Submerged Outboard

[GreatRiverDucker]

Was out duck hunting this morning, picked up decoys, then when returning to shore, my buddy driving the boat, slowed, turned, then accelerated and the motor twisted up off of the transom and into the lake my buddy nearly dove into the lake to save the motor wheww!

Anyway what special things need to be done to save this baby, its a really nice motor- late 80's johnson 25 hp thanks

 

[HighTrim]

Re: Submerged Outboard

If a motor is lost overboard while running, it should always be taken apart before any attempt is made to start it IF it has been under for a considerable time. Often internal parts are damaged, and attempts at starting or running under these conditions can result in further damage.

A motor lost overboard in salt water is even worse, but Ill assume duck hunting you werent in salt water

A motor lost overboard in fresh water can usually be safely started if recovered within twelve hours providing no sand or silt is present. Remove the plugs, power pack covers and gaskets. Clean and dry. Remove the carb orifice screws. Drain all fuel lines and tank. Spin the flywheel using emergency pull rope until all water present has been expelled. Squirt outboard lube into spark plug holes. Reassemble and now start.

If sand has entered the engine, dont start it.

If it is impossible to have the engine serviced immediately after pulling it up after extended submersions, you should always submerge the power head in clean fresh water to prevent oxidation until it can be taken apart, although I assume your buddy didnt leave it down there

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Submerged Outboard

Well,
Did you get any Ducks?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Submerged Outboard

look here: "http://www.brokeboats.com/sunk.html" you can use rubbing alcohol as a drying agent, lots of it.

 

[F_R]

Re: Submerged Outboard

This is an urgent situation. You MUST get it started and running ASAP, preferably within 24 hours of recovery. Fear not, they usually will start right up after draining the fuel system. What Tash wrote is pretty much right out of the book and good advice. However, I have mixed feelings about throwing it back into the water. Yes, I've had them dunked in barrels and test tank etc when we were swamped with submerged motors after tropical storms. Did it help? Some, maybe, but not much. Understand. we are in a salt water area.

Tash's first paragraph sort of said it, but let's make it clear: If it went in the drink while running (it did), that can damage internal parts. If there is any sign of binding when turning it over with the plugs out, it must be disassembled and repaired. Again, there is no time to waste.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: Submerged Outboard

So FR, is it wrong to advise re submerging the motor in extended submersions ONLY if it cannot be serviced for a while? Wasnt meaning to advise River Ducker to do that, just added as a side note at the end. I was under the impression that re submerging it would prevent the metal from oxidizing? What would be some of the negative aspects of re submerging the power heads? Would that outweigh the oxidization issues? Not trying to go astray, but wouldnt want to lead anyone astray in the future and wanted to pick your experienced brain. Tks

 

[F_R]

Re: Submerged Outboard

It is not wrong. In fact it is factory recommended. But it should be reserved for cases where there is no alternative, and expect major repairs when you pull it back out. The idea is to keep the air out. However, there will always be some air trapped in the crankcase anyhow. Not only that, there is electrolysis working on the dissimilar metals even when there is no air. It takes very little time for the bearings to start to etch.

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: Submerged Outboard

if you cant get to it right away this is what i would do, i would not re submerge it. i would remove the spark plugs and turn it over my hand tip it over and make sure i got as much watter out of the cylinders as possible and i would fog the engin both threw the spark plug holes and the carb. this should help prevent any rust. drain all fuel from the engine. if it turns over freely by hand i would re install the spark plug. try to restart hopefully with any luck you dident bend the crank or rods when it sucked the watter into the combustion chamber.

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: Submerged Outboard

i should add that i have submerged seveal truck engins in river crossing in the 4x4 world and sucked watter in the intake. normaly all we did was pull the spark plugs and turn it over with them out to get the watter out of the combustion chambers and then change the oil put the plugs back in and start it. iv never had an outboard take a drink but the only real differance is the fuel and (watter in this case) travels threw the crank case i would say its important to get the engin re fired soon becouse of this but dont try to turn it over without first removing the spark plugs air compresses alot easyer than watter trying to restart with the cylenders full of watter will bend the rods and or crank

 

[GreatRiverDucker]

Re: Submerged Outboard

We managed to shoot two goldeneyes, lost one, missed several more, seasons just about over, most water is frozen up, stuck with hunting the big water.

