Sunken Baja Where do I Start?
 

I purchased a 1993 Baja 22 Caliber, (454, Bravo) from an insurance company, the boat was totaled due to a fresh water sinking in mid June, 2003. The boat was knocked into gear at a marina and circled in reverse until it took on enough water to sink. As soon as the boat sank a salvage crew began the process of right siding the boat and recovering it. Within two hours of sinking the boat was on a trailer. The local Baja dealer preserved the engine the following day and confirmed the boat was running on shop gas. The dealer supposedly sprayed/treated the exposed electrical connections. The only signs of damage to the hull are top side gelcoat scratches in the area of the swim platform and damage where the ladder was ripped from the hull in the recovery process. The deck lid hinges have been in a bind but i manage to open the hatch. The interior will need to be replaced still a little moisture under the foam as of last week. No visible signs of corrosion on the wiring connections, approximately 3 weeks after revcovery all electrical systems and gauges appeared to be functioning. Before purchase the dealer pumped out the lake water from the fuel tank and treated it, replaced the starter as it had failed and lake tested the boat. The boat was winterized and put in warehouse uncovered to dry out for the last six months.
The process of where do I start and what next has begun. The interior and cosmetic stuff is a given as well as replacing the guages. What should I look for and what should I check or replace.

Thanks

STARTER & ALTERNATOR WILL TRAP WATER IN THEM. THEY NEED TO BE TAKEN APART & GONE THREW. SAME GO'S WITH ANY ELECTRIC PUMP OR MOTOR. LIKE TRIM PUMPS & TABS, GAUGES, SHORE POWER PANEL, FRIG, BATTERY CHARGER, ECT.

Strip everything you can out of the boat. That doesn't mean throw it away it just means take everything you feel comfortable with taking out - out!! Then you can inspect every nook and crany in the boat for signs of water that might be trapped in the boat. Also inspect for any wood that was exposed to the water and inspect it for ROT, or dry it out. The dealer "spray treating the electrical componets" means they sprayed behind the dash and all other exposed wires with
"WD-40"

As for the interior, it might be able to be saved!! Try just taking it apart, I mean take it completely apart and let the foam and wood dry out. When you get ready to put it back together get Stainless Staples or at least stapels that won't rust!!

That should get you started as far as the Boat is concerned, the motor might only need a couple of good oil changes after it's run for a while. Or it might need to be rebuilt?? Who knows?? At least it running now!!

Good luck!!!

I guess the first thing I should have told you is to....

1. buy a "wet-vac" or "shop-vac"
2. tilt up the nose and let it drain all the time!!!!

Dont be surprised to find lots of water trapped forward . I have seen very very improper drainage installed between bulkheads and stringers on many boats, even formula's. make sure you can see every nook and cranny forward of the engine room bulkhead no matter what you have to tear out.

Definetly plan on replacing every electical motor. The distributor, alternator, solinoids all will be bad. Mine worked for maybe 3 months and then failed. You'll have to replace all the gauges. Take every "sealed" electrical connection apart and clean it. Put some contact grease on it to slow the corrosion. It sounds like the dealer did it right by preserving the engine, tank, etc. He did you a major favor with those few things.

One thing I might add. If it has cable steering remove the cable, take out the center and let it dry. Then grease it real good and reassemble.

I guess the other question is can I accomplish this for 3 grand or less. I don't want to overspend on this project.
I've owned this boat for several years watched it sink with about 100 other people and 2 sheriffs deputys. Got a 1st right of refusal on the buy back and couldn't pass on the offer. Couldn't bare to see someone else in my boat for the price the insurance company offered it back at. I have no idea what the thing would be worh if i sold it as is with full disclosure the title is clear never changed hands or if I redo the boat how it will affect the value. The boats 11 years old and a 22 footer, one very fast 22 footer though. Any thoughts?

If you held onto it for a couple of years, it really wouldn't affect it's effective value. Now I'm only speaking on the terms of damages. It's the title that's going to hurt the monetary value. Because the boat now has a salvage title, the boats monetary value is probably 1/2 of it's book value. Ultimately, if you fix it cheap and can use it for a couple of years, there is no reason why it wouldn't be a good investment.


