My buddy was on pool 6 (Winona) and had a large wave that swamped and then sank his boat in about 17 feet of water. It was quite an adventure. Lots of people were trying to help and the police eventually came with a crane to get the boat out of the water. He has a very old 50HP Merc and wants me to help him “dry it out”. Does anyone know what all I need to do and what I should look for as far as damage?
*wow*… that must have been quite a wave!…… guess I was in a boat that sank once…. though only in 5 feet of water…. and the water was very clean…. I remember they dissambled the moter and dried it out, then oiled it up to prevent rust in anything that could rust…. then they put it back to gether… it was quite a bit of work… Im going to “guess” your going to need to do something similar with that motor.. the sooner the better…..
Don`t take any chances, take it somewhere to have it cleaned if he wants to continue to use it.
Know how your skin feels after you take a dip in the river? You know that “silty” feeling, like you need a shower. One bit of that silt in the wrong place can do lots of damage.
Call a marine dealer that you trust and ask him. Beav
The best advice I could give you is to do it quickly. I was reading the shop manual for my Johnson and they even suggested leaving it submerged untill it could be worked on. Water doesn’t hurt the motor as much as when air gets back into those wet parts and corrosion starts doing its thing. Bearings, cylinder walls and all those other machined surfaces will start to rust very quickly. Whether you or a dealer does it you need to get it dried out and running.
Bob Knutson
I realize this will not help much now but consider what the water skimmer snomobilers do if they dunk a sled. They pull the plugs , immediately drain the water and use a rust/moisture spray to flood the cylinders , lower end and all electrical components.. The fuel tank is also done. Then they put the plugs in , refuel and fire it up right away. This will get oil into the engine.
I am not sure if I would be comfortable doing this with a real expensive OB but insurance may cover something like this.
If the person lives in the Winona area I may know of a person who can do the job. He has done work for me and is great. He is an older guy and doing this to keep busy.
Also the price is the best in town. If you want you can email me from the post.
Hey Haywood, thanks for referring me to that guy. He’s really nice and he’s not going to charge an arm and a leg. Later.
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