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Bu Flooded in Storm


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This past sunday michigan had a pretty bad storm pass through along with the rest of the midwest. I believe the news said 70+ winds and my lake had 4ft sweels. I was on cass lake in oakland county and by the time I noticed the sky had changed colors and then someone warned me about a possible tornado warning it was way too late. Cry.gif I had a bunch of friends with me and by the time we tried getting out the storm hit us. High winds, heavy rain, and 3-4ft sweels made it impossible to manuever the boat and get everyone to safety, so I got life jackets on everyone and braced for the worst. To make a long story short everyone made it out safe but my Bu.

After the storm subsided which took about 5 minutes but felt like an eternity I noticed we took on a lot of water, if you look in the hull were the bilge pump is on an 06 vlx the water was up to the rim. MY BU WAS FLOODED!! Most of the water came in over the bow. I already know all my amps and speakers have water damage, but its ok I got insurance that will cover it. I am worried about the engine and transmission, dealership told me to check the trans fluid, if its red with no bubbles its ok, if the trans fluid is white then i got a problem. I checked the trans and it was perfectly red with no bubbles Thumbup.gif . But I dont know how to check if water got in the engine. I have to change the prop before i can run a perforance test, but does anyone know what I can do to check for water in the engine? Also what else should i worry about with that much water in the boat?

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First of all, good job getting all your people in their life vests. That's heads up work there.

As for your engine, pull the spark plugs and see if any water is in the cylinders. Also check your oil and see what color it is. Normal oil color or milky, chocolate milk color? If is looks like chocolate milk, then theres water in there.

You never said, but did your engine stop running during the storm? Also, what do you mean up to the rim? Was water up to the floor of your Bu' or higher?

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First of all, good job getting all your people in their life vests. That's heads up work there.

As for your engine, pull the spark plugs and see if any water is in the cylinders. Also check your oil and see what color it is. Normal oil color or milky, chocolate milk color? If is looks like chocolate milk, then theres water in there.

You never said, but did your engine stop running during the storm? Also, what do you mean up to the rim? Was water up to the floor of your Bu' or higher?

No engine did not stop running, next to the drivers seat there is a little hole you can pull the cover off of and see the gas tank, center ballast tank and bilge pump. The water was up to the floor boards but not past it. It took about 20 minutes for the bilge to pump all the water out and it was fine. I test drove the boat after the storm back to my marina and it vibrated a little but other than that i couldnt tell if anything else was wrong. I did pull the oil dipstick and it seemed fine to me. I dont know if it was "choclate milk color". I will double check tommorrow.

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Having water up to the floor of the boat is not going to hurt anything other than maybe your bilge &/or ballast pumps. Even those should survive being under water for a bit but may act up.

Just pull the dipstick to check the oil. If there is water in the oil, it will appear like chocolate milk. If your really worried about it, change the oil.

Like vlxjeff pointed out, if the motor didn't stop running, then it should be fine. And I doubt there would be if it only made it the floor.

Good job keeping everyone safe. Been there & it gets hairy fast.

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First of all, good job getting all your people in their life vests. That's heads up work there.

As for your engine, pull the spark plugs and see if any water is in the cylinders. Also check your oil and see what color it is. Normal oil color or milky, chocolate milk color? If is looks like chocolate milk, then theres water in there.

You never said, but did your engine stop running during the storm? Also, what do you mean up to the rim? Was water up to the floor of your Bu' or higher?

No engine did not stop running, next to the drivers seat there is a little hole you can pull the cover off of and see the gas tank, center ballast tank and bilge pump. The water was up to the floor boards but not past it. It took about 20 minutes for the bilge to pump all the water out and it was fine. I test drove the boat after the storm back to my marina and it vibrated a little but other than that i couldnt tell if anything else was wrong. I did pull the oil dipstick and it seemed fine to me. I dont know if it was "choclate milk color". I will double check tommorrow.

I've seen this fill with water, just from the leaking ballast lines. But from what you just said, it sounds like your boat is fine.

