in kendall if you need an extra boat out there for anything let me know. ill be glad to help if i can.
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
A buddy of mine does salvage in the great lakes. Boats, planes, etc. Sometimes he puts a fitting on the gas tank filler, and then fills the gas tank with air and uses the gas tank to help make positive floatation. Their primary lifting items are tire tubes. It's easy to get one near the surface, the trick is getting it pumped out. If you not that far from the ramp, a couple of miles or so, it might be easier to slowly tow it with the tubes attached, and when you get it to the ramp, use a tow truck to slowly pull it up on the beach/ramp/trailer.
Be careful, you can easily sink another boat, or get hurt doing this. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
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So what happened exactly? |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Bitsamonkey, sorry to hear of your situation. Shi++! way to end the year :(
Master of the obvious here, but if you get to point of towing keep a filet knife or some bolt cutters near by in case you have to cut the tow rode to avert double disaster. And be sure the cleats or rings you attach to are stout enough that they don't snap out of place and become stainless projectiles. Probably not a good time to ask but, what caused her to go down? Best wishes for raising her safely and swiftly. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Sorry to hear this.... :(
Glad you are OK I hope you left the anchor on her otherwise it will drift off and may never be found. :eek: Currents can do funny things to stuff on the bottom.. Good luck, see ya, Ken |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
I have raised half a dozen boats in my life, from 16' to 40'. Take my advice, do NOT tow it submerged unless you cannot pump her out. Lots of bad stuff can happen.
If you can, use a minimum of 2 boats and 4 divers to aid the recovery, each boat anchored fore and aft on either side of the sunken vessel. If you have a cuddy on the sunken vessel, a twin-sized air mattress inflated half-full provides good lift from in the cabin it doesn't help at the surface, though. Tied under the hull, inner tubes make great inexpensive lifting bags. Use at least 5 inner tubes and better yet use 7 - 1 at the bow tied to the bow eye,with NO scope 2 tied to the stern eyes, with NO scope on the lines 2 lashed under the hull by 8' of line, fixed about 2' forward of the transom. When inflated, they should be attached so as to be fixed just 4"-6"above the hard-chine. If you use 7, fix the last 2 lashed under the hull amidships. If you have transom cutout, you need to lift the stern higher than the bow, so you can pump it out. You can rent 1 or 2 small gas-powered trash pumps at Taylor rental, which makes it easier. With the gunnels and transom above water, continue pumping until the boat is as high as possible. Tow the sunken vessel in an alongside tow lashed to BOTH recovery vessels, OR astern with a tow line at least twice the length of the vessel being assisted, and a very sharp knife close at hand. I'll add more later. Start your planning with this. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
I'd like to thank everyone for their input.
I too have thought of using the gas tank to help float it by putting a valve on the vent tube and blocking the filler. Inner tubes are also on the list. It seems like keeping it from turning over is a real challenge. Another thing we're considering is salvaging the outboard first. We have a hookah and it's only in 20 feet. Then we could take our time with the hull, as well as making it a lot easier to get the transom out of the water. I just don't know how well I'll be able to work under water to unbolt the motor etc. Now this is how this happened, though I still can't believe it: Two things; I always kind of joked about the boat sinking, and that was because I really was afraid that one day it would. I just thought it would be at the dock while unattended. The other is that no matter what the guy in the boat when it sank failed to do or not do, as the owner, it's my fault this happened. Now the story: towards the end of a beautiful day of spearfishing the patch reefs off of Miami Beach, including the biggest red grouper any of us had ever shot, I went for the last dive with a buddy while a third friend stayed on the boat. Seas were less than 2 feet with a light NW wind. We were in 25' and on a hookah, which means we're attached to the boat by a hose. The bottom didn't look that great so I surfaced and asked my buddy on the boat to pull the anchor to drift over some new bottom. The current was going North at a trickle so we ended up North of the boat. At one point while pursuing a big gag we were at the end of the hose and listing felt some tugging, but nothing unusual as it felt like the boat pulling us south. About two minutes later we felt some tugging, and now it was obvious the guy in the boat was tugging on the hose. I surfaced to see the boat listing beyond recovery and by the time I swam to the boat it was upside down. We detached ourselves from the hookah, grabbed the life jackets and a hand held VHF and started swimming the ~2 miles towards shore. I tried to give a mayday on the vhf but it crapped out before getting anyone on channel 16... so much for water proof vhf (older icom). We all had wetsuits, life preservers and fins so we were not really afraid for our lives but not looking forward to a long swim in the dark after a full day of diving. Several