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Draining a sunken ship


SunneyeDay

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Yesterday during the weather, my rope broke that was tying my boat to the dock, and I now have a swimming pool when I use to have a fishing boat. I don't have a way to get this boat out of the water and above the plug due to the current weight. I now have it beached in about 1-2 FOW, and cannot flip it.

Anyone have any creative ideas of how to drain my Lund swimming pool?

Items available to me- lots of garden hose, a shop vac (and its 10 ft, 3.5 in diameter hose), a Chevy Impala with a hitch, and plenty of other normal household items that I see no application for this use.

MacGuyver- where you at?

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With smaller boats I've started the motor, pulled the plug and started driving it. It wasn't totally swamped so I could get enough speed to lift the front end and drain most of it out the plug hole. Another option would be a sump pump.

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put one end of the garden hose in the bottom of the boat. go to the other end and suck HARD for 2-3 seconds (if you have a 25' or longer hose you wont have to worry about choking on water). lay the other end of the hose over the edge of the boat and wait. water will start spitting out in 10-15 seconds.

I drain my kids 1,700 gallon pool this way. takes about hour and half. and i can move the house and water my lawn.

cheap, easy, effective, and free.

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Bail, baby, bail! The five gallon bucket, like in the old days smile

I did that once already this summer, when my lift cable broke. Bailing along wiht the bilge pump. I tell you this, IF a boat ever gets FULL, there is no way a bilge pump will save you, if the waves are up. Just not fast enough.

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I will most likely get blasted for this but... I would call your insurance co. and let them deal with it. I can think of all kinds of problems you could wind up with. You drain the water and it's on you no INS help later on. Just my thoughts

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Thanks for the help here guys.

Bailing isn't exactly a pleasant option as I'm going to be standing with water close to my waist, and the itch has been quite common when the waves are coming my way on the lake.

I was kind of hoping MacGuyver would jump on FM and teach me how to make a pump out of a gallon milk jug, a garden hose, and my two iron, but oh well.

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That happened to us once when we were on kabetogama. Woke up in the morning with pouring rain and 30mph winds. The water was up to the bottom of the seats and everything else was floating. I turned the bilge on and grabbed the coffee can that we use to p!$$ in and started bailing. Its not fun but it was the only option.

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siphon and 5 gallon pail. electricity and water dont mix.

good idea stated earlier about the insurance company. notify your agent and tell him you will snap photos and drain the boat. that way if something goes haywire he had heads up at the time of incident, and you have photo proof.

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I do not see how siphoning would even work. If the boat is full to the water line, how are you going to achieve a gravity pull when the end of the hose has to be below the water line outside the boat? You would have to be under water to even suck in the hose??

MacGuyver when suck it up, brave swimmers itch, get in the water, use a 5gal bucket and start working wink

Are we talking about a Lund that is all decked out with a large outboard, floor console, storage, windshield, or a basic old fashion 3 bench aluminum tiller boat? If it is a basic old fashion 3 bench aluminum tiller boat, I think my insurance guy would say "get a 5gal bucket and start bailing it out" grin . If it was an expensive boat then yes call your agent and have him use the insurance to get it out of the water and repair the damage.

All I know is that if it is a regular, basic, old fashion 3 bench aluminum tiller boat you will want to get it out quick. You get any large wave action, you would not believe how quick the waves can flip it. If you are in sand, when it flips, it will mean instant suction cup to the bottom eek. At that point you will wish you braked swimmers itch and got the 5gal bucket out wink

If you do not want to do it and are willing to pay, call a local resort, marina or boat dealer. I am sure they would or know someone who would come out and do it for you at a price.

Good luck!

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You raise many good points- I was scared [PoorWordUsage] less as I saw it start to go sideways- hooked up about three ropes to hold it upright and towed it up on the beach as fast as possible (Impala impressed me here- thats a lot of weight).

Yes, its an old three seater so not much damage to worry about-took the wood floors out asap, so now just need to get water out.

Since about half of the water line is above lake line (its well stabilized by the three rope system I tied up), siphon should get to at least that point- then its bucket time- pending a MacGuyver break through...

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I really don't think siphoning is going to work, either. In order to siphon, the hose outlet will need to be lower than the hose inlet. Unless I am picturing this wrong, I don't see how you could acheive that.

I say get in the water with a bucket and bail it out. If you're worried out swimmers itch, hop in the shower as soon as you get out and you should be clear.

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Luckily not- it was prob only a minute or two away when I got home from work...

Anyone have any tips or tricks to know if the air intake on the gas tank took in any water- I don't think it did, as it was floating, but not a risk I am willing to take- prob just going to dump it unless someone knows a sure fire test.

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The first thing you need to do is remove the water from the tank. Luckily fuel and water don’t mix, and the denser water will settle to the bottom of your tank. I have found the easiest way to pump off water/fuel is with an oil change pump. Simply enter the tank through the fuel gauge sender and probe down to the bottom of the tank. You’ll need to remove all water and some fuel, so you need to empty the pump several times—most hold just a gallon or two.

You may find that you need to pump off the water several times as it resettles to the bottom. You should be able to get it all over a couple days. As a side note, pumping off the bottom of the tank is a good maintenance procedure in any boat—any water or growth in the tank will be on the bottom.

I’d also recommend a good fuel additive to take care of any residual water.

Good luck.

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As long as you've pulled it onto the beach 'some', pull the drain plug, let it drain down and pull it up some more. (The water in the boat will drain down to the water level of the lake) eventually you'll have it far enough out of the water that it can ALL drain out. Otherwise, another time proven method is bailing. As for the tank, the gas is gonna float on top of any water in the tank. Pour off as much gas/oil as you can, then empty the last 1-1/2 gals or so into a glass or clear plastic container. Let it settle and if there's any water in the gas, you'll see it on the bottom of the clear container. Phred52

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How about using the Impala's water pump? Disconnect hoses and add extentions so the intake hose is in the boat and the outlet is in the lake, then start up the car and watch the water go. Keep an eye on the temp guage and shut her down for a bit if it gets hot. That sounds like something Mcguyver would do!!

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