Scour the net for used parts. Don't go down to your local merc dealer for new stuff. If you do that and do the work yourself, then you'll be ok.

They sink up here all the time :D The seasonal folks go home for a few week and a nasty storm will brew up and send their boat to the bottom. If it was recovered immediately, and they had it running right after, you will probably be ok with just drying things out.

I say beat the hell outta it and see what goes wrong :D

If I can put in my two cents. In a way, you were lucky it was a fresh water dunk. Many years ago I had a 17' Tahiti with the bow up on the beach while my friends and I were hanging out. A large party boat came by a little too fast, and a little too close. Needless to say, the massive wake filled my boat right up with salt water! All my electrical equipment sizzled like dropping an alka-seltzer in a glass of water. I had to re-wire the whole boat, and replace all the electric motors (Trim Pump etc.).
If I were you, I'd pull the interior apart, and let everything dry out. If it's in good shape to begin with, there should be no reason to have to replace it. As far as motors go, replace the cheap stuff like bilge blowers. You said the starter was replaced. The trim pumps can get expensive. If you're handy, open the motor up, dry it out, clean the commutator, replace the brushes, clean any corrosion, regrease the bushings, and close it up. The windings are coated with a varnish, so water should'nt affect them. I've fixed plenty of fresh water soaked motors that way, and they worked fine for quite some time. You could even get a rebuild kit for the alternator that even includes the bearings. Those are pretty easy to rebuild. This site: http://www.alternatorparts.com/gm_al...grade_kits.htm has kits for $29.00 and $39.00. That's a far cry from the $100.00+ to replace it. It all depends on how much you want to spend, and how much work you want to do. Sounds like you have more labor in front of you than anything else. Hope this helps.

Paul

I've sunk several (all at the dock - one was a hose, another was a roof leak in the dock, another was parked at a marina under a bad gutter, etc.).

Take the alternator and starter to a shop and have the water dried out and the bearings regreased.

Plan on dumping the water separators every ten minutes for the forst couple of hours. Dump and bleed the trim and tab fluids. Regrease the throttle shift and steering cables. Remove the drive and grease all points inside and out on the drive.

Run her and make notes of anything that is odd.

After the first weekend, drain all fluids and refill with new filters.

Then chase problems as they come up.

I didn't see where anyone had concerns about going down running. I would! Probably means that it shut down due to ingesting water through the carb. That means that even though it seems to run O.K. on the hose, you could have a tweaked rod or two. (hydro-locking does that) I can tell you from sad experience that when that tweaked rod lets go at speed there is very little short-block left to salvage. I hate to say it, but for peace of mind I know that I would have the motor pulled down and inspected by someone knowledgeable, and that will probably blow your budget. LUCK --- Jer

Regarding a possible tweaked rod? I don't know if water ingestion shut the engine down or not, I speculate that it did. The boat circled in reverse for about a half an hour taking on a little water with each pass I was hoping the engine would shut off or run out of gas but it finally just rolled over, don't remember exactly when the engine shut off. I was kinda shocked at the moment. The dealer ran the boat twice that I know of, the day after recovery and flushing off the engine, (I think they did like six oil changes on the bill, I'll have to check the bill to confirm). The second time about a month later before the buy back, the starter had failed and was replaced the fuel tank pumped out flushed and refuelled. The dealer assured me that the boat was lake tested and seemed fine. Would this overcome the objection of a possible tweaked rod? or do I still need to proceed with caution?

Thanks for all the help

oooh, excellent point.
Running in reverse fast enough that nobody would try to get in it (2000rpm?).

Ran until the boat rolled on its side, then quit?
That's bad.

You need to remove the drive to regrease it anyhow, so go ahead and yank the motor when you pull the drive (don't pay someone to do it, just find a friend with a hoist). When you pull the motor out, you can yank the oil pan and inspect the rods. In addition to inspecting them, you can go ahead and start putting new rod bearings in it - If you do it carefully you can do them one at a time right there. If it hydrolocked, you may not be able to see the knuckle in the rod with bare untrained eyes, but you'll be able to see it on the bearing. If you find a smashed bearing, then plan on replacing the rods (or having a rod shop check all of them and replace the bad ones).

