Hurricane Sandy Central NJ

congrats on surviving, very happy for your post. I love the Post, just sold my 40 for a 43 Egg that sank in the storm. Your white material, could it be a plastic meterial like Azeks, its a extruded product that is used in the building industry for fascias and things like that. It's never suposed to rot. Id like to post a picture of my 1969 43 ' Egg harbor that sank but dont know how. any thoughts?

George, There is a sportfisherman named Shake in one of your pictures. Do you know if that is an Egg?

I enlarged that photo and looked at it carefully. She looks like an Egg to me. The striping on the cabin sides is the clue.

Hi Eric!

Yeah and that curved window to the left of the door looks very familiar.

My 43' Egg, "Three Belles" before and after Sandy in Jamaica Bay NY, it was my home too

George - SO GLAD to hear how well your Post fared the hurricane (and thanks for sharing these amazing pics)! G'luck with the repairs on the GW and look forward to seeing the "shiny new" pics of both come Spring-time.

Best regards,

Doug

Thanks George, I really helps when people reach out like many here have done, Its a horrible feeling to be alone through this, The coast guard said they will assist me in raising her and I had about a week to get ready, that was yesterday and they called at 4 today and told me they are coming tomorrow to raise and if the breach is to great another crane will put her on the hard. Now Im racing to find someone to help pickle the 6-71's, I'm a carpenter and no way can I do this. the last time I changed a plug was my 1973 Challenger or my lawn mower. Im freekin out and about to throw in the towel on the motors, its such a waste they were unbelievable motors i would have served lunch on. If there's anyone around these parts tomorrow and can save these I would be indebt for life ,, I will through in a free Kitchen/ bath for your home or boat rehab to anyone who can do, or fiberglass? Wood boat restoration? That I do, Im wood and not a mechanic though I sure wish I was about now!!!

Garrbo,

lots of luck to you, i think you may have a chance of saving the engines.

I have saved engines that went under by draining all fluids and removing injectors or spark plugs and filling the engine with diesel fuel and turining the engine over by hand. drain, flush, drain, flush, drain, flush.....
same goes for the trannys.

disconnect any and all batteries and electrical connections...
there will be plenty of shorts and electrical issues.

the good thing is that your engines are mostlely NAs and have no electronics.

good luck,

i feel terrible for you,
i think i recently saw and admired your boat.

It would be great to see her running again.


regards.

RT

Thanks, I appreciate the tips, Ill need them though Im scared to death to do myself, Im wood not steel but Ill give it my best. where did you see me? there are so few like mine that are unmolested or in decent shape. I know one in great shape but he too made some mods that I thought were a lil out of the box. Thanks for you kind words, Im messed up a bit but ill move on for sure

Whatever you do, do not let them lift that boat up full of water. You need to get them to lift it slowly to the gunnels then pump it out. If they pick that boat up full it has a very good chance of pulling the planks from the frames.

George, no need to apologize for not responding sooner. I can't imagine how busy you must be and I think it is great that you are doing all you can to get heat turned back on for so many people who are in dire straights.

Garrbo, I wish I was closer to give you a hand raising your Egg. I'm sure you can find a diesel mechanic to pickle those Detroit's. One thing about those 6-71's, they are almost indestructible. I have a friend who bought a sunken salvage boat with 6-71's and he was able to pickle the motors weeks after the boat went down and got them running again.

I wish you the best!

Thanks C team, I surely hope so, there an amazing engine and Ive heard many a praise for them. And when they start, people come over just to listen to them. when I brought the boat down, I had some old gas in there, maybe 100 gallons, I put a fresh 100 gallons in and made the trip, over 80 miles and probably only burned about 50-60 gallons @ 16knts.
i know I shouldn't be scared but i am. they say its easy, but easy is easy when u know what your doing. and hard is when u dont. Its said Ill have a couple days after as long as I keep the water in there. Ill try to find a way to drain into something so as not to just let it all out every where,I have a huge engine room to for getting around there. then fill with diesel a few times or thin oil.What Im scart of is the injector raks. Dot know how any of that works so I cant theorize in my head. If i cant see it there im lost

Garbo,

Hi,

The only time I had an engine full of water, I had the advantage of pulling the engine out of the boat easily.
I towed the boat home and immediately put a garden hose in the carb and filled it with fresh water to displace and dilute the salt water.
I let this run for quite a while.

I also removed the starter, rinsed the heck out of it and let it dry.
After it was done dripping, I put it on my oven at 350* for about 4 hrs.
The house smelt like a motor shop but it did the trick.

I sent the alternator out rather than baking it.

Next day I drained the fresh water and used kerosene to rinse it and turn it over by hand as mentioned above.
I think Diesel is cheaper than Kero right now so diesel would work just as well.

I kero'd it a few times, then ran 4 parts oil, one part kerosene and started it up with new points and condenser.
Same plugs.
I let it run only a few minutes with the kero/oil mix and did that a couple times, then regular oil and it was all good.

That was a 327 gasser but it is the same priciple

Good luck with the 671's. I too have heard many stories of those old babies coming back to life with minimal effort.

Guys, Firstly I cant begin to tell u how much your prayers and feedback has helped me in this time, and Im 110% thankful and grateful to all of you who have been there for me. If ever ther is a time where I can do for you, please, please, let me know! Seriously. The banter, the support, the prayers have literally paved the way for me to hold my head up. Thanks to all of you, you know who you are. Secondly I want to post you on the progress of the Mission,, Raising the " Three Belles". I was with the Coast Guard all Day today with one of the bigest outfits hired by the CG around here to do the job. WELL, with a 90' barge, tug boat to hold and navigate, and a major crane, they were unable to raise to the point where she could hold. What they found was, I major breach in the hull approx 40- 80 square feet of breached Hull. as a result it will stay in Its in the slings for the night untill morn and we can come up with a plan B. It will probably go back down over night but the fuel has been pumped out and as a conservation point of view she is safe for now. We are not sure how to get her on the hard. There is a very long reach to get clear and through whatever obstacles to land her so we are looking into all alternatives. I will try to post pic's. Again, Thank you all !!!

Did they consider using inflatable bladders to float it up and hold it in position? Maybe then a diver could have gone under and screwed in plywood over the hole to stem the leak. Sorry for your problem.

Tom, airbags are rare enough as it is, I can only imagine how rare and sought after they must be after this storm. As you can see in the photos the salvage equipment that they're using isn't really the ideal set up, barge that looks like it may be a tank barge, smallish rough terrain crane, etc. Sort of makeshift when compared to some of the rigs we've seen down here in Florida.

My best to Garrbo and his old Egg, hopefully she'll be salvageable. As far as the motors are concerned, make sure you pull the injectors and fill up the cylinders with oil/diesel or whatever and try your best to get all the water out of the motor. Also, don't forget to get as much lubricant through the blower as well and try your best to get all the saltwater out of the bellhousing.

Shazam, I guess I'm spoiled by watching TowBoatUS use bags to raise yachts down here. Hope it works out for Gar.

Thanks guys, I will do everything in my power to save those motors, I doubt the Three belles will ever take another wave but who knows. Its a costly resto I certanly cant afford. On to see whats in store for today, I truly hope they can get her on the hard.