californian goes down

One of the saddest and scariest days of my life. Out cruising with my wife, son, daughter in law and twin 4 year old grandsons when my boat started taking on water. Opened the hatch and just seen water gushing in. Had already filled up the bilge before I noticed and shorted out the bilge pump. I re started the boat and headed for the public boat ramp and tied her up to the dock. Got the girls and kids off the boat and my son and I bailed like crazy keeping up with the intake of water. A pump arrived and had it running for about 20 seconds when a large boat created a large wake and sunk my boat. Turns out that the exhaust elbow blew out from years of use. Might have been the original. If you don't have a plug big enough to plug your exhaust, I recommend getting one. On Amazon for about 20 bucks. It is a rubber cone that fits any size up to 4". Has anyone restored a sunken boat?

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back on the ways.

So sad about the boat...so glad you made sure everyone was safe!

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Sorry to hear that news. Was it in salt water or fresh?

Oh! So unfortunate!! I wish you the best of luck with the restoration project, if that's the route you ultimately decide to take...

TF continues to give me ever-increasing respect for exhaust elbows. An item I previously never gave a thought to!

Get engines pickled ASAP!

So sorry to hear this, but glad no injuries.


Fresh water is a good bet for a rebuild, but like said, get the engines pickled and out asap... same with the gen. Perhaps radios that haven't gotten wet.


Reusing the electrical stuff that's underwater will be challenging, and could argue for a replacement of that.



Best of luck whatever you decide, but keep us posted.

You can buy 30 foot boats for WAY less than the repair cost on yours.Sorry, but that's the way it is.

Now you can look at a bigger boat!

Hope you had insurance,

pete

If he had insurance, let the adjuster make the determination of rebuild or total.

Sometimes you can collect and buy the boat back cheap enough to rebuild yourself.

Sad to hear, but glad everyone is safe.

Freshwater is great for electronics submerged, salt water is almost instant (once the water hits the inside electronics) toast.

BUT..........................DO NOT TURN ON THE ELECTRONICS TO SEE IF IT (THEY) STILL WORK, explanation to follow.

Turning on the electronics to see if it still works is what toasts them. Instead take them out and set them aside in a small room with an electric heater on and leave them there for one or two weeks. In other words you want them thoroughly dried out before you test them. Ignore the advise to use rice, submerging them in rice, this is a myth. The key is to thoroughly dry them out.

My experience with two smart phones. Scenario A, I bend over beside a deep puddle in a parking lot and I forget my phone is in my shirt breast pocket. Phone slides out and into the puddle. I did not try and turn it on but instead did the above scenario. I also put it on top of the clothes dryer when in use to get the vibrations to break up the water inside, but I DID NOT TURN IT ON.

Scenario B, I put my clothes in the washing machine and the machine starts washing my clothes. With horror I realize my new Smart Phone is in one of the pockets of my pants and has been in the water getting sloshed around for about ten minutes. I repeated the treatment as in Scenario A. A long time in a very warm room (laundry room with electric heater) and putting the phone on top of the clothes dryer to break water loose so it will dry out better.

In both scenarios, the phones lasted years beyound the swim in the water. If you google, you will find that electronics can be brought back to life if the unit was in fresh water and it was allowed to thoroughly dry out.

And.... without letting my wife know, when she isn't looking I have been known to put our electric popcorn pooper (no electronics just electrical with a motor to move the rotating arm to spread the corns) into the dishwasher to clean it (I've also done the same with a toaster twice, no electronics). After I bring it out of the dishwasher, it is set aside for a month or longer before I use it, translation: thoroughly dried out. That popcorn pooper has been through a wash about 14 times as still keeps on ticking. Of course I might be shortening the life of it, but so far I've used it for ten years so it owes me nothing - traditional Cuisinart model with swing arm.

That is very sad. I'd like to know a little more about the failure - is the exhaust elbow in that boat below the waterline? Or did the engine cooling water flood the boat from the failure sufficient to sink it until the exhaust elbow was below the waterline?

rsn48, I guess washing your popper keeps it pooping along.

psneeld said:

Get engines pickled ASAP!

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That's the key. Rust starts immediately and even a wait of a few hours makes a huge difference. Once the engines are salvaged worry about the rest. I've been present when an insurance adjuster wanted to wait for estimates. The yard told him the range of cost if he started now vs. the range if he waited. The adjuster said to hold on and obviously spoke with someone else and then told him to start and just keep him updated.