boats passed close enough to see the people on them without seeing or hearing us as well as a Coast Guard chopper and a really slow moving sailboat. My dive partner had poked our 6' pole spear through a life jacket and was swinging it back and forth the whole time. After about half an hour and minutes before dark a crew out fishing on a 28 Whitewater spotted us, picked us up, and dropped us off at the beach a half a block from our buddy's house. They were nice enough to go back to the sunken boat and get some gps coordinates for us (I'd tied a life jacket to the anchor line as a float). I guess a malfunctioning bilge pump float allowed water to flood the bilge. The guy in the boat was not paying attention to much until he said he noticed his flip flops floating around at which point he decided to bail the cockpit with a bucket. He told me a yacht came by and three waves washed over the outboard well and he kept bailing. He also says a little water had steadily been coming in but he didn't think much of it. At this point he said he could bail anymore because standing at the back of the boat was making more water come in. He says he hit turned on all 3 switches (the boat had a 2500 manual on and 1500 automatic bilge pump). He says he didn't hear any wirring so, I don't know turned them off? He says everything happened real fast and that's when he thought it might be a good idea to get my attention! I'm sure everybody reading this is thinking of all the key things that would have made this a non-event: - drop anchor and point bow into waves - turn bilge pump on and leave it on - pull up the hookah hose until my regulator is in his hands - as a last resort, disconnect hookah start the motor and run the boat Why none of those things happened: - I did not specifically tell him where the bilge pump switches are (there are 3 switches on the whole boat lights, bilge and bilge) - I didn't tell him what could happen if water started breaking over the 20" transom - total pothead Lessons learned: countless, I need to write them all down to not forget any of the little details that occur to me as I replay the scenario in my mind. I've had a boat my whole life starting at 9 years old with a 10' john boat and 4.5 merc. Plenty of sailing, offshore fishing and way to much info on boats, boat designs, safety, boat handling and on and on. My boats have not all been pretty, but always in very good working order, and until the 30th have always taken me home. My buddy has been fishing at least once a week for the last 15 - 20 years so when I was laying on top of my upside down seacraft I could not understand how this happened. As an aside, I don't know why there hasn't been a class action law suit against all manufacturers of automatic bilge pump switches. And finally, I'm really glad we all made it back and those guys from the Whitewater are definitely having some drinks on us once this salvage stuff is taken care of. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Thank God there was no human injury or tragedy ending this story :eek:
CSC member and Moderator "Finster" has the knowledge to give you some pointers with your salvage efforts ......I wish you the best of luck. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Sorry to hear your bad luck story and like Capt. Chuck said Thank God there was no human injury or tragedy ending this story other then the work and $$ to retrieve the boat and get her back and running again. Those automatic bilge switches don’t last for ever. I have had them go faster than the bilge pumps go. I try to test my pumps before each trip just to make sure there are working. One time I almost sunk a New 18’ Hydrasport on the second trip out. I was taking in some water on a 20” transom and decided to turn on the pump to find out that the builder didn’t remove all the small chunks of fiberglass from the inside of the hull at the factory. Well as luck would have it those chunks got stuck in the impeller of the pump and now no working bilge pump. Well the day of fishing was over and a ride back in with lots of water in the bilge began. I was luck that day and the next day the second bilge pump was put in the boat with its own separate switch.
FellowShip Just for the Grins :o |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
If you were about 5 hours closer My friend has all the liftbags, hoses, pumps, and connectors you would ever need, he is out of the salvae business and may sell all his gear. I have helped him do several salvages almost all were sail boats which are lots of fun. All I can say is I am glad you are safe and had wetsuits on and were rescued quickly, even 78 degree water can kill some in less then an hour.
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
I am here in Miami/Homestead if you need some help let me know and i'll see what I can do I am a scuba diver as well, Let me know I am off work today and tomorrow!
underwoodbrad@colliergov.net 786-255-0349 |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Thanks again everyone for your input and help. I got six truck and four large inner tubes, tomorrow I'm renting a 3" pump and I'm putting my other boat (25' Whitewater) back together to go out there on Sunday. The weather looks like it might cooperate and I'm starting to feel better about our chances. Whether or not the engine will be worth a damn after 5 days under water is another matter.
I'll be posting again tomorrow to let anyone willing to lend a hand know when and where. Thanks a lot for the support! |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Good Luck bitsamonkey..
