Refloating a small narrowboat

[Millar]

Hi Can anybody point me in the right direction, i have a 20 foot all steel hull boat that has sunk in 8 feet of water in the marina. Does anybody know of any company that does floatation bags so that i can raise it a couple of feet to pump it out. Many thanks.

[Pete & Helen]

Pull up a chair and read this topic. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=68663&hl=sunk

By all accounts if you use batons and plastic sheet to raise the hull sides clear of the water you can then pump it out

[Liam]

Where abouts are you?

[Robbo]

Pull up a chair and read this topic. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=68663&hl=sunk

By all accounts if you use batons and plastic sheet to raise the hull sides clear of the water you can then pump it out

Can't see any advantage batons and plastic would have to raise the hull sides clear if the water in a hull that is largely watertight. Open top boat maybe.

[Alf Roberts]

Hi Can anybody point me in the right direction, i have a 20 foot all steel hull boat that has sunk in 8 feet of water in the marina. Does anybody know of any company that does floatation bags so that i can raise it a couple of feet to pump it out. Many thanks.

you need a specialist company with the right kit and expertise. 8 foot is not for the amateur. send a PM to Marcus on the other thread to find out who the team were. or Google 'marine salvage'.

 

this site will talk it round and round but once completely under the water it's a dangerous and specialised job.

[Naughty Cal]

Can the marina staff not offer any help?

 

I would contact your insurers as well if you have not done so already.

[alan_fincher]

Hi Can anybody point me in the right direction, i have a 20 foot all steel hull boat that has sunk in 8 feet of water in the marina. Does anybody know of any company that does floatation bags so that i can raise it a couple of feet to pump it out. Many thanks.

 

Assuming a typical steel canal boat in a genuine 8 feet of water, surely you need to get it up a lot more than 2 feet before pumps become useful? Even if hullsides are 4' deep, with no serios apertures in, you need to come up 4 feet before hullsides are above water surely?

 

you need a specialist company with the right kit and expertise. 8 foot is not for the amateur. send a PM to Marcus on the other thread to find out who the team were. or Google 'marine salvage'.

 

this site will talk it round and round but once completely under the water it's a dangerous and specialised job.

 

Agree 100% - A specialist job, hardly likely to be successfully carried out by anybody without good experience.

[Alan de Enfield]

Making assumptions but :

 

If it is licenced then it would be insured

If it is in a marina it is 'normal' for one of the mooring agreement requirements to be 'having insurance'.

Insurance companies generally 'like' to be informed of any incident so they can determine the most cost effective (to them) remedy.

If you try DIY recovery the insurers will be unlikely to pay out if it fails, or further damage is done.

The owner wil be responsible for any contamination - leaking diesel etc.

 

A couple of years ago a steel cruiser sank in our BWML marina ( 8 feet + deep) the owner tried DIY recovery - totally failed, BWML then called in C&RT with a barge and crane set up, pumps etc - totally failed.

It eventually took a 'recovery company' with 8 x 4" pumps, divers, sheets of plastic and plywood a couple of days to do it.

 

Do it properly and claim on the insurance.

 

If you dont, the marina wil eventually take action themselves and their bill will enormous -(they wont be looking at the most economical way of doing it) The bill from C&RT to the boat owner was many thousands of pounds, and he still had topay a 'proper' salvage company as well.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Alan de Enfield

[Millar]

Hi all many thanks for the advice. It's sunk in booths town marina. It's my friends boat and her husband has just had major open heart surgery. With everything going on she forgot to renew the insurance. I said I would help her and am just under general ideas. I have read the other forum thanks and its very helpful thanks. I will give it all a go.

T

[bigste]

Sad situation that is going to break the camels back. Will cost a fortune to get it up. Then another fortune to repair it, if at all worth doing. Good luck and all the best.

[Millar]

It may not be 8 feet under. The roof is clear of the water and the sides are only 2 feet down so the plastic may work. Thanks

[DeanS]

It may not be 8 feet under. The roof is clear of the water and the sides are only 2 feet down so the plastic may work. Thanks

 

That sounds promising:)

[billh]

The Bridgewater Co. have a crane barge,not a huge thing, but it might be in the area of Boothstown so could come to the basin and possibly lift the boat enough to get the gunnels up and allow pumping out. Lifting strops through the windows perhaps? Is the boat not accessible with a small road crane?

