Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

[Jesse13]

I made a rookie mistake. I forgot to pull my drain plug before storing my boat for the winter. I live in Socal and we've had quite a bit of rain (for Socal). I went to my boat storage and as I was pulling up to my boat I realized I made the mistake. I peeled back the boat cover (that had a nice new tear in it) and saw about 5 inches of standing water in the boat. Not good!

So I drained all the water and now I am wondering what kind of damage I have caused. Are there any components that will need replacement without a doubt? What should I be checking or changing?

I appreciate all help and suggestions.

[Chexi]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

How long do you think that much water was in there? Also, when you say 5 inches, do you mean 5 inches in the bilge or 5 inches above the carpeted floor, which would be about 12 inches plus from the bottom of the bilge?

[DanielC]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

What electrical items were under water? Starter, probably. what else?

[Jesse13]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

Chexi, the water was 5 inches above the carpeted floor.

Daniel, that I'm not sure of other than the starter.

[M3Fan]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

Starter, battery cables (now most likely internally corroded), LP fuel pump, blower. Possibly trans and engine seals depending on corrosion level.

[JUST-IN-TIME]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

Drain it
change fluids
go run it
sometimes you get lucky

[bchesley]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

Just in time is right. You really wont know the extent until you run it. The starter will for sure need to be replaced, but everything else will probably go at at different intervals. I would change fluids run it, and then change fluids again. I had this happen to my old ski many years ago but I never had to replace a thing other than fluids. It ran perfect for another 5 years before I sold it.

[nautiboat]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

if you dry the starter out before you put power to it, it could be ok, hair dryer, shop vac, don' t burn boat down

[rocco]

Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

I did same thing about 7yrs ago with my 83,,,water just over the Starter..
Took it off,,cleaned it,,wd40 in some places,,dry out with Air compresser..
Cleaned again and dryed,,,Put back on,,worked for about one Weekend,,
then Locked up...So be ready to get a New one...

[Hollywood]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

WD40 is water based, well marketed but pretty useless IMO.

Listen to M3Fan.

[DavidF]

RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

WD40 waterbased...huh? WD40 is a "water dispersion formula 40" WD40 disperses water with a side effect of being a temporary lubricant. WD40 will rather quickly evaporate, but it is good to get rid of water to help prevent corrosion. I spray my engine down with WD40 before storing for the winter. By Spring, the WD40 has evaporated so it does not leave an oily looking mess.

The main problem with water in the starter is the bearing tend to rust up and then fail. If you take it apart and use WD40 and then grease on/in the bearings, you might be ok.

[DanielC]

I worked on a 1998 Ski Nautique, that the battery went dead on for lack of use, not my boat, and the starter did go under water. the starter lasted about a year, but it was cranking slow at the end, and needed replacing. Clean it out , like was suggested above.
The low pressure fuel pump may be bad, also. But if it is sealed, it might be OK.
If your battery (ies) went under water, some of the acid may have leaked out into the water around the battery, and that will corrode battery cable ends, and anything metal around them. The battery might also be weakened because of the dirty water getting into them. Any electrical connection that was under water could have some corrosion in it, or they might have stayed dry.
Change the transmission fluid. It should be a transparent red color. If it is pink, and or translucent, you have water in it, and you should change it again. Compare the color to new transmission fluid.
There are two fittings on your transmission, that go to the transmission oil cooler. The transmission fluid comes out of the top fitting, goes through the cooler, and returns back to the sump, in the bottom of the transmission. With the boat not running, you can suck out the transmission fluid, open the top fitting, blow into the hose, and then suck the rest of the fluid out of the transmission again. You will obviously need to add more than the normal amount of transmission fluid before you run the boat again. You might still need to change the transmission fluid two or three times, to get it to look good.
If you have a V-drive, you will need to change that oil also, a few times.
Some water might have seeped into the engine past crankshaft seals. change the engine oil, and filter. If the engine oil looks milky, change it again. If you let the engine sit over night, with the oil drain open, you should get an extra cup to a pint of oil out of the engine.
If the carpet starts to smell bad, you can pressure wash it. A very light dilution of bleach will help to get rid of some of the mold that might start growing. Rinse the carpet very well. Use a light dilution of Simple Green to clean the carpet. Rinse that, then go over the carpet with a solution of fabric softener.
If the bilge blower went under water, it might need replacement also.
If any upholstery went under water, you will need to get that dried out, also.

[Hollywood]

Ok so I just read the MSDS, surely there is no water in the formula. Still not sold on the WD40 engine treatment though. I'll bet it does a good job of cleaning it and providing a temporary corrosion protectant, but once that all evaporates off you have raw metal left to corrode. What reason(s) do you use WD40 over silicone spray?

[harddock]

I've used WD 40 as a starting fluid. Silicone spray won't work in that application.

[Hollywood]

Re: RE: Help please. Flooded my boat 1998 AN

I spray my engine down with WD40 before storing for the winter. By Spring, the WD40 has evaporated so it does not leave an oily looking mess.

I asked about silicone spray in regards to this application.