If (when) you sink...

[Anonymous]

How do you get it back up again?

Hooking a line to the bow eye would probably just pull it out, leaving you with a big hole in your bow (and still no boat).

Is the rigging generally strong enough to hook to?

And what if you are a fair distance from dry land?

I am envisioning my boat totally submerged over the cage and no way to get it to the top and floating again. :shock:

 

[c chardt]

You pull the plugs and hook up the rope to the bow and pull it with a river boat back up to a plane or you can hook it to an air boat and hope you don't sink the other air boat pulling it .

 

[goldhunter_2]

well the idea of any boat is to stay on top the water

with smaller boats if two or three guys can lift the gunnels to the top of the water then jam a log or something under the hull you can run a belige pump , takes a little bit but at that point your happy to wait

If you can't do it that way it would all most need to be done like rasing a big boat push some straps under the hull hook to air bags then run compressor to fill airbags and lift the hull, and again run begle pump

 

[purplepeople5939]

You must not have ever raised an air boat before pulled a few out in my time and who can dive to the bottom and pick up a boat when its 12 feet under water and also who has air bags and straps laying around for lifting them most people pull them to shore or have a 18 ft river boat and pull them on a plane as lond as you pull the plugs it will drain the water out of the hull while you tow it to shore

 

[goldhunter_2]

no your right never lifted airboat but have done several others big and small and yes some where in the mud one even bured with mud. air bags can be rented at a dive shop. pulling with that much weight I would worry about what was said earlier having a extra hole in the bw of the boat........but to each his own

 

[fatboy0054]

Air bags are cool 6- 55 gal drums will hold 1300 pounds at the surface so u can move it with ease. But getting straps to stay under the boat were you want them is .At lease a twelve pack . And the real problem is ,everbody will stop and tell what you did wrong to get there or the way they would do it will work easier ,your way is the hard way There way is easier .That for the people that never seen a airboat . For the people have airboats they would shake there head i say been there before .They would say i can tell what color of your seat are by the back side of your jeans : :shock:I get on the radio and call cooter :lol:

 

[Waterthunder]

I have at least pulled up ten of em in 5 feet or deeper the best way is a kicker or bass boat and make sure to pull the plugs out first or the boat will cork screw under water just drag her till she floats or you reach land. In five feet or less tie a rope to the bow of a large airboat and lift the sunken boats bow up onto the other boat then get 5 or 6 people to lift the rear and two or three people to bail out the water it will start floating pretty quick. I only had one to pull up in 20 plus feet so I had to go home and get my dive gear and an off shore boat for that one.

 

[marshmaster pat]

Yep, Thunder is right, just pull the plugs and bring her up slowly. Have assisted pulling out 6 sunken airboats, 4 by beaching them. One was on it's side. Dove down, ran the strap over the cage and hooked on the side on the bottom. Started pulling slowly with a airboat (which is tricky). Flipped her upright. If you drag her up very slowly, the water will drain out and the weight on the bow eye is not that much greater than what it is to winch the boat onto the trailer.

Only lifted the transom out of water on two of them, one on a seismic job and we had a Bell 206 holding the boat to the river bank while we did it. THAT WAS A MUDDY DAY. We luck the bilge pump worked and we had 5 gallon buckets.

 

[bowfishingmike]

I put my boat under yesterday in about 4 feet of water. It was laying on its side. We were able to tip it back upright. The transom was on the bottom of the channel and the bow was out of the water. We had 2 airboats try to pull her up. It was kind of dangerous because of the wind comming down the channel and the boat wake hitting the shore and comming right back at you. Not wanting to sink another boat we managed to get a couple very long ropes and a truck . The truck was able to pull it to shore where we drained it and put it back in the water and towed it to the launch. I guess we were lucky, no one was hurt and the boat is out now. I was wondering what needs to be done to the motor now. I had always beleived that the motor must be completly gone thru after being submurged. Is that true. I do have insurance but haven't contacted my agent yet because of the holiday. Any info you would have is really appreciated.

 

[cowboy]

Bowfishingmike,
Pull the spark plugs, and get the starting system going again, while you drain the crankcase oil.

I'd rig a temp fuel supply, and worry about getting the fuel tank dried out later. Just drain out the lines, and float bowl on you carb.

Pull the mag covers / dist cap, and dry them out with some gentle compressed air, and a heat gun, or hair drier.

Full the crankcase with oil.

Turn it over on the starter, and hold the trhottle wide open, to get the water out of the induction system.

Check for spark on your plugs, and get the ignition working.

If you've been able to get all of the above done, put the plugs back in, put the fuel to it, and try cranking it.

I'd get this done right away if I were you, and the engine may be just fine. If it was screaming when the water got in it, it may be hammered.

Get it running again as soon as possible, and get it good and hot to dry it out. If it don't run perfect, don't worry about that now. just run it at low rpm's to dry it all out.
Once you get it hot drain the oil again. It may come out milky white. Put new oil in it again, and run the temperature back up. Check the oil color, and repeat until all the water is out of the engine.

Better get started, as I would not let it sit with water in it too long.
It may be just fine when it gets dried out.

Troubleshoot, and fix any engine problems neeeded to get it running right again.

Fix the battery, and drain the water out of the fuel tank.
Fix your lights, instruments, ext.

You should be ready to go to the woods, and try it out.

 

[Anonymous]

So it's not as hard to pull them up as I thought I guess.

But what makes it stay upright and not "corkscrew" while you're pulling from the center bow eye?

And what if you hit a stump or log while you're pulling it up?

 

[cntry141iq]

water and air are a lot alike just water is thicker .. rudders work in the air and they work in the water what keeps a boat from corkscrewin in the air on top of the water ... same thing as long as it isn't lodged on the stump it will bounce just like it does when you hit one runnin on top of the water just probably not bounce as high because you are goin slower .