Recovering a small outboard motor.

[topdsm0138]

  A fellow soldier asked for my help next weekend. He bought a Gheenoe with a 5hp Mercury outboard. Long story short, he took it out and it came off the back at the local lake. He pinned on his GPS watch where it finally sunk (in 18' of water). Now comes the tricky part, without me diving (not a good swimmer) do you think a gaff treble (the large weighted treble hooks on a rope) would be enough to try and fish it out? It's an aluminum motor, so my fishing magnet won't work.

Tiller Mafia.

[D.W. Verts]

Man. That could be very tricky... I'd say swallow down and pay a professional diver to do the job.

Dale

[big g]

Man. That could be very tricky... I'd say swallow down and pay a professional diver to do the job.

Dale

A true diver might like the challenge and do it just for fun!
 
In the 70's we had a friend that had a trailer in the keys.  While sitting out under his chickee hut,he noticed a good size sailboat going bye about a half mile away, and a 15 horse merc dropped off the back end.  The next day he and a friend went out and recovered the motor in 6 feet of water.  He called around to see if anyone reported it missing.  After cleaning it up,  flushing out, it started right up and ran for years after.  Call around to any scuba clubs in the area for possible help.

[topdsm0138]

Man. That could be very tricky... I'd say swallow down and pay a professional diver to do the job.

Dale

A true diver might like the challenge and do it just for fun!
 
In the 70's we had a friend that had a trailer in the keys.  While sitting out under his chickee hut,he noticed a good size sailboat going bye about a half mile away, and a 15 horse merc dropped off the back end.  The next day he and a friend went out and recovered the motor in 6 feet of water.  He called around to see if anyone reported it missing.  After cleaning it up,  flushing out, it started right up and ran for years after.  Call around to any scuba clubs in the area for possible help.

I can't really swim or I'd dive for it. So best I can do for him is try and pin it with my FF and then "go fishing". Unless he wants to dive down and hook up to it.

Tiller Mafia.

[Capt. BassinLou]

I'm not recovery expert by any means of the imagination. Maybe a grappling anchor might help. They are heavy enough. If you manage to anchor into the motor. Maybe someone can free dive following the anchor line to the outboard. My question is, is the outboard salvageable being under water for so long? 

[topdsm0138]

I'm not recovery expert by any means of the imagination. Maybe a grappling anchor might help. They are heavy enough. If you manage to anchor into the motor. Maybe someone can free dive following the anchor line to the outboard. My question is, is the outboard salvageable being under water for so long? 

That's what I was referring to, toolwise. Some are weighted, some aren't. As for the motor, it's a carburetor, not EFI, so I can disassemble, clean and rebuild it for him.

Fun part: there may or may not be another storm moving in on us next weekend.

Tiller Mafia.

[Princeton_Man]

Check with you local Fire Department or Sheriff's office. They'll know some water rescue recovery divers who may be able to help.

[topdsm0138]

All loaded up and ready for tomorrow morning. Figure I'll be on the water by 8am to beat the Jerk-skis. I'll post up tomorrow with our results or failures.

Tiller Mafia.

[topdsm0138]

Good news, bad news:

 Bad news is my motor has bad fuel in it, so had nothing but the trolling motor to use. Then a bad storm moved in so our trip was cut short once we did make it out there. We made it back to the ramp by the time the wind picked up and the storm hit.

Good news: We managed to find the motor in 12' of water, resting on its side. We pinned the GPS location of it's resting place right before we had to head back in.

My buddy is going to go back tomorrow and dive for it then bring it to me to rebuild. Being a carburetor, that's a piece of cake for me.

Tiller Mafia.

[big g]

Good luck guys, stay safe, and let us know how it turns out!

[D.W. Verts]

You really shouldn't have to do that carb... Pull the plugs. Get everything dried out, flipping the motor over a few times to get it to drain. Crank the motor over a few times, put lube in the cylinders, turn it over a few more times. Put it back together, hook good fuel up to it and see if you can get it to fire. If it doesn't, then surgery may be needed. But I've seen engines fire after being underwater for several YEARS by doing the above. Just saying,

The MAIN THANG is to do it quickly upon retrieval. Waiting is not good at all. Best of luck.

Dale

[big g]

Is it still under water, or have you recovered it?

[topdsm0138]

My buddy went back the day after and got it.

Tiller Mafia.