Need advice for raising a half-sunken boat

[fortran]

Hi

I own a half-sunken 25 foot sailboat that went down during Isabell. The bow is sitting on my dock, and the stern is under 4-6 feet of water (depending on tide).

The boat sank because the bow hit a pilon, punctured the fiberglass, and the boat took water. I have patched that hole, and I am almost certain that there is no hole in the sections under the water. There are however small leaks from poorly sealed junctions, which leak enough water to beat the 8000 GPH pump I used last time to empty the boat.

So, I am thinking of using a combined approach of raising the stern while pumping, hoping that as the boat is coming up, those junctions get out from under the water and let the pump empty the boat.

As far as I have read raising the stern could be done by
1- 1 lift belt that goes under the boat
2- 2 lift bags connected to a belt that goes under the boat
3- 2 drums connected to a belt that goes under the boat

I have searched for ued lift belts, but found none, and new ones cost $800+.
I have not found lift bags or drums made for this purpose.

I would appreciate your advice about these 3 methods, of any other method you can think of. I also have attached a picture of the boat right as waters were receding. High tide is usually 1 foot below what you see in this picture.

Thanks
Masoud

 

[chrpai]

Isabell was a couple of months ago. Still in the water?

Just curious, do you have insurance on the boat? Would they pay for a commerical salvage operation?

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

www.divekentucky.com click on Saron, Inc. That's us....

We use lift bags and pillows. Pillows are great. I would strap 1 1/2 ton pillow to each sunken side of the vessel and connect them using strong straps. You can get strong nylon straps at places like grainger www.grainger.com.

Along with the pillows have your pump working overtime pumping water out. Do you have an air pump to pump air into it? That always speeds things up. We have lifted 80 ton barges using nothing more than water and air pumps. No bags or pillows...

Is the stern of the vessel on the bottom floor? If so what kind of floor is it? Mud, sand, etc. etc. If it's mud then the suction effect of lifting the vessel can be tremondous and has enough force to pull a diver under the boat when lifting if the diver remains near the vessel during lifting.

Feel free to e-mail me if I can help you even more.

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

Here's some text from the masters themselves. Top section under USN manuals. I have the salvage manual, salvage engineers, ANU and dive manual. The first 2 will help you greatly in knowing what to do.

Ed

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

blacknet once bubbled...
Hello,

Here's some text from the masters themselves. Top section under USN manuals. I have the salvage manual, salvage engineers, ANU and dive manual. The first 2 will help you greatly in knowing what to do.

Ed

Those manuals are truely awesome. I bought all 5 on cd on Ebay last yr. Had a friend take it to school with them and printed the entire 950 or so pages out for me.

When it comes to resources...YOU CAN'T beat the USN manuals. :sam:

 

[MantaRey]

how about fixing all holes, than pump the water out of your boat? I guess it depends on how it lays.

sorry about the misfortune, but hey at least you have an interesting project to do now. heh

 

[BOATS313]

You could try option 4, put some lift bags inside the boat, it will provide floatation and displace the water in the boat. I know the Coast Guard used to carry bags for this purpose before we got out of the salvage buisness. This method is not used much anymore but it could help when used along with other methods. Just try to get them in the bilge area then inflate very slowly. By the way for a lift like this one you could try to use anything that holds air don't limit yourself to lift bags.

 

[pasley]

How about looking for used fire hoses and then make them your lift belts?

 

[ScubaToneDog]

First off I'd see how much a commercial towing or salvage company would charge. The cost of buying the lift bags and lifting straps could run up to as much as $5000. Might be easier to bite the bullit and save yourself the hassle.

Secondly...55 gallon drums salvaged from a junkyard could provide enough lift to get it off the bottom.

How many exactly? As many as it takes.

Heed the warnings in the previous posts here. It is very dangerous to attempt this kind of salvage. Not only to your personal health but to your property as well.

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

ScubaToneDog once bubbled...
First off I'd see how much a commercial towing or salvage company would charge. The cost of buying the lift bags and lifting straps could run up to as much as $5000. Might be easier to bite the bullit and save yourself the hassle.

Secondly...55 gallon drums salvaged from a junkyard could provide enough lift to get it off the bottom.

How many exactly? As many as it takes.

Heed the warnings in the previous posts here. It is very dangerous to attempt this kind of salvage. Not only to your personal health but to your property as well.

We would charge around 1500.00 to surface it and tow it but not to get it out.

The lift bags and straps will not run you as much as you think. The first thing you do is call up a lift bag company directly and buy from them. You can get 2 tons of lift out of 2 or 4 bags with straps for around $500.00 including shipping.

The 55 gallon drum technique sounds like the best for you. Cheap and fun....