If at all possible take some pics of the salvage to share with all of us.. I'm doubtful the motor will be salvageable other than the lower unit, carbs & block. The crank, connecting rods etc. will be gone.. Keep us posted and we will be thinking about you. Ken |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
i heard that its not the saltwater that destroys metal its after when air gets on it with the saltwater the rust and corrosion starts??
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
The Merc manual has a section on what to do after complete saltwater submersion. I'll be happy to send you the page via email if you can't read this. This is for my I-6 but it can't be too different...
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...rintrusion.jpg Good luck! |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Not for nothin, but, usually if the engine stays submerered you can salvage it,(it,s once it hits the air it starts to deterorate) probably need to replace all the electrical, but the block and everything else should be fine. Just a matter as to whether is is financially better to just get a newer one.
Once you get the boat to the surface, upside down, tie a line to the bow tow ring, then in a strong boat tow the sunken boat backwards, as fast as it is safe, the bow will come up, roll over the transom, keep going, then the water will run out of the stern, tow this way till you can safely stop and pump out the rest, seen this done a couple of times. Any single acident is never the result of one incident, it is the result of many different incidents resulting in a castastrophy. Glad everyone is safe, use a Ultra Safety Systems bilge switch next time, you won't need to sue them |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Glad we are all able to read this, instead of the Obit page. Did your flares float away?
I`ve heard you can "pickle" an engine. Get it into fresh water as fast as possible and keep it submerged with flowing fresh water. I`ll try and find more for you. Janet doesn`t even know how to use the radio. I keep telling her " what if I have a heart attack"? GFS |
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
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We all know she cashes in on the policies, finds a boy toy and lives happily everafter.. :eek: See ya, Ken |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
So that`s where my spare plugs keep going. We don`t have squirrels.
No sails :(2 barely legal Muttons, 1 snake King on a circle hook w/ flouro and my usual Remora. GFS |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
has the boat made it to the surface yet?
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
I just posted this on Florida Sportsman:
Here's a quick update as I'm still extremely busy with pickling/salvaging the motor: Went out on Monday with all of the equipment (truck inner tubes, hookah, tools, tons of rope and a huge 3" gas powered pump) and could not locate the boat! Found some more of our stuff at the original spot including a spear gun so my buddy shot a big hog and a red grouper and gathered up 4 lobster plus one that was still in a catch bag that went down with the boat. After doing a grid and concentric circles around the spot out to 1/2 a mile we knew we wouldn't spot it from the boat and headed in. Called an old friend and got a ride on an ultralight the next morning and spotted the boat immediately! Marked the spot, and off we went again. The boat had moved 1/2, mile while shorts, t-shirts and a bunch of stuff stayed right where it sunk. We started tying off the inner tubes, fitted a valve over the fuel tank vent, blocked off the fill with a rubber membrane, cut the fuel line to the engine and shoved inner tubes into any available pie holes. Another inner tube went around the lower unit. Gas tank must have been pretty close to having tons of leaks, because after getting some air in it the pressure blew out a bunch of little pinhole leaks along the top. The inner tubes got her up pretty quickly, but with seas and the LOW transom we could not imagine how we'd get the transom out of the water enough to start pumping her out. We decide to try the tow method as we had enough flotation to keep her upright. Made a bridle, hooked up about 60' of line and off we went. The boat actually came up really fast, but just wouldn't clear out. My buddy on the Seacraft pulled both bilge plugs to try to get the water out of there but no go. We pulled her all the way into the bay that way @ about 7 - 8 knots and managing until we got her to the lee side of Monument and beached her. Now we were able to get the transom up and used the gas pump to get all of the water out. I rigged a fresh battery to the bilge pumps and got them working, but they were barely keeping up with water coming in! Turns out the hull has two long holes on either chine where it ground against the bottom, and that's why the water wouldn't clear out. We stuffed a bunch of shop towels in the cracks, pumped her dry and towed her to a waiting trailer with both bilge pumps going. We made it! What a week. I spent the first 4 days after the sinking putting my other boat back together to do the salvage. Well, we lost one boat, got most of it back and got the other one back on the water. Lot's of work and some stress but it can be done. I will be posting pictures of the mission on the classic seacraft forum, those guys were very helpful and positive. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Hi bitsamonkey
Glad to here you got her home. You still got a big job ahead of you but at least you got her back. Most boat work like this is a lot of time and energy and of course $$$ but now you have a excuse to re do her in a big way to get her back in the water “right side up”. FellowShip Just for the Grins :D |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Way to go! Now you can take the time to restore her as you'd like!
