Sailboat story

[wavery]

This is an article about my best friend that had to abandon his sailboat off of Costa Rica last December.

They just found the boat drifting off of Hawaii the other day.

Interesting article:
http://starbulletin.com/2006/06/07/news/story08.html

Here is the US Coast Gaurd photo release:
http://www.uscghawaii.com/go/doc/800/119728/

[dthurk]

Gee.  If I have engine problems with my car, and some helpful soul helps out by picking me up so I don't have to walk, would my car eventually show up in St. Louis?

I'm actually amazed it survived 6 months at sea by itself.  If only a boat could tell stories.

[wavery]

Gee.  If I have engine problems with my car, and some helpful soul helps out by picking me up so I don't have to walk, would my car eventually show up in St. Louis?

I'm actually amazed it survived 6 months at sea by itself.  If only a boat could tell stories.

Oh...it told stories alright. Birds made it their home for 6 months. He spent the last 4 days removing bird "Stories" from the boat. There were even about 20 dead birds inside the boat.     YUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!!

It will take him about a year to restore that boat, working on it FULL TIME. You can't even imagine the mess. When I get time, I'll post some pics on my Webshots album.

[wavery]

If anyone is interested in what this boat looked like when Walter (the owner) first found it, after it being alone, at sea, for 6 months go to "My Photo Album:" at the bottom of this page and click on, "ChatonDeFoi".

[TheViking]

If anyone is interested in what this boat looked like when Walter (the owner) first found it, after it being alone, at sea, for 6 months go to "My Photo Album:" at the bottom of this page and click on, "ChatonDeFoi".

 
That boat looks like "Jenny"  The boat Forrest Gump went Shrimp'n on.

[beacher]

It looks like one of the visiting birds "borrowed" some of the electronics!  A good steam pressure cleaner, and some sails and she'll be back in shape! :eyecrazy:

Ok, and maybe some paint, upoholstery, electronics, varnish, windows, hull scraping and painting, a new engine, lines, and on, and on, and on....  

[wavery]

It looks like one of the visiting birds "borrowed" some of the electronics!  A good steam pressure cleaner, and some sails and she'll be back in shape! :eyecrazy:

Ok, and maybe some paint, upoholstery, electronics, varnish, windows, hull scraping and painting, a new engine, lines, and on, and on, and on....  

You are right on every item (except windows).

The engine is frozen up. Seems like the original engine failure (back in December) was due to a failed oil cooler. The oil cooler is sea water cooled so when it failed, it filled the engine with sea water. The sea water has been sitting in there for 6 months (while the boat was adrift) so the prospects don't look real positive.

I told him to empty out the water (which he already did) and fill the engine with as much WD40 as he could pour into it. It took 3.5 gallons to fill it up. Now, he just has to let it sit for about 4 or 5 days, drain it out and try to turn the engine over by hand.

If that doesn't work, he'll have to pull the cylinder head off, put a 4x4 on top of the "up" pistons and gradually knock them to the bottom of the cylinder with a sledge hammer (on the 4x4). Sand, clean and oil the cylinder walls, then start on the other 2 pistons.

I actually had to do this exact same thing to my engine on my yacht. We left the boat in South Africa for 6 months and came back to CA for my daughters wedding (1996). When we returned to the boat, the engine was full of salt water because my anti-siphon valve (on my exhaust) was plugged up and the water siphoned into the engine. I did the above routine and the engine was fine. I thought sure that the rod bearings or rings would fail in a short time but I put 8,000 hours on that engine and it ran perfectly when I sold the boat in 2000.