Just cause it has been run on the lake doesn't mean much.

It's a roll of the dice.

It's a real judgement call here. I had G.M.'s best 7/16 bolt rods that had been magnafluxed prior to assmb. but was a dumbass and tried to crank her over without pulling plugs after having had my stern washed down by a jerk while docked. Flappers didn't do the job and it hydro-locked. I pulled the plugs and pumped out the water and everything was fine till it blew sky high about 30 eng. hrs. later. The subsequent teardown (and we really didn't have to unbolt much) told the story. Rod damage due to hydro-lock. Rod broke midway up and damn near cut the whole engine in two, including pan. I hate to see you go to lots of grief for no reason on just my account, but..... Maybe someone else here can address this specifically. Are you lucky in Vegas or Atlantic City? --- Jer

I see Mc. just came in while I was responding. I think we're on the same page here. --- Jer

Some years back my neighbor and I were trolling for bikinis in front of the public park at the lake and some Bozo fell out of his boat. Boat was circling at high idle approaching the swimming area. Local water cops were near by and proceeded to pull up near the circling boat. Looked like they were fixin to do a Wild Wild West stage coach hop!

Meanwhile Dave was casually dumping the beers and ice overboard out of the cooler while I located the anchor and removed the line while heading towards the headless boat at half plane speed. The local boys in boat had a fit waving and shouting etc. Dave attached the line to the cooler and did his best cowboy impression and slung the line out near its path as we came up one plane to avoid being hit ourselves. At this point officer boater had his gun out taking aim at the craft. Yeah, that would work. He seemed to forget that there was a beach full of people down range. The boat ran over the line and wrapped up the prop. Engine stalled with a clunk.

We stayed on plane until we returned to our departure point and were picking our beers that were floating about as the water cops headed our way. One of them (the one with the gun) was screaming and shouting something about jail. The other one told him to shut up and thanked us.

Anyway something to thing of if you ever come across a pilot-less boat.

Oh man I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah I'll bet you were shocked at the moment. I'd be freaking out. How fast was it going in reverse? It had to going pretty good not to want to try to jump in it or run an aluminum boat along side of it or something? Did the Marina's insurance company end up flipping the bill or was it yours? Sorry i can't offer any great advise. Just curious.

Best of luck in getting her dried out.

The way it actually sank is I let someone off at a marina and waited with the engine running the dockhand came over with weighted dock lines in the floor instead of tieing to the cleats, I got out for about 2 minutes had my back turned, (my fault) heard it throttle up and watched it take off. Someone cut a wake in a no wake zone and the line must have knocked the boat in gear, throttle was pushed up also. So I waited as a crowd gathered waiting for it to sink or run out of gas. The boat was fully insured, no point in risking injury, since no one was in it there was no need for heros. The good news is that the insurance company gave me a first right of refusal and only one bid was submitted, they were offering the boat in unknown condition without the trailer. The title never transferred as well, still clear non salvage. Just now is the question of much money do I want to tie up in it.

Thanks for all the help

I completely forgot about the possibility of the engine taking a drink. I should have realized that. Do you think pulling the heads and taking piston to deck measurements might give him an indication of a tweaked rod? This might help him to determine if he had to pull the engine. What would acceptable variation between cylinders be?

Sounds like you may not have made out too bad. It still must have been painful to watch it happen to your boat.

If the engine did "take a drink" and it bent a rod then it would probably be knocking like hell. If they really did get the boat running the following day and they ran it out on the water you probably don't have a tweaked rod. (Was the oil pressure good?) But, anything is possible. If it was me I'd run it and hope for the best. (If it ain't broke don't fix it.) (And, if it jams force it. If it breaks it needed fixing anyways.)

I don't think I'd bother pulling the heads. That would be a pain while in the boat and I don't think it will tell you much. It would be just as easy to pull the motor and then pull the heads IMO.

If you do choose to run it as is keep a close watch on the oil pressure. If you spin a bearing the oil pressure is a tell tale sign. If the pressure drops or starts fluctuating erratically shut it down immediately.