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If the oil is milky should I change the spark plugs and change the oil? Is that all I should do? I love my Bu and I want it to be running perfect.

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I would just look at the oil on the dipstick, and maybe check the spark plugs. It would be obvious, light brown, frothy mess around the dipstick or the plug electrode.

If your concerned, changing the oil & plugs is like $50. Just change them out.

But check them first.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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So if the boat didn't sink and the engine did not shut down. How would water get into the eng?

Plugs should be fine.

Change oil just for a piece of mind.

Steering cable may set stiff with in the next yr or so because of water entering the casing.

Starter MAY and I say MAY go bad in a shorter time.

Pull out all seats, gear ect and put fans in the lockers and hull just to dry out things out.

lube rudder zerks.

Before calling your amps and speakers shot, test them out to make sure. I have seen cabin speakers take on a lot of water.

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How did your amps get water damage are they under the floor Whistling.gif

If his amps are mounted like mine, in the pass storage, then the vent under the windshield lets water get to them. This is something i need to fix before i wipeout my stuff. I put rags in it now when we go out to stop the water untill i water proof it from the inside.

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How did your amps get water damage are they under the floor Whistling.gif

The compartment where the amps and the sub is got soaked from the rain and the waves crashing over the bow. I tested them after the storm and they were wineing then i tested them again a day later and they were fine. Im gonna make a claim just for good measure and have everything including the wiring replaced. Thanks Guys i realy appreciate the quick response. Im gonna change the oil and spark plugs for good measure.

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You should be fine, motor wise anyway. However, you will be needing to replace (or rebuild) the starter and probably the alternator too! Oh, and the steering cable will definitely get stiff after a while and will need to replaced. None of these are hard jobs at all so you should probably just take care of them before they leave ya stranded. Unfortunately I have experience w/ that much water in the Bu Cry.gif:Doh:

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The water was up to the floor boards but not past it.

Baby.gif That's nothing. No.gif I had a lot more water than that in my Sporty. Biggrin.gif Hence the name The Swampster. Crazy.gif

You might lose the starter (as was mentioned earlier) and there's a pretty good chance the steering cable will sieze up this coming winter. But that's about it mechanically.

Edit - j/k about the "baby" emoticon. ;) Good job keeping your crew safe.

Edited by NorCaliBu
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How did your amps get water damage are they under the floor Whistling.gif

The compartment where the amps and the sub is got soaked from the rain and the waves crashing over the bow. I tested them after the storm and they were wineing then i tested them again a day later and they were fine. Im gonna make a claim just for good measure and have everything including the wiring replaced. Thanks Guys i realy appreciate the quick response. Im gonna change the oil and spark plugs for good measure.

I'll take those amps if you are giving them away or selling dirt cheap. If they last a season and they are super cheap then that works for me.

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You are smart to file a claim on any stereo equipment that got wet. It may work now, but like your starter, the life expectancy of your equipment will be greatly shortened.

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Hey Danny....glad to hear everyone made it safe. My gut feel is there should be no issue with water in the motor at that depth, but you say it looks milky. If you even think there might be water there, just change the oil. The trans is more likely to get water in it than the motor. A motor that fills with water you should actually flush it a couple times. IE, change oil and filter, run it for a little bit, then change it all again. But I just can't see it needing it. I've had water up to the floor and actually over in the rear compartments before....leaking shaft seal and a failed bilge pump as the boat sat tied to a dock. Several years later....no starter issues, no alternator issues, no steering cable issues. It was pretty much a non event.

Anyway, hope all turns out well. I believe there's a little event going on at Lake St. Clair in a couple weeks again. Innocent.gif That's incentive to hurry up and get it fixed up. My advice on electronics it just leave it turned off until it has PLENTY of time to dry out first. It can short circuit stuff if theres still water inside. If you plan on replacing your WS speakers and amps....you know somebody who is interested.

