Boat that has been in water for at least 12 months

[og111]

My neighbor's husband lost his long battle with cancer a few weeks ago and she has asked me to help getting her boat in usable condition. The boat was kept in a boat house in the water on the Tennessee river in a winterized state. It has not been used in at least 12 months.

We got it out of the water (by paddling it to dock) and cleaned up the exterior. I have attached a few pics of the outdrive and it doesn't look good. Is the damage only cosmetic or should the cases be replaced?

I am planning on doing the following services to get things back up and running.

• Change lower unit oil
• Inspect bellows in upper unit
• Replace water pump and water pump base
• Change engine oil and filter
• Replace fuel filter

Any comments suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance.
OG

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: Boat that has been in water for at least 12 months

I can't get the pics to come up or even show up. A year in the water really isn't that long I would give it a good pressure wash or at least very good scrub down. Then do the work you have planned keeping a close eye on the lube when you drain it just to see if there is water in there. If no water is present, do the work and run it then keep a close eye on the gear lube. What type of engine/drive is it? You may want to have the bellows looked at or better yet whats under them. Make sure the u-joints, gimbal bearing, etc are good and have not seen any water and you should be fine. Was the outdrive lifted or was it down? If down the bellows might be okay but I would at least have a look.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Boat that has been in water for at least 12 months

What is preventing you from posting the pictures? It is simple enough.

Are you using PhotoBucket? It is much prefered over using thumbnails. Check out this link for good instructions.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=285637

 

[og111]

Re: Boat that has been in water for at least 12 months

I have updated the 1st post to contain the pics. They were about 100k in size so they didn't upload originally.

The motor is a 1988 350 5.7L and the drive is an Alpha 1 Gen 1.

The drive was down the entire time in the water. When we remove the entire drive we were planning to inspect the bellows. I have already bought the washer/gasket kit to install.

 

[rbh]

Re: Boat that has been in water for at least 12 months

after looking at your pics, it looks as if the leg could use a little clean up.
nothing to serious I hope. get it out of the water, check the leg oil for water,replace, leg up and down to see if you have any hydroulic leaks.
then you have a choice, power wash, bead blast and paint, wire brush and paint, just dont touch the chrome on the rams, this includes paint.
rob

 

[thannah84]

Re: Boat that has been in water for at least 12 months

You would be surprised what a good cleaner like Simple Green or another Powerful cleaner and a heavy duty scrubber, a pressure washer and a buffer and some good marine wax (I use 3M) will do. But, the corrosion on the outdrive looks pretty heavy. I would clean her up the best you can and than make a decision on whether to paint or not.

 

[og111]

Re: Boat that has been in water for at least 12 months

Got all of the work (except for painting the outdrive) done this weekend. This was my 1st time taking this boat out and it ran like a top!!!

I spent 3 hrs sanding yesterday and then cleaned the surfaces one more time. Starting to tape unpainted areas today. Any recommendations on how long to wait after painting complete before putting back in water??