If you prefer to be more cautious you could have a machine shop tear it down (or do it yourself) and rebuild it. You could do any upgrades you like at the time and it may only need new rod bearings. You'll then have a fresh engine you don't have to worry so much about. If something was wrong that would definitely save you $$$ in the long run before you start destroying other parts.

There is some great advise above. Which way to go just depends on your tolerence for risk. Are you a gambler?

"If the engine did "take a drink" and it bent a rod then it would probably be knocking like hell."

I disagree, learned this the hard way.

Had a bad riser cause hydrolock. Replaced risers and gaskets, started her up, ran great no noises, good oil pressure, smooth running, sea trialed great, gave it to customer.

He ran it for about 15 or 20hrs. Brought it back complaining about no start. Found rotor in distributor not turning, pulled distibutor, seemed ok. Looked down hole at cam gear, it's not turning!

Long story short, rod let loose, broke cam and ruined engine, nothing was salvagable.

It is your call. I would err on the side of caution.

Steve H

I bought an insurance salvage boat that had sunk. The owners way of saving the motor was to pour motor oil down the carb. When I bought the boat 7 months later it was still full of water with oil floating on top. My motor was history but that was about all. I think after about 3 years I had to replace the bilge blower & the trim pump but that was all.

I would replace what is not working & wait until something stops working before it breaks.

The only exception is I would pull the out-drive & check the gimble bearing. With it getting wet it is probably bad. You can tell when you stick your hand in & try to turn it. If it does not feel smooth replace it now. If it feels smooth then just grease it.

I'd do just what needs to be done to get it going, then enjoy it. If the engine destroy's itself, put a BIGGER one in! You wanted to go faster anyway....Didn't You????

Well Lib, You obviously got lots more money than I did when I blew mine. By checking it out I could have saved the cost of a good block, a good cam, a good forged crank, a good "trap-door" pan, H.P. oil pump, not to mention the pistons and rings that you don't re-use when you start from scratch with your new block, and the extra time(which = $ if you can't do it yourself). And then there's that awful mess in the boat where your engine used to be, and the embarrassment of the tow job. I still say "Check it out"!! --- Jer

Just joking!!!
You're right, but in the end it's up to him. It all depends on how much he wants to spend in both time and money. I have to admit, being a big block (which aint cheap), I'd probably pull it and check it out, and now is the time to do it before spring gets here. Plus, if the engine has some hours on it, now is the time to freshen it up. Going back to my previous post, do you think taking piston to deck height measurements would give him any indication of problems??

Paul

just get the thing running and see what happens, drain all fluids and go you might get lucky, wear a life jacket it may sink again.

Paul, I just don't know if rod deflection slight enough not to be noticed running initially, but enough to lead to eventual disaster could be measured from the top. Watdaya think, you math and physics guys out there?? --- Jer

I figure if you measure with a depth micrometer, a deviation of about .001" - .0015" between cylinders might be ok, but if every one is within that tolerance, then you find one that's four or five thousands out, you know you have a problem. The last engine I put together (383 sbc), I took deck height measurements on all the pistons. They were speced at .025" below the deck, and I don't think there was any deviation more than .001". It's hard to remember though, because I wasn't specifically looking for that. Maybe if I get a chance this weekend, I'll take some measurements on the 440 chrysler engine I have on the stand. It's a fresh build waiting to go into my GTX this spring. The heads are not on yet. I'm sure there are some pro builders out there that know a lot more about this than me.:)

I had the water in the cylinder problem last year due to a manifold failure. I pulled the head and checked piston to deck clearance. #7 was .002 low. Well, I thought, thats not enough to be a bent rod. But, it did knock ever so slightly so I pulled it apart. Rod wasnt bent but the wrist pin had scored the piston and was sloppy. Later in the year the engine exploded when a valve head broke off and like others have said, there was nothing left but an oil puddle and scrap iron. I doubt the valve failure was due to the water but I had to pull it apart anyway. Id have the rods checked real good and the valves. Water hitting hot valves is a bad thing. Breaking a rod is even worse.

If all else fails... visit WWW.isee.org :D