Only reason I'd see for your insurer to delay is if they were planning on totaling the boat.

I applaud your response to the situation. You saw you had an issue that put you in peril and you got everyone to safety. Then you worried about the boat, but you didn't sit around out on the water trying to solve something and increasing the risk. You definitely had your priorities right.

Our 1973 36 gulfstar sank to about that same level in 2005 during hurricane Dennis. I decided on a rebuild, with support from the insurance company. Pickled both motors, most of a rewire, rebulit the genset, replaced the electrical end. Full interior and galley refit with wall coverings, floors, cushions, appliances, counter tops, cabinet doors etc. Replaced both AC units. Countless other things. It was a lot of work and money, but the boat was better after than it was before.



We took it from Carrabelle, in the Florida panhandle through the Okeechobee waterway, deep into the Bahamas and back 4 times plus local cruising. John Nall, who is a moderator on this forum, owns it now. He bought it from us in Stuart, FL (after a Bahamas trip) and ironically brought it back up here to St. Marks only a few miles from where we started with it. I think John has been ill and the boat is in pretty rough shape.


Anyway, the answer is yes, you can rebuild just fine after a sinking, especially with no hull damage. If you want to.


Good luck and I feel for you.

It was the elbow right it went straight out the back. Blew,a 2" hole in it and filled the bilge up. That weighed down the tailpipe,where water started gushing in.

Glad you and your family are okay...

I have a Californian 30 too, it's quite a "wake up call" to see pics of yours in the water like that. In fact, I was already down in the engine compartment crawling around looking at the exhaust and fittings. It made me finally spend the money for an emergency plug that was big enough for the exhaust.

Hope things work out for you, keep us posted on what happens from here.

Yes, the engine cooling water flooded the boat until the tailpipe was under water outside the boat and that's when the water started gushing in. Had I realized the problem, I could have stuffed something in the tailpipe to plug it up. Next trip I take I will have a plug on board!

If OP has good insurance I would strongly counsel to NOT try to recover Electronics. Let them replace with new. Anything that was wet is a potential future failure. Same rule applies with a lightning strike. It may work now but could have been stressed and the you have a latent failure.

If you have something happen like that you can shove a towel in the tailpipe. Shove it in well enough and the leak rate will go low enough that the pumps can keep up.

When you can, post a pic or two of the elbow that failed.

Ski in NC said:

If you have something happen like that you can shove a towel in the tailpipe. Shove it in well enough and the leak rate will go low enough that the pumps can keep up.

When you can, post a pic or two of the elbow that failed.

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The "towel solution" is what I was thinking, rather than rushing out to buy a plug that might or might not fit well... or be difficult to install in the rush of the moment.

Mike, I'm soooo sorry to learn of your fine boat's submersion. I gasped out loud when I saw your photos. Thank God you and yours are safe. I hope you're able to bring her back to her prior glory and even better.

I'll be following with interest as you bring her back. Was the elbow that failed a fiberglass elbow of about 4 inches diameter at the transom? I look forward to photos when you can get them. I carry a few small Nerf balls, bungs and a football for large openings and next time on the boat, I'll be testing it in the exhaust pipe for fit.

I know you've got a lot of Californian support there at the Sportsmen Yacht Club but if there's anything I can do to help on this end, please let me know. As an aside, every time I've had issues that required major maintenance, and there have been a few hide, my boat has come back better than she was before the incident. I hope your experience is similar.

This is the rubber elbow that was the cause of my boat sinking. Please check your exhaust fittings as I never even gave a thought that the exhaust system could cause my boat to sink!

Beers30 said:

This is the rubber elbow that was the cause of my boat sinking. Please check your exhaust fittings as I never even gave a thought that the exhaust system could cause my boat to sink!

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Yikes! Those elbows are usually metal in my limited experience. What engine was it?
When I insured my previous boat, twin Lehmans, the insurance company required the elbows be removed/checked/cleaned every 5 years. They probably had a claim like yours.
Some time later I saw seepage at the elbows which on checking were rusting. I imported new cast iron ones.
It is a very good issue you raise, the discussion and advice means others learn from your unfortunate experience. I sincerely hope it has a good ending.