Keep us updated! |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Great news, funny about the boat moving and shorts not
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
pretty cool :cool: somebody give him an "at-a-boy!"
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Way to go bitsamonkey!
Nice to have a buddy that can offer aerial views, especially in clear water. Glad you got some fresh fish and bugs to help celebrate the recovery. :cool: |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
What a story!! Not only of how it happened, but your rescue efforts too. It's good that you had the resources to get the job done ... and successfully.
Looking forward to seeing your pictures ... after you've had a chance to relax after all the stress. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
I was concerned you may never find her. Gotta love Pilots!
Did you learn any tricks on saving electronics? GFS |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
trying to get an idea how much floatation you needed to raise the boat. Number of inner tubes, est. amount of water displaced, rough quess would be fine. Or even better, if someone out there has figured out how much additional floatation ( mine still has original amount,and dry)that would keep a 23' afloat for awhile. I've read they all flip. Would 2 or 3 cu. ft. of floatation under each of the gunnels plus a couple of additional cu. ft. poured between the side and box stringers prevent both things from happening? Now would be a good time in my rebuild for me to address this. Thanks for all the info over the years.
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Here's an update and some pictures. I was able to start working on the motor as soon as I got it back to the house and flushed with lots of fresh water through spark plug holes and intake. I then turned the motor over by hand to get as much of the water out as possible, filled with diesel and collapsed into bed. The next morning the real engine work started. I removed everything and flushed with water, blew dry with compressed air, flushed with denatured alcohol and blew dry again, followed by some wd-40 type lubricant. Every last system got this treatment as well as every plug and electrical connection, which also were lubed with a special electrical lube that's plastic safe. The starter motor was disassembled and received the same treatment, as was the remote oil tank and pump. Same for the throttle and cables. Fuel lines and vst(?) tank got the same. I dried the coils and cdi with a heat gun for a while. Once all of this was complete the cylinders got filled with alcohol and blown dry repeatedly and then misted with lubricant through the spark plug holes and intake. Once the starter was working I spun the motor over to clear out any mayo left in the case. I then filled the motor mounted oil tank and pre-mixed some gas about 40:1 hooked up a gas line and started it right up! Eureka! Yamaha outboards...waterproof to 25 ft for at least 7 days! The engine runs great and looks even better than before with all of the cleaning and Boe-Shield. I am so impressed with the quality of all of the yamaha components and electrical systems! I did not have to buy one single part to get this motor running again. The trim, ignition and kill switches all work, everything works and the motor sounds great. I have not taken compression readings, but I'm sure they'll be fine.
Total cost for the salvage was $94 for the inner tubes, $230 for one week rental of the 3" pump, $150 for the plane ride and gas and sandwiches. I couldn't have done this without the help of some really good friends. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
WTG bitsamonkey!:cool:
Get those pictures up. Glad to hear it turned out right and you saved $3500 bucks ;). Looks like a salvage co is in your future :D Maybe project number 2 is that mid '60s 21' sitting outside the channel east of Cudjoe Key... Don't think you'll need the plane to spot that one. Go get'er bits...git'r done...just don't disrupt too much eel grass. |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Wow what a story I’m impressed with your tenacity and commitment also with Yamaha ability to take a licking and keep on kicking. But I sure hope I don’t have to pull up this thread some time in the future and ask myself now what do I need to do.
They way that you are going you will be back in the water by next weekend. FellowShip Just for the Grins :D |
Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Story of the year and we're not even two weeks in.........happy ending and all. I think you had a lot of people rooting for you.
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Re: Help! My Seacraft sunk!!!
Hey Bitsamonkey,
Nice job! I like the Yamahas too. My 1998 50 has sunk twice(fresh water mind you). Once about 8 years ago for about 5 days. I didn't go to the extent that you did, I just pulled the plugs, turned the key for a few minutes to spit all the water out, dried the plugs, put them in and fired her up. I then ran the snot out of her for a half hour or so. She's still running sweet. Good motors. I guess SeaCrafts do sink. I told the story of how our 25 was in the water for a week without the bilge or cockpit plugs in. Due to that and the fact that the water only came in to the bilge under the engine block, I've deemed our Seafari unsinkable for years now. That's what gives me the grapefruits to push her in the rough stuff...I may have to re think that :D Happy New Year to all Brandon |
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