There's been some pretty wicked weather around here in the last couple weeks. We got hit early this morning. Fortunately Bu is in the garage.

Jeff

Edited by vette-ski
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I was in Michigan (a little south and west of you) on Sunday when that storm rolled in. I was just puttin my boat on the lift.

At least by us it wasn't even close to the storm that came through on Friday (6/6). There were times I was looking out my window at the lake and couldn't even see the boat at the end of my dock (a total of about 50 feet I would say)

On our lake a boat lift collapsed on a mastercraft. The lift had to be cut apart with a "swazall" to get the boat out, but only a few scratches on the boat luckily. Several docks in this area were just destroyed.

One of the nearby neighbors wasn't so lucky, their new pontoon boat flipped upside-down. Several trees were knocked down, some on houses and others on power lines.

I consider myself very fortunate that we didn't sustain damage other than a few big branches ripped from trees. I can't imaging being out on the lake during a storm like that one.

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Wasn't there a thread a couple of years ago about a big storm that came up and swamped several boats. There were pictures with skiboats just off the shore that looked like they were in the surf at an ocean beach. It sounded very similiar to this storm.

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There should be a thread for this storm's damage. I was on Cooley Lake (Cass lake the day before) when it hit. We didn't even have time for life jackets.

I had 11 in the V-Ride and the storm was travelling at 50-60 mph (ground speed). When those clouds rolled in, we saw it completely consume boats at the nearest end of the lake. It was a complete gray out and hit us like a bomb's shockwave (I'm assuming, never really experienced a bomb's shockwave). The water's swelled to 3ft white caps and the boat spun 360 (not sure how). I had to stop driving because I couldn't see anything, not even the front of the boat. So yeah come to find out, that hail that was hitting us was doing 70-80mph according to the news. It was quite painful....and the temp dropped from low to mid 90's to low 70's in a matter of minutes. Luckily everyone (on our boat) was OK. And the boat had no known damage. But just last night I finally took the fans out. I've been running two fans through the boat since (almost 6 days) to dry the floors before putting the tarp back on. Thankfully it only lasted about 5 minutes or less. But driving home I saw cars with trees on them, houses with trees on them, power lines in the street, 1 roof gone, countless uprooted trees, and no working stop lights....

You were lucky nothing happened. Imagine if you were at the sand bar on Cass lake when it happened, your boat could have been slammed to the ground causing some serious drivetrain problems too....

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There should be a thread for this storm's damage. I was on Cooley Lake (Cass lake the day before) when it hit. We didn't even have time for life jackets.

I had 11 in the V-Ride and the storm was travelling at 50-60 mph (ground speed). When those clouds rolled in, we saw it completely consume boats at the nearest end of the lake. It was a complete gray out and hit us like a bomb's shockwave (I'm assuming, never really experienced a bomb's shockwave). The water's swelled to 3ft white caps and the boat spun 360 (not sure how). I had to stop driving because I couldn't see anything, not even the front of the boat. So yeah come to find out, that hail that was hitting us was doing 70-80mph according to the news. It was quite painful....and the temp dropped from low to mid 90's to low 70's in a matter of minutes. Luckily everyone (on our boat) was OK. And the boat had no known damage. But just last night I finally took the fans out. I've been running two fans through the boat since (almost 6 days) to dry the floors before putting the tarp back on. Thankfully it only lasted about 5 minutes or less. But driving home I saw cars with trees on them, houses with trees on them, power lines in the street, 1 roof gone, countless uprooted trees, and no working stop lights....

You were lucky nothing happened. Imagine if you were at the sand bar on Cass lake when it happened, your boat could have been slammed to the ground causing some serious drivetrain problems too....

It was ridiculous!!! i noticed the storm about 1 minute before it hit, i was sleeping on my boat at the sandbar and didnt notice the storm until it was too late. I did hit the prop pretty bad but my marinia fixed it... gonna test out my Bu tommorrow.... Im gonna pull the boat and use a wet dry vac on the whole interior to clean it out.

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