Offshoreonly.com - 30' Velocity Bilge Redo...

Offshoreonly.com (https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/)

- Velocity (https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/velocity-40/)

- - 30' Velocity Bilge Redo... (https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/velocity/327357-30-velocity-bilge-redo.html)

30' Velocity Bilge Redo...

Haven't wanted to post anything until insurance was complete and we had a plan moving forward, but over Memorial Day, we had a small fire in the bilge and we are now in the process of pulling everything apart and getting the boat repaired.

Coming back from a gorgeous day at the sandbar, I heard a sound change in the exhaust note and when I turned back to look, I could smell the burning rubber and see the white smoke coming from the bilge vents. I immediately backed off the throttles and shut the port motor down. We idled for a bit and I slowly cracked the hatch as I suspected a minor burn through on the rubber exhaust hose. As we idled along I quickly noticed the smoke was not diminishing and the starboard motor was now beginning to choke on the smoke. I shut the 2nd motor down and began to flag down a friend close by. At that point the smoke went from white to black and it was then I knew we had a fire. I made the decision to get the family in the water and away from the boat as I wasn't sure how much time we had before it spread or caught a fuel line. By now, my friend was turned around and heading for us, and I quickly grabbed a second life jacket and followed the rest of my family in the water. All this time, I knew the boat was equipped with a Halon suppression tank, but wasn't sure at what point it would release. After about 15 seconds in the water, the Halon tank released and the fire quickly went out.

The entire event probably lasted about 3-4 minutes, and it's something I never want to experience again. Thankfully, we were in the channel and had friends nearby. There was no other boat traffic, and the weather was still nice. Both my kids had jackets on, and no one was hurt. For a bad situation, we had the best case scenario of events that followed after the initial fire.

Since then, I was able to get the boat on the trailer and back to the house safely. My first call was to the insurance company and my second was to Kenny Hohwiesner w/ LTB Performance. Kenny picked up the boat from me last week, and it's now at the shop being torn down. I went out Saturday and he and I pulled the rear hatch off, the motors are coming out today. Some of the initial pictures are below, along with some from Saturday.

Best I can tell, the starboard manifold on the port motor was starved from water. The paint on the manifold is completely blistered and there is no rubber hose left to the tips. The port side exhaust looks normal, so I am fairly certain the motor did not overheat. I never had an overheat alarm, and I don't remember seeing a high temp on the gauge. Since then, both motors have fired off, so I don't believe they are hurt other than some wiring.

Plan is to redo the bilge in all white epoxy, and replace any of the damaged wiring. The transom assemblies are being replaced with new XR transoms, and the motors...well, those are up in the air...hopefully, there will be a little more HP going back in once complete. Drives are off and are in the back of my truck. They will go down to Craig Colabella for a once over and paint. Props will be going to Rich Junker for a little tune up also, once we know what power is going back in.

Once we got it back on the trailer...

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps3fezez84.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...pstarcceng.jpg

Sorry to hear of your experience and Im glad you all got out safely and no one was hurt.

It sounds like the boat is in safe hands now and I look forward to seeing the progress in photos.

Jon

Sorry about the fire but sounds like you will soon have it as good or better then before the fire and no one was hurt.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Padraig

I'm sorry to hear about your mishap and I am glad everyone was safe and not hurt.

Motors are out and breakdown of bilge and transom assemblies will be done tomorrow. Believe the water fitting on the transon assembly was the root cause as it was almost completely blocked. I'll post some pics shortly. Btw, I will have a pair of 502 MPI's for sale. Complete drop in minus exhaust. ;)

Hope the insurance company doesn't call it lack of proper maintenance and disallow the claim.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkerer (Post 4318619)

Hope the insurance company doesn't call it lack of proper maintenance and disallow the claim.

Claim is closed and check is in my hands. ;)

Thinking this may have contributed to my problem... Can't believe it was this bad. Engine ran cool enough, but obviously not enough water to cool the exhaust...

The other side wasn't much better...

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...s5slttt00.jpeg

Sweet looking boat when I saw it last summer at Great Oaks in MD. Can't wait to see the rebirth with new power. Are you coming back to MD this summer? Good luck with the project!

Wow I'm sorry to see this happen to you. Luckily no one was hurt. Good luck with the rebuild.

Quote:

Originally Posted by underpsi68 (Post 4319864)

Wow I'm sorry to see this happen to you. Luckily no one was hurt. Good luck with the rebuild.

Thanks!

wow, that buffed out pretty good!

Quote:

Originally Posted by modvp (Post 4319963)

wow, that buffed out pretty good!

That's what I thought at first too. Lol... They actually resprayed that entire area though.

Jeff. Sorry this happened to you. You are very lucky though, could have been much worst. Look on the bright side, you will get a new bilge and some up grades in other areas. Good luck. Your boat always looked good. Let me know if you come north this year. Bob

Jeff, great to see that it's coming together nicely. Are you and your family planning another Chesapeake Bay trip this year?

Quote:

Originally Posted by modvp (Post 4320776)

Jeff, great to see that it's coming together nicely. Are you and your family planning another Chesapeake Bay trip this year?

We won't make it up this year, but I'm fairly certain we will next summer. ;)

Jeff, glad to hear the only injuries were to the boat! It looks like a blessing in disguise..when all is said and done you will wind up with a better boat than you started with! Looking forward to watching the rebuild!

And now it's white! Can't wait to see it in person. I think the white is a huge improvement over the faded red.

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...pswaluuxq9.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...psojhsnrpd.jpg

Do you have room on the dash for water pressure gauges?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sydwayz (Post 4324461)

Do you have room on the dash for water pressure gauges?

Yes, I'd just need to relocate the hour meters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziemer (Post 4324488)

Yes, I'd just need to relocate the hour meters.

I would definitely go that direction with the re-rig. (mechanical water pressure gauges)
I pay a fair amount of attention to them, especially traveling in waters with debris.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sydwayz (Post 4324500)

I would definitely go that direction with the re-rig. (mechanical water pressure gauges)
I pay a fair amount of attention to them, especially traveling in waters with debris.

Before it's done, I believe there will be water pressure and strainers. ;)

That looks much better in white Ziemer.

Looks good, since you are in St Cloud where do you boat with it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wildman_grafix (Post 4325210)

Looks good, since you are in St Cloud where do you boat with it?

We either put in over at the Melbourne 192 ramp and head south to Sebastian or meet up with friends on the west coast in St Pete. Every once in awhile we'll run north and hang at ski island.

Are those your 500's at Bruce's??

This is his Dad. Cannot wait to see the Velocity completed. I cannot say enough good about Kenny H and Bruce Baker. They are working
very hard to make the 30' Velocity better than new. Hope to see it soon on the water.

Heading on vacation this week, so I may not have too many more pics until we get back. However, it should be really close to completion for when I do.

Just want to reiterate how great Kenny has been through this whole process. He calls me with updates almost every day, and even on days there hasn't been progress because we're waiting on parts. I couldn't have asked for anything more. He even let me help out a little bit. Lol... Bruce Baker at Express Engines is handling the motors, and it's clear he is a perfectionist. They should be complete next week also. Thanks to both!

Looking good. Can't wait to see what it does with the new power.

Padraig

It will be good to hear those big blocks running again. I am sure Bruce Baker will have them dialed in.