1994 Proline - Fire damage

TBarCYa

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Apr 13, 2005
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After a couple years, I'm back to the restoration forum.... Due to moving we had to abandon the last project, the 1971 Concorde but we are in the process of purchasing a 94 Proline 2510 Walk Around with the 7.4L I/O.

The Proline suffered a fire and by all accounts, and my inspection, it appears that gasoline fumes built up under the deck and when the engine was attempted to be started it blew. The engine compartment looks really clean except for some soot on the inside of the doghouse and the blower tubes being melted. Only one of the belts is bad and the wiring all looks to be in good shape.

The boat was looked at by a guy who owns a fiberglass shop who believes that the sending unit had a leak that allowed the fumes to build which I expect could be a reasonably easy fix but it could also mean removing the floor to replace the tank, which I'm not looking forward to. I looked at as much of the tank as I could see from the 8" deck plate and it looks good, but obviously it going to need a little more investigation.

Now for the fun part... The fire appears to have made it's way under the deck to the cabin which is very sooty (sp?) and will be gutted and replaced. All of the damage is on the port side behind the sink / stove and there appears to be some minor blistering on the outside of the hull, way above the water line.

So, I will have some fiberglass work to do on the hull but there's no burned fiberglass that I have found. I'll be doing more investigation once we get the boat home but my focus will be on the mechanical until my wife gets the soot and broken glass cleaned up...

So, I figure that I need to look first at the fuel tank and make sure that it's holding fuel (was supposedly holding 160 gallons when the fire broke out) and that it's not damaged. Once I figure out the state of the fuel tank and making sure that it's safe I'll move to checking out all of the electrical to make sure that there's no melted wiring. As long as the wiring looks good, which I'm very hopeful of because the helm is on the starboard side, opposite of the fire, I will start working on getting the engine running.

I expect a long road ahead but hopefully in the end it's worth it.
 

kcassells

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Welcome aboard. I guess you are going to pull the deck to see the extent of the fire?
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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fiberglass and fire dont mix. bubbling on the outside of the hull means that the fiberglass is no longer what it once was as the resin is now compromized

you may be looking at a donor for a drive and motor to put into a different hull.

as kcassells stated, pull the deck.
 

TBarCYa

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
781
The initial plan is to use a borescope and check out what I can. I'll be doing the same around the fuel tank to make sure it's not been compromised. If I can't see what I need to, or see anything unexpected, then I'll probably pull the drivetrain and electronics and look for a hull.
 

Grub54891

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Jun 17, 2012
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Question.... Is the stove propane? If the fire was in that area, and a propane stove, and the hull blistering, soot in the cabin, I'd be inclined to look for a propane leak myself....
 

TBarCYa

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
781
Question.... Is the stove propane? If the fire was in that area, and a propane stove, and the hull blistering, soot in the cabin, I'd be inclined to look for a propane leak myself....

The stove is alcohol, not propane. According to the previous owner, there was no fuel in the stove so it would appear that the fire burned the only thing that would ignite that quickly... The fumes and then the vinyl inside the cabin.

As always Hope for the Best but...Prepare for the worst!!!

This is my wife's project and I've been telling her that from the moment she said she wanted it. Fortunately, it was really cheap because the more I learn the less I like.
 

TBarCYa

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Apr 13, 2005
Messages
781
this line alone says you already bought it.

Yeah we bought it. We'll be bringing it home on Sunday to start figuring out if we got the shaft or if we can make something out of it.


FYI... We're practically neighbors.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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if your in FL, then you cant throw a stick without hitting a sea-ready boat for sale
 

TBarCYa

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 13, 2005
Messages
781
if your in FL, then you cant throw a stick without hitting a sea-ready boat for sale

Agreed... But what's the fun in that? We already have a seaworthy boat so this one is a project for the wife and I. We started one a few years ago but had to abandon it because it wasn't worth the cost to ship it to FL when we moved. So this will HOPEFULLY be the one we finish.
 
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