Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

[BigDog98]

Well after many months of not going to check on my boat i have decided to. Since spring is coming i have decided that i may start some work on the boat before opening season of 2014. But little did i know what i saw or expected when i took the covers off the boat. I AM COMPLETELY DONE! When I went to open my cabin door to check in on the cabin I found something extremely horrifying to any boater. The whole entire cabin floor was covered in ice! SO my first reaction was , Ohhh **** this means the bilge has ice as well. So i open up my engine hatch to take a look an there was more then a foot of ice down in the bilge. A quarter of the oil pan is covered in ice and a part of the starter as well. SO is my boat a goner? Is there any way my engine could have survived? I mean i drained the water out of the engine and manifolds but failed to fill the engine completely with anti freeze because the drain lug fell out. I tried to start the engine but is would not turn over. Sounded like a dead battery even tho it showed about 11 volts at the gauge. What do you guy recommend i should do? What should be my next step? My i remind you all that the boat was dry stored under a morring canvas.

 

[BigDog98]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

 

[Bondo]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

Ayuh,.... 11 volts IS a dead battery, 'n a starter won't work under water, muchless full of Ice,...

So ya didn't pull the garboard plug outa the hull,..??

 

[superbenk]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

If it didn't get too far up into the motor you might just be out a new starter. I'd be concerned about structural damage from expanding ice under the floors and such. Not sure how you'd know for sure without draining everything and some careful inspection. I'd get that oil changed before starting anything up as well.

 

[BigDog98]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

Bondo , I don't know if you remember I posted a thread a while back because my drain plug was seized. So yeah, I never did get that plug out. Even if i did this still would have happened because the water turned into ice on contact. But what should i do? Should i wait till the ice melts or try and brake the ice into pieces and carry it out in garbage bags? And i don't know about the 11 volts. My engine use to crank over on 11.

 

[BigDog98]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

Superbenk , I don't know if i should wait for it to melt. I don't want the water to sit there and ruin my transom and cabin floor. And the water would not drain because i can't get my drain plug to come out. And yea definitely a oil change is much needed. I just hope the engine is fine. The ice did not touch the engine just a little of the oil pan underneath is in ice.

 

[BigDog98]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

 

[BigDog98]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

Would you guys recommend me to try and start the engine up with all that ice underneath? I was thinking i could start it and dry run it to get the heat up in the engine compartment to get the ice all melted in there. What do you guys think? Good idea or not? Ill try and put a battery jump on it so see if the battery was the issue of the starting issue. And go from there.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

Would you guys recommend me to try and start the engine up with all that ice underneath? I was thinking i could start it and dry run it to get the heat up in the engine compartment to get the ice all melted in there. What do you guys think? Good idea or not? Ill try and put a battery jump on it so see if the battery was the issue of the starting issue. And go from there.

Ayuh,.... I recommend ya Beat the garboard plug out, like ya shoulda done last fall,....

The water came in as water, 'n froze after it got there,...

Yer Only option at this point is to remove the garboard plug, 'n Wait, for the ice to melt, 'n the water will drain out, as it shoulda been allowed to do before,...

Do NOT try to start in motor, til the ice is gone,...
Once it's melted enough, Pull the starter, it's now Junk,...

 

[dannys2004glastron175mx]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

I would put a small electric heater in your engine bay to speed up the ice melting ,

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

So , the old boating axom holds true once again. Doesn't matter it it's a yacht or a jon boat; "Don't forget the plug." Amazing how even a six figure boat can be ruined by a small part and a bit of anti-freeze :/ Water will ALWAYS find a way into a boat, the trick is to make sure it has a way back out, weather that's at sea or in a shed. Aside from the motor, that can be fixed, but I would also be more worried about water below deck freezing, expanding and causing structural damage, in which case she might really be toast.

 

[alldodge]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

Agree with Bondo, get the plug out.

You could bust the ice out of the cabin area but leave the engine alone for now.

 

[spdracr39]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

This is a great lesson in boat maintenance for anyone that's reads it. It is THE perfect example of how a very minor maintenance issue put off and ignored can cause potentially thousands of dollars in damage. That drain plug could have been fixed for 20 dollars and 30 minutes to an hour of time. Having said what ever is done is done. Thaw it out, assess the damage, and go from there. It is probably not as bad as you think. Change oil, have starter rebuilt, Get things dried out. Wanna guess what step one is? FIX THE DRAIN PLUG !!!

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

Betcha find a way to get that nasty ol' bilge plug out now eh?!

Beating on the ice is going to do more damage than good, remove the plug and let the boat thaw and drain.

 

[T_Herrod]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

Get the plug out and get the boat into a heated building where it can thaw and drain. Beating on the ice will only cause more damage.

 

[BigDog98]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

I really appreciate you guys helping me out. When i saw what happened i almost died of a heart attack. Hopefully there is not damage if any and mainly no damage to the engine. But i will document as i go. I just hope this ice melts fast!! Thanks again guys.

 

[T_Herrod]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

As far as the starter goes it may be fine once it is dried out. If you have any mechanical skills you can remove the starter and clean it up and bench test it to see how well it works.

 

[BigDog98]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

T_Herrod , I would love to get the boat in a heated building if it wasn't so big and expensive to do so. That being said the boat sit's outside and will sit for a while. The temperature should get better and warmer soon so hopefully that will speed the process. Currently I just cleaned up the boat and put the mooring on. Next weekend ill go down again and get that plug out and bust out my hammer and breaker and some elbow grease and get all the ice out of the cabin before it melts and ruins the carped and wood floor. Then I will put on the regular summer canvas so i get more sunshine and warmth in the boat to speed the melting process up.

 

[BigDog98]

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

T_Herrod , I don't think the starter is bad. I mean the starter is not completely covered in ice. Just the bottom of it is maybe a half inch or so of the starter in sitting in the ice.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Total Mayhem At The Boat!! (Totally Screwed)

...I never did get that plug out. Even if i did this still would have happened because the water turned into ice on contact. ...

that makes no sense at all.

anyway, water never hurt a boat; it's accumated water that doesn't drain that kills them, on land and at sea.

It is essential either to have an open drain plug or a functioning bilge pump on a float switch, and the latter is too fragile to rely on when the boat is on the hard.