SHETLAND OWNERS ASSOCIATION

I’m in Catalunya in Spain and we’ve been locked down for three weeks now.
On the fourth day of lockdown I received an email from my marina in L’ampolla saying my boat had sunk. We had just had 3 days of torrential rain and no sun. My automatic bilge pump runs off a solar powered battery. It looks like the battery had run flat so the pump stopped and with about 10inches of rain it was enough to sink her
Because of the lockdown I am not going to be able to even start to lift her.
There is nobody working at the marina to do it as it’s not classified as essential work (fair enough)
It has a new Tohatsu 50hp outboard which is totally submerged. Any ideas on the procedure to save everything when I can eventually get her out of the water?

Thats a sad sight, but take heart, my 535 has sunk twice in the 50 years I've owned her but she's as good now as ever. When you retrieve the engine first thing is to remove spark plugs and turn engine over to expel any water, then pour thin oil into the cylinders and turn over without the plugs in. Use hairdryer on the electrics to dry out, check for spark . Then try to start engine. All this is best done as soon as possible when out of the water and before the air can start to increase corrosion. You may be lucky.

that's a sad sight, as per vreagh says, I would also, (if it's 4 stroke) take dip stick out & check for the presence of water in sump, drain & change oil anyway after a start up, yea a light oil or even redex. you never know, unlike modern Shetlands it probably won't have any MDF to help soak up all the water.

Of course I should have realised that modern outboards are 4 stroke. I was still thinking of a twostroke. Perhaps the presence of oil in the sump will increase the possibility of a good outcome. Lets hope.

Hi, I'm quite shocked that only 10inch of rain was needed to do that. Hope the isolation is going OK.

Was it insured?

Good news
The boat is now outside my house
The outboard is running
Cost so far 800€ for divers
876.56€ for lifting boat and cleaning flushing and starting the outboard
All because a £15 bilge pump failed.
I hadn’t realised I only had 3rd party insurance.
Yeah I still love boating.

Well you've got a bit of work there, but all do-able. A result with the engine as well. Be surprised what a hose down and clean up will do.

The cause of the bilge pump failing was a bit of fishing line wrapped around the impeller
On lifting the decking I find that there is a whole load of water which is trapped and can’t get to the rear of the boat where the bilge pump is.
What have other owners done to stop this?

I drilled limber holes to join all the areas into the deepest bilge then fitted a pump in there. If you try this, be careful you get the angle right. I did mine at low tide and got the angle wrong. Later got a phone call from harbour master to say boat was low in the water, I'd drilled through the hull !! Hole plugged and the system works well. Should say my 535 is an early one so is not double skinned.