Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

So I took the boat out today (on saltwater to make things worse) and at some point the plug popped out. Fortunately we were already headed in and almost to shore when we noticed water in the back of the boat. The boat is a 1970 reinell 16' runabout with a mercruiser 120 sterndrive. When I lifted the engine cover I found that the bilge was completely flooded and we had a couple inches of standing water at the far back end of the boat. After fighting to get the boat back on the trailer I realized that it was the plug that had come loose. As soon as I got home I parked the boat at a steep angle and sprayed everything in the engine compartment that had gotten salt water on it. Then I put another plug in it and flooded it again with fresh hose water to try to get any remaining salt water out. Now its drying out and I'm wondering what I'm in for here as far as potential engine damage. The water didn't seem to get completely to the top of the oil pan, so I'm really hoping it didn't get in there. Any thoughts or advice (aside from buying a better plug)?? Thanks in advance,

Mike

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

The starter. Starters do not like salt water. My buddy found this out the hard way on the Sunshine Coast.
He swamped in swells and had the starter dunked. When he pulled it apart it was badly corroded. But that was after a long tow.
He never got to see that skookumchuck...

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Additional info: Engine never died, I shut it down myself. Also the batteries both seem to be ok despite the fact that I could have sworn that the smaller one was submerged at some point. I spent the past 4 weeks working on this boat to get it running well and when I saw it fill with water today I was devastated. Hoping everything turns out ok.

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Thanks for the response ricohman. I was thinking the same thing. I know that the water got at least to the underside of the starter housing.

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Get the starter dried out, so as to stop the rusting. Maybe spray it full of wd-40 and then a compressor to blow it out.

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Ok here's the verdict so far: Water definitely got in the engine. The oil level was at about twice the full capacity and looked like light gray paint. Do I just need to do several oil changes to flush this out?? How many times am I going to have to change the oil to clear it out? I went ahead and drained it for tonight,`but have to run into town tomorrow to get oil and filters. Anyone dealt with this before who can offer advice? Most of my mechanical experience is on cars and planes, so thankfully I've never had to deal with salt water in my oil before. Thanks for any help,

Mike

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Salt water needs to be out of the engine and having the oil changed and the engine running within a few hours or the engine is junk.
Been there done that. Too many times.

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

If you had enough water in the boat to get water in the oil, you have alot more electrical, and mechanical issues to deal with than you first thought. What is the lowest point that would allow that much water into your oil? Everything below that point is suspect. Everything above that point needs inspected still. I personally would recommend going and buying the cheapest oil (5 gal bucket probably) in who cares what weight. And three or four filters. Also a product called wire drier, by stp. And a CAN (pressurized finger spout style)once of dialectric grease. Your gonna want to spray everything with oil, or the quicksilver corrosion preventer. Drain your oil, your trim pump if needed aswell. Do you think that water was up to the driveshaft? Did the gimble seals hold it back? May have to pull outdrive and inspect. Multiple fluid changes are in your future, at least two, but probably 3 before you see the milk going away. It depends on how much contaminated you can get out each drain. Pulling the pan plug is the best, as sucking it out leaves to much behind.

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Thanks for the help guys. I ran out to the garage and threw together every mismatched quart of oil I could find and came up with enough to drain and fill 3 times tonight running on muffs in between each. Tomorrow when the store is open I'm going to pick up enough oil for several more changes and some cheap filters as well. The milky color is going away but I can tell it's going to take several more to clear it up completely. I'll check the trim pump oil tomorrow as well. I don't think it got as high up as the driveshaft but at this point I really have no clue. I originally thought that I only had a couple inches of water accumulation above the bilge, but upon further inspection tonight I found that I had enough water to fill the battery case half full which means it was much higher than that to get in the top of the case. I'm going to pick up the wire drier and dialectric grease tomorrow as you recommended. All I can think about now is how I can't beleive I didn't just think to go buy a new plug to be on the safe side. Thanks again for the help,

Mike

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Any thoughts or advice (aside from buying a better plug)?? Thanks in advance,

Click to expand...

Um.....Yeah.


http://www.iboats.com/Seasense-1500...5056607--session_id.500971753--view_id.886150

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

The bilge pump seemed to be working. Also when I got home I flooded the bilge with fresh water and it pumped that through so I'm not sure if I need to replace it. Maybe the one you posted is a higher flow rate which might have helped. I'll take a look and see what the GPH rating is on mine.

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

find out why your original plug "popped out" and fix that.

you will need to pull your starter apart and clean it.

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

rule of thumb on pumps.
bigger is always better
the size of the pump is in direct relation to the largest hose/thru hull fitting/etc thru your hull.
if your drain plug is 2 inch, your pump discharge is 2 inch

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Ok I went to the local "super shopping mart" today and bought five gallons of oil, and five filters. I also picked up some fast drying electrical cleaner and some dialectric grease and some wire brushes. I went through all electrical connections cleaning and greasing in between oil changes. I ran through all five gallons of oil and filters and now the oil is looking pretty good. I still plan to do a final oil change with some better grade oil next weekend. I think at this point I will go ahead and pull the outdrive and check everything over to be safe. As far as the plug goes I figure it was a combination of an oily drain hole and a worn out plug. I also think I may have installed the plug with the lever pointing downward and at one point we caught a piece of driftwood beneath the boat. I'm not sure if the driftwood could have caught the plug lever and released it, or if something else caused it to come loose. I also think I'll go ahead replace the bilge pump as it seems to be intermittent. I took a look at the trim pump oil through the fill hole after running it up and down several times and didn't notice any milky color to it. Not sure if this is a sure indication though.

Mike

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

if you installed it down, the drag on the water will have flipped it. I would have installed the plug from the inside with non-threaded plugs.

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Well I can't remember if the handle was up or down because at the time I didn't know any better so I didn't even think about it. That would make sense though why it came loose. I might consider installing it from the inside as you suggested, but is it a problem to install it outside as long as the handle is facing up?

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Nope, as long as the handle is facing up you should be fine. Good advice doing it from the inside though. Good luck!

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Yeah I imagine that pump would do the job! Here's a bit of bad news... I pulled the outdrive off and it was immediately apparent that there had been saltwater in there. Now this is something completely new to me so I'm not sure how to proceed. I cleaned up what visible salt corrosion there was and sprayed it down with wd40 to hopefully protect it for now since I probably wont have time to do anything further until next weekend. The gimble bearing doesn't appear to show any signs of corrosion (at least visible from the outside) and the inner surface is clean and moves freely at this point. The u-joints have some surface rust, but once again everything moves freely without binding or grinding. I'm thinking I will at least replace the bellows, but not sure if it's necessary to replace the u-joints and gimble bearing. I'll try to post some pictures up of what I'm looking at here. Thanks,

Mike

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...

Re: Lost drain plug, flooded bilge...