[Millar]

Tried them and they said it's too heavy as it's an all steel hull. The position it is in is inaccessible to a crane. It's a tough one but people's posts on raising it with the plastic could work. Thanks. I will try and add photos if possible

[Robbo]

It may not be 8 feet under. The roof is clear of the water and the sides are only 2 feet down so the plastic may work. Thanks

 

Note Marcus nearly drowned due to using plastic so don't do this alone. If the roof is clear, I would block all holes in the hull, the main ones been the doors, low down vents and skin fittings. I would then use pumps accessed via removed mushroom vents.

[Alan de Enfield]

If it is 20 foot (Springer ?) then its not that heavy, but it needs a lot of lift capacity to overcome the 'suction' of sitting on the bottom.

[RLWP]

Marcus found that he was covered by his Insurance

 

Richard

Edited January 22, 2015 by RLWP

[Naughty Cal]

Marcus found that he was covered by his Insurance

 

Richard

The OP's insurance (or rather his friends) has lapsed!

[David Mack]

Whatever you do, don't engage this salvage company

 

 

This boat had been left on the bank by flooding, and the location was inaccessible for a crane. So these clowns made a complete mess of getting it afloat. There's a longer version of this video somewhere.

 

What they should have done is pulled it back onto the bank, jacked it up, put a couple of long RSJs or timbers beneath it projecting out over the water, and then side slipped it like this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdCaAVGTSsM

 

[Naughty Cal]

All very helpful for refloating a boat that has sunk

[Proper Job]

It may not be 8 feet under. The roof is clear of the water and the sides are only 2 feet down so the plastic may work. Thanks

 

If it's showing it's roof have a look through this: http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=52153

[carlt]

I refloated a metal boat with just a few inches of cabin showing by shoving the hose from a 3 inch pump down the chimney.after being assured by the owner that all windows and doors sealed tight.

 

It took a while to see any progress but it came up eventually.

 

The chimney needs to be a tight fit to the collar and the pump hose must be smaller than the chimney diameter to let air in as water is pumped out.

 

I have mused over the idea of pumping air in with a compressor rather than sucking water out but never experimented.

 

If your cabin bilge isn't sealed then you will have to find some way of lifting the boat up to gunwale height or sealing the cabin bilge fore and aft (not impossible but very difficult, cold and wet work).

Edited January 22, 2015 by carlt

[Paul C]

Personally I'd bite the bullet and get a professional recovery company in, who will assess it, then quote a price, then do it. I suspect the cost of recovery exceeds the value of the boat but the "walk away" option isn't really an option because your friend has a responsibility for it.

[John Williamson 1955]

Personally I'd bite the bullet and get a professional recovery company in, who will assess it, then quote a price, then do it. I suspect the cost of recovery exceeds the value of the boat but the "walk away" option isn't really an option because your friend has a responsibility for it.

And the marina will no doubt have terms in the mooring agreement that will let them charge the owner whatever it costs them to do the job within reason. This is why I carry £50,000 of wreck removal insurance on a boat that cost £8,000.

 

However, if it's a steel top and the roof is still above water, then what the professionals will do is seal all the doors and windows, check for gaps between the floor and the baseplate, filling them if found, and start pumping. Then you cross your fingers. Make sure that the first thing you do after she's up is get an engineer in to sort the engine out before it is damaged beyond repair, ideally starting the moment the salvage team stop pumping. And be glad it's not a tug like Russia. She sank a week or two ago, has a couple of inches of roof showing, and the foredeck, which has unsealed planks covering it, is about 18 inches below water level.

[Alan de Enfield]

And the marina will no doubt have terms in the mooring agreement that will let them charge the owner whatever it costs them to do the job within reason. This is why I carry £50,000 of wreck removal insurance on a boat that cost £8,000.

 

 

 

I would guess that we all (that are insured) have wreck recovery & removal covered in our insurance, unfortunatley the OP is not insured and that will lead to financial problems - if she does nothing the marina will charge 'whatever they want' to get it 'up and out' I believe that C&RTs charge (for a failed attempt at our marina) was in the order of £10,000. (Tug, water bourne crane, & labour).