Sunk Outboard

[SailnParadise]

During a nasty front my transom hung outboard dislodged snapped both safety lines and ended up in the water. It’s a 2020 15hp EFI Mercury. It’s been down for about 2 weeks as I didn’t have the tools or materials to raise it and clean it. I am now ready to raise it and have a few cans of DW40 and some diesel fuel to get the water out. My question is with it being electric start will I be able to salvage it without replacing the electronics. I just need it to hand crank. I mainly use my sails as propulsion and it has just been an emergency sort of thing. But I am leaving the area and don’t want to part with the $3,200 I spent on the thing. And suggestions would be great. As well as advice in the pickling process.

Also there isn’t a place for me to dunk it in a fresh water tank or even a hose to spray it so I’ll just be dumping jerry cans of fresh water on it to remove the salt before I spray it liberally with DW40 the. Running diesel thru the fuel system and draining the oil.

[Mtbguy]

If it were me, I would proceed with the plan you have. Use gallon jugs of distilled water if you can to rinse. Then dry it off and spray a whole can of WD-40 on it (I think that is what you were trying to say in post).
Lastly, if you dry that off and spray a can of silicone spray that’s safe for electronics it should do a really good job of drying it out. I would probably wait a day or so after that and then try to start it.

I assuming you will remove spark plug and clean that part. Otherwise engine could be hydro locked.

I’m not an expert but that’s my idea. (I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once, though!)

[Jammer]

Fill your dinghy with fresh water and throw in the outboard for a soak


No dinghy? Surely someone around you has one



Electronics themselves are potted and pretty well protected but the connectors are likely to corrode and will have to be replaced. You can just cut them off and crimp on new ones once you're done getting the salt out.


Good luck

[SailnParadise]

I didn’t even think of the dingy! Yea I’ve got one. Wish it rained more in the Bahamas this time of year. I could get raise it after a shower since my dinghy fills up faster than a New Delhi bus. Glad to know I won’t be SOL on the electronics. I’ve been dreading raising it. But I could really use it while trying to duck all these cold fronts that have been moving in. I’ll try to source some silicone spray. Unfortunately the only water source is a town RO that has extremely low pressure and will take half a day to get enough in the dinghy. But I’ve got time.

[tkeithlu]

If your engine has been under seawater for weeks, you may have rusted the crankshaft bearings. It's possible that water didn't enter the crankcase, or that it did but the oil already present there successfully protected the bearings. But if not, those are high-stress bearings, and only a small amount of rust may cause them to fail when the engine is run. I hope that this is not the case, but you should be aware of the possibility. if they are bad, the engine may be beyond economic repair.

Good luck with it.

[Noah-SVGenesis]

Time is not your friend. Underwater longer is better then underwater and then a day in air. The second it comes out then follow the advice above. Soak in fresh water or salt away mix wouldnt hut it’s already drowned. Then don’t cut corners and give it a full disassemble and drown in oil.

[Cheechako]

Your electronics may be an issue. But maybe the coil etc are potted in something. The starter may be toast but you could disassemble it and clean it. Even if it works I would do that as the salt will destroy it even if it dried out.
Give it a try. Remove plugs and cycle the engine many times. Open anything you can and FW rinse.