Are you sitting down? Your boat sank last night

[RyPhil]

I was not sitting down, but I did shortly thereafter.

Seems my fresh water hose from the city had been left on, and the end of the hose failed. The result was the cabin top under 3 feet of water. It was noticed about 7 a.m. and was resurfaced by 11 a.m.

Everything electrical is pretty much shot including an Icom M710 SSB, starter, charger, and more. The upholstery is also ruined.

It is looking like it will be totaled by the insurance company.

The decision now is, should I buy her back and rebuild her?

The settlement should be enough to fix her back up, but I have structural concerns. Could the core of the deck be saturated? Should I drop the mast to check out the connections? Are the chainplates at risk of corrosion?

She sank in Lake Pleasant, Az, so it is a very dry environment. However, the water pressure at 3 to 6 feet under could have forced quite a bit of water deep within the core.

I like my boat. The layout is great. She sails wonderfully. I don't see any other boats that I like nearly as much, within reason.

So, any ideas on what to do?

Robert
Asylum
Ericson 29

 

[Touchrain]

When I first bought my E38, I had the same thing happen. Fortunately, I am a light sleeper and got to it when it was a couple inches above the sole. That was all that had to be replaced. At the time, a neighbor pointed out to me that despite the extra work, the advantage of always using your tanks instead of city pressure was that you kept your water and tanks fresher. I've followed that advice, although I did also buy a volume limiter on line that shuts a line off when a certain number of gallons have passed through. It attaches to the end of the hose. That said, I still don't trust it enough to hook up directly.

As for your main question, I watched one morning as the boat across from me at the dock sank in the Puget Sound (not a dry environment). It took more than a day to raise the boat. That said, the young owner had it totalled, and then took it off the hands of the insurance company. His father rebuilt it in Eastern Washington where it is dry. Seems to be sailing quite well. I believe the engine and all electronics were shot, and all the upholstry, but they apparently got a nice boat out of it and still paid off the loan on it. neither father or son paid themselves wages to work on it. And yes, it was a lot of work.

 

[Randy Rutledge]

Sorry to hear of your loss. The engine, starter alternator and the like should be fine if cared for at once. Drain the engine and transmission oil, flush the alternator and starter with WD 40 and get oil into the cylinders. If it is an A4 just remove the plugs and spray oil into the cylinders and crank over. You might try drying electronics by storing in a container of rice it is worth a try. If no power was applied and corrosion doesn’t kill them they might live.
I think I would save her if she was a good boat before she will be again. With work the upholstery can be saved.
My opinion without seeing her.

 

[RyPhil]

There was power to almost everything. Even the light fixtures corroded. Some items, like a few clocks, seem to be coming back. Others, like my SSB, had so much corrosion inside it looked like a fungus was going to crawl out.

I pulled the plugs from the A4, and poured ATF inside. I heard thats even better than WD40. It should be okay, but the alternator had the same fungus looking corroded mess as the radio. The starter might be okay

On the other hand, I have been looking at Ericsons for sale, and there are a few deals out there...

 

[tenders]

I'm sorry for your loss.

I haven't sunk a boat yet, but a few times I've had big damage to my automobile and faced the decision of repairing with the insurance check or moving on.

My experience has been: I've always regretted repairing, usually later rather than sooner. I've never regretted moving on.

In your case you may want to factor in not only the cost of repair, and the value of any of your time spent repairing, but also the opportunity cost of spending that time repairing and not having the use of the boat for what you owned it for a week ago.

 

[Bill Sanborn]

Flooded E29

I had almost the same thing happen to my E29 about 8 years ago. The water level got up to the height of the quarter berth and woke me up. Talk about a shot of adrenaline.

My slip is on Puget Sound which is salt water. I tasted the water in the boat on found it was fresh then found a split water hose in the lazerette. The marina had an electric pump for emergencies so the boat was pumped out immediately however the water level was over the top of the A4.

I concentrated first on the engine. Pulled the plugs, hand cranked to push water out, and sprayed WD40 in the cylinders. Removed all of the oil and water from the engine, added clean oil, and turned the engine over with the dist disconnected to force the new oil into the engine and displace moisture.

The first time I started the A4 the oil turned into a milkshake. After 4 or 5 changes the oil stopped looking milky and I let the engine run so the heat would dry everything out then changed oil again.

The A4 still runs great. Over the years have had to get both the alternator and starter rebuilt but considered that normal maintenance. My greatest expense was replacing all of the foam which just wouldn't dry completely.

Had lots of minor issues with my spares and tools but most were salvaged.

Since I live aboard I still have fresh water plumbed into the boat. I now have quick disconnect on the inlet hose and unplug the water everytime I leave. More than once I got to work and couldn't remember unplugging the water and returned home to check it. I also added a LOUD high water alarm with a float switch at the level of the top of the sump in the keel.

I think your main concern is the deck core and getting the fuel disposed of and tank cleaned. The rest is salvageble/repairable if you get to it fast enough.

Sorry to hear of your troubles and wish you the best.

Bill