Swamped the Airslot

D

dizzyspots

Member
Came back from fishing in the Sea of Cortez, tied up to our friends mooring buoy...cooked up a batch of triggerfish fish tacos...couple of cervezas and bed time...
.awake the next morning to the sunrise, sipping on coffee...I notice that I cant see the red stripe on my 74 Airslot 185 OB...in fact I can only see half of the Wellcraft "W"...hmmm taking on water???. I wake up my fishing buddies...we swim out to the boat and its FULL...floating OK but FULL to the gunwales...bilge pump is on...we start bailing, get it unhooked from the mooring and beach it on the sand. We get all the gear out and eventually all the water.

We find the culprit: 8 in x 1/4 gash in the port "sponson". We get that patched up enough to tow it around to the estuary and get it back on the trailer.
What do I need to be doing next...the 88 140 Rude was in the up tilt position.
I opened the bow hatch and under dash flaps...its sitting in a dry Baja garage until I can get back to tow it home at the end of the month.
I put a lot of sweat and tears into rehabbing the old girl....The engine started in fast idle but would stay running.
So plan is to drain fuel...repair gash (epoxy or poly resin?)...what else am I missing here....stringers ...foam...transom? Any issues with motor?
 
You need to be flushing any salt from the motor within minutes of getting it out of the water...

Figure on replacing all electrical... All switches, wiring, gauges, etc.
 
I sunk a 70 rude in fresh. Soon as I got it out, engine down pulled plugs, see if water comes out?, tilted motor up filled all 3 cylinders with marvel mystery oil, turned flywheel by hand to work it in, tilt down to drail oil - again turning flywheel by hand. Tilt up & repeat process several times until you run out of marvel mystery oil. I did it maybe 5 - 7 times? Drained as much mm oil as possible then hit starter (still worked) to blow out the rest. Replaced plugs and fired up. You are gonna want to spray the powerhead down really good too. I like CRC 656.

Like smoke said, time is of the essence - it can't wait. Especially in salt. Youtube it, there's some good tips there.
 
Sorry to hear, not the end of the world though. Do what they said, rinse everything really well and apply lubricant to all electrical connections. Would get rid of all the fuel and flush the tank. Run the engine off a small auxillary tank to get it going again. If you can get to the gash from the inside I'd go that route, regular epoxy resin with some mat and cloth. Some glass on the outside as well to fill in, or some marine tex, sand and touch up paint.
 
Thanks for all the replies, unfortunately, being in Baja, I didnt have access to most of that...and an early AM departure to return to the US for work resulted in me leaving it in a friends 2 car garage...in Baja. I wont get back there for 3 or 4 weeks.
1) The motor was tilted up..tried to start motor after re-floating off the beach the next morning...batteries weak..no joy...as I was being towed back to the estuary to put the boat on the trailer, I tried several times and got a start twice..on high idle...but nothing continuous. Ill pull the plugs and do the MM routine and drain carbs when I get it back
2) No running water for flushing anything before we left. I did open the bow hatch and the console flaps so it could air out
3) One saddle tank was near empty, the other near full...I plan on draining both upon return
4) There is NO access to back side of the sponson...I did use auto grade POLYESTER resin , not epoxy for initial repair was that wrong?
5) Nothing is happening until Oct 30-31 or Nov 7
6) Any concerns about the understructure (stringers. foam. transom) being flooded over night??
 
The hull is nothing to worry about... The issues will be with anything metal

If you removed the gelcoat before doing the repair it MIGHT be ok but I suspect that you likely simply put a bandaid over the leak... To repair it you need to fair it at at least a 5-1 scope and layer in new glass... I/E if the glass to be repaired was 1/2" thick you would need to grind back at least 2 1/2" in all directions.

I would not use anything automotive grade anything and would much prefer epoxy.
 
The boat was not sunk..it took on a lot of water because of a gash in the outer sponson. The water was below the gunwales. the batteries and battery switch were submerged.
The engine was tilted fully up, the engine cover was touching the water, not sure if the carbs/powerhead got water or not.
The initial repair last season was 60gt prep to some raw glass but probably some 60gt gel. it was 3 layers: 1" wider all around, followed by 2" wider and 3" wider. Hardware store polyester resin and mat
 
Having saddle tanks your fuel is probably ok as long as no fittings or the fill or sending unit was submerged. One advantage of saddle tanks.
 
Ok....motor is frozen. pulled the heads..found some corrosion is port lower cylinder...soaked with Marvel x 1 week...wont budge even with a socket and breaker bar on the flywheel not...tried electric impact as well...doesnt move.
Carb/intake look clean...gonna pull the intake and take a look at crank/bearings Ive built several auto v8's over the years, but not an outboard: 1987 Evinrude 140 looper..(200hrs) open to ideas and suggestions.....Mike
 
Roller bearings typically won't lock one up. Stuck rings is my guess. You will have a lot to do if water made it into the crankcase to say the least. I am in agreement with Smoke, you are motor shopping at this point. If you had the time to pickle the engine before layup you had a chance of saving her. Now, you still can, but lots of dirty work and effort. Last rebuild kit for my 90 Johnrude was around $900, including all the bearings new... Bearings are a little pricey. The crankshaft won't survive with much rust on journals, and there is no such thing as oversize bearings on the crank, so it could be junk as well. Polishing may fix it up but I wouldn't count on it. You need to go ahead and pull the front half of that motor apart. Remove carbs and reed plate so you can see what the crank and rods look like. That will be the determining factor. You may have gotten lucky and only one piston is stuck. Find out which one and beat the crap out of it with a hammer. Making sure she isn't all the way at the bottom of the stroke first ... On that motor, the piston could be removed and replaced without taking the motor 100% apart. Just watch for all the needle bearings when you start taking the rod caps off. They are not caged and will go everywhere. Don't use a magnet to pick them up if you plan to reuse. (I have always heard this but don't remember why) Picture or two, I want to see the carnage.
 
Salt water will rust tupperware. Hate to say it but dont throw a bunch of money into a chunk of rust and corrosion. You can find a decent running engine for less. Do what Ridge said and go from there.
 
Absolutely take it down. You may have gotten lucky/unlucky. If that lower cylinder is the only one. I never read where it went totally under. If not perhaps the wiring isn't going to need replacing.

I can't decide if I am cheering you up or full on kicking you in the gnutz. Sorry about your luck.

Remembering back to the initial repair, you couldn't get to the repair from the inside of the hull, correct?
 
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