sunken treasure I think not

Hi My name is Timmy and just joined iboats.
We just bought a fixer upper lake house (repo) and it has a sunken boat in the boat house.
My son and I went out there and raised it from the depths. It is an ond tri-hull with a Lark IV 35 Evinrude. The head of the motor was out of the water for the most part. The boat looks like an old Evinrude Sweet 16 or something like that.
Can the boat still be restored? I thought the old tri hulls were unsinkable?
It is floating now and we're going to try to get it out of the lake in the next day or so and clean it uo and try to ID it better, If we can find a tag.

I'll try to post a pic.

Timmy

Re: sunken treasure I think not

Here is a pic from yesterday

Re: sunken treasure I think not

The way we got it

Re: sunken treasure I think not

Wow---That looks like it's been under water for a while. I'm sure you'll have a better idea about it's condition after it's cleaned up......... Welcome to the site- there's a lot of good people here with excellent advice. I'm new to boating myself, and have learned a lot here!!! Dan

Re: sunken treasure I think not

Timmy, Pull the spark plugs on that motor and put some oil into the cylinders immediately, or it will have no moving parts.

Turn the flywheel a bunch of times as well to distribute the oil. Now spray some wd-40 into the carb throat and turn the motor over by hand some more. You will need to clean up the carb, fuel pump and starter as a minimum. You will also need to clean the points and replace th spark plugs. I would run the motor on a 24::1 gas oil mix, provided it isn't junk already.

BTW - it looks more like a 25HP model to me.

Re: sunken treasure I think not

You may have trouble walking on the floor. Methinks it would not hold up to well in that environment. Also, if it has any foam, it'll be waterlogged. It is kind of a thrill to find a sunken treasure though.

Re: sunken treasure I think not

fresh water does not do nearly the damage as salt water. drab the boat on shore, with stern down hill, and let it dry out, pressure wash it, you may have a workable project. here's a link on sunk engines, luckily it was not running. there have been many engine revived after sinking. http://www.brokeboats.com/sunk.html

Re: sunken treasure I think not

timmyg said:

I thought the old tri hulls were unsinkable?

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So was the Titanic.

Re: sunken treasure I think not

Timmy, the only unsinkable trihull for sure is a Boston Whaler.

Make sure you take lots of pictures along the way, it could wind up being a great project or at least a great story.

Good luck!

Re: sunken treasure I think not

By the looks of it, it was under water for awhile - and the motor was likely in and out judging by the waterline on it. I would either look for another motor, or at the very least another powerhead, as that one is probably junk. The lower unit and peripheral stuff may be alright, but the steel parts inside the powerhead are more than likely rusted beyond using. I think I would find a similar motor, as the one you have probably has some good parts on it at the very least. By the way - it's a 40hp, not a 35....

I would start by giving he boat a good powerwashing and see what you've got.

Good luck!
- Scott

Re: sunken treasure I think not

Wow, I don't know much about the rebuild, but it would make a neat story if you got it done. Right before you take your firends out in it you could show them the before pictures.

That Boat house looks pretty neat.

Re: sunken treasure I think not

Actually it could be a treasure, for you and your son, a great father son project. i did boats with my dad, and my son. now teaching neighbor kids. we have one 13 y/o member of the forum, who is almost as knowledgeable as i am. Bassboy1 and Baconbiscut. are both amazing for there age.

Re: sunken treasure I think not

You really can not lose...... it's a great father son project to learn on. I doubt the electric wires are good but, on that motor there really are not too many. Good luck!

Re: sunken treasure I think not

Even if the hull is full of waterlogged foam, you could remove the floor, yank out the foam and put in a removable plywood floor...to make a good waterfowl blind/boat. That model trihull is ideal for that, if you're into sky busting for ducks/geese...doesn't take much hp to push one along to the preferred hunting spot, or I've also seen them moored in place for just such a purpose. Interesting project...curious to see what it looks like cleaned up. If the outboard is toast, you may be able to salvage and sell some of it for parts on Schmebay or the free Webvertize ads at www.aomci.org Good luck and keep posting.

Re: sunken treasure I think not

You can also post it on http://www.craigslist.com I just bought a 1977 Reinell 170 for $500 off there.

Re: sunken treasure I think not

Neat boat, what did you use to get it back above the water?

Re: sunken treasure I think not

hmmm...

that pic of your boat reminds me of the '57 Plymouth Belvedere they yanked out of the ground in Tulsa after being buried 50 years.

Only thing; you knew that your boat was underwater. In the case of the Plymouth; it came as a big surprise...

Interesting reading; if you care to...

http://www.buriedcar.com/

Thanks for reading, Chuck

Re: sunken treasure I think not

WOW Lots of replys, Thanks everyone for the input.

We've been down at the house all day working, the house was in just a little better shape than the boat...LOL

Could anyone ID the boat? There looks like there were some badges on the sides in the rear that ate gone now but looked to have started with a T or a fancy F. We havn't found the ID tag yet, but havn't even started to clean the inside.
My son spent a good part of the day messing with it, cleaning and tinkering and a little swimming. The glass looks to be in good shape from what we can tell with the boat still in the water. 2 days floating and it doesn't seem to be taking on any more water. The boathouse roof is in bad shape so we think it just filled with rainwater and sunk.
I think the power head is going to be shot. I could not turn the FW but the trans and foot seem OK.
I plan on getting it out of the water but I ave to see if a nieghbor has a ramp I can use. The only public ramp is too far to move the boat and we have like a block sea wall so pulling it up into the yard would not be a good idea.

OK, how did we raise it?
We were taking a break from working on the house and were just looking at it and the next thing we knew we were brainstorming... Like I said, the boathouse roof is in bad shape but the beams that had a hook on it, I assume for dry storage??? was still in fair shape. We only had one light weight strap and some old skee rope. Using the skee rope and and sone sticks of bamboo we were able to get the top of the hull level and to the surface. At that point he started bailing, I have to admit, ther aint no way I would have bailed it all out.

Timmy

Re: sunken treasure I think not

well guess what, if he takes that much interest in it. you got a father/son project. if nothing else find a used trailer, an that it home for a winter project. get him to make a list of what he wants to do with it. how old is he? explain it first has to be a safe, structurally sound boat, and then gets the cosmetics.

Re: sunken treasure I think not

tashasdaddy said:

well guess what, if he takes that much interest in it. you got a father/son project. if nothing else find a used trailer, an that it home for a winter project. get him to make a list of what he wants to do with it. how old is he? explain it first has to be a safe, structurally sound boat, and then gets the cosmetics.

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That is what I'm thinking too. He is 17 and a gamer so it is nice to see him interested in getting outside. We'll be living there in a few weeks so it will be easy to work on there. We do have a trailer from an old junk boat we had years ago.I just need to find a ramp close enough to get to. And find the ID tag. if I can't get a title it won't be worth the trouble.


Timmy