The motor was only submerged for a minute, thank god, luckily the fuel line kept it from sinking all the way.
Fortunately my buddy's family owns a marina so he took it into the shop right away and drained the cylinders, blew out everything with air and fogged the cyls and the carb. Then he started it on the muffs and ran it for twenty min. So I'm hoping that it will work in the morning -fingers crossed.

Thanks for your input men!
Let me know if you think of anything else.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Submerged Outboard

Glad to hear your motor is o.k.---I would have had to run it wide open for a while to get it good and hot to hopefully get rid of any water but I'll bet it'll be just fine. What happened, were the transom clamps a little loose?
Anyway, We pray for more cold weather here in NWest Louisiana. It has been so warm in the winter here for the past 20 yrs., and so "warm" up north that it seems like the ducks just aren't migrating here anymore. Season has been open for 2wks. now and we've only bagged 17 mallards. My dad is retired and has been hunting every day. Our best day was 8 mallards. This last cold front was really nice and we saw VERY few mallards and few ducks in general. Lots of geese, though. I'll stop whining about the ducks now....
Good luck in the morning with your "sinker".
Run some ducks our way,
JBJ

 

[JCF350]

Re: Submerged Outboard

Everybody oughta get a kick out of this method

Procedure at "Dizzy World"(Orlando) dry dock for submerged motors (9.8 Mercs on the rental "boats").

Remove "deadman" switch clip, install fuel fitting "adapter" on motor inlet fitting, blow out fuel system with shop air, connect fresh fuel tank to motor and pump up, remove plugs, shift into gear, set throttle to WOT. Pull starter rope a few times, close choke pull a few more times, choke off pull twice. Install fresh plugs, close throttle, shifter to neutral, reconnect "deadman" switch clip.

Throttle to start position, start engine, stop engine, put boat in water run the "poop" out of it for a few minutes, put boat out on the line for the "cast members" to pick up in the morning. Motor doesn't work? Remove and throw on junk pile, go over to the boxed motor stack (at least 50 in this stack) get new motor out of box and install on boat. Test beat boat.

Whole procedure took 40 minutes if you had to change motors.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Submerged Outboard

You gonna tell us how to get to this junk pile??
A lot of good parts there i bet....

 

[JCF350]

Re: Submerged Outboard

You gonna tell us how to get to this junk pile??
A lot of good parts there i bet....

Don't know where it would be now (things are a little different). Wouldn't be easy since folks are there 24/7.

We placed a numbered tag on them and entered the cause in the log book. !st shift (I worked 3rd) dealt with the pile (mostly turned junk into junk with fresh paint). We only dealt with the 9.8's, Mercury provided the larger engines and the tech's to repair them. The last I worked there they were just getting ready to open Epcot.

Here is an overhead pic of the Dry Dock complex (up is north), just to the north west of the complex is where they built Disney Japan (shipped everything over). To the South is where the Contemporary Hotel is.

 

[F_R]

Re: Submerged Outboard

GreatRiverDucker, glad to hear you did the smart thing and took it to a shop, and the shop did the right thing and got it running immediatly. It's so good to hear when something goes the way it should go. So many people (and shops) would have dinked around with that thing for a week and wound up with a pile of junk.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: Submerged Outboard

Wow, so the fuel line and clip help a 100lb+ motor? Huh. And how did you lift it back up into the boat? Not by the hose I hope!

 

[JCF350]

Re: Submerged Outboard

Wow, so the fuel line and clip help a 100lb+ motor? Huh. And how did you lift it back up into the boat? Not by the hose I hope!

????

 

[samo_ott]

Re: Submerged Outboard

He said the fuel line hose held the engine from sinking... that's amazing...

 

[HighTrim]

Re: Submerged Outboard

Probably that in addition to his buddys super human strength trying to prevent the loss of his buddys motor to the crabs at the bottom of the lake

 

[tomh59]

Re: Submerged Outboard

I dunked my 9.9 Jonnie in fresh water (whew) last summer. Got it out in about 15 mins. We did exactly as EZrider sugggested earlier. She started up
and ran her trouble free the rest of the summer. It also spun off the transom. The boat hadn't been used for a couple years and the plywood was slick with alittle mossy film. Powered up and off it came.