TOPIC: First run on the salt (pic heavy)

We spent a long weekend with some friends who have a house just off the Intercoastal Waterway about 50 miles south of Savannah. They have a nice dock on the creek in front of the house, and riding around on their late 60's 13' Boston Whaler is what inspired us to buy a power boat. This was the boat's first time in salt water, and my first time captaining on salt water. We spent time cruising the local creeks and hanging out on the sandbar. The first afternoon it was rough - winds gusting to 25mph and a hard 1-2' chop running in the bigger channels. The old tri hull pounded through it with a lot of spray but very little drama, even with 4 adults in a 15' boat. The other two days were much calmer and we loaded her down with 5 people, a cooler, picnic supplies, and a dog for the trip out to the sandbar. She did great. We also took the opportunity to have a formal naming ceremony since the old boat was never named. Since we have a small sailboat named Firefly, the power boat is named Dragonfly. It does, after all, have an Evinrude for propulsion.

Had a small wake to deal with getting off the trailer:


On the dock at the ramp:






on our friends' dock. Stayed in the water from Friday morning till Monday morning.










beached on the sandbar for naming


and loaded up for the trip home


I flushed the motor and washed the trailer before heading home, but I waited until I got home to wash down the boat. There was ample evidence of the sprayfest we had on day one


I learned a lot about the boat and built some real trust in her seaworthines. I figured out my next project needs to be greasing the motor control box and replacing the sticky throttle cable. Close after that is removing the bow light that hits your tailbone while climbing over the bow off the sandbar.

And boy, does that big 85 burn some gasoline!

Sounds like y'all had a great time and the pictures are fantastic! I like the name you picked for your boat, nice reference to Evinrude of The Rescuers. Thanks so much for sharing.

Excellent!!!!!!!!!! Yes always make sure you wash her down real good after a saltwater run. Using Saltaway from Wally World works real well.

Bob

I used Saltaway to flush the motor and on the trailer springs and axle. I just rinsed the boat with lots of fresh water.

Being a chemist by trade, I did some research on anticorrosive and salt neutralization techniques. One of the common results of lab testing with similar solutions was that PRErinsing actually increased corrosion resistance significantly. Because of this I used a heavy Saltaway rinse and motor flush before the trip.

Ultraclyde:

Looks like you had a great time with your classic fiberglass boat!

Like you, we also run the ICW with both of our 1960 Glasspar Boats (G-3 and Seafair Sedan). We are north of you near Wilmington, N.C. Like you, we "pre-rinse" and use "Salt Terminator" after EVERY use in the saltwater. I wash the boat, motor and trailer VERY thoroughly and despite warnings from other classic fiberglass owners of "doom and gloom" we have not had ANY issues from the salt. My feelings are that you have to get the saltwater "residue" off the boat, motor and trailer ASAP and I think that has helped us.

Anyway, thanks for your report and all the great pictures! Your photos of the area and all the shrimp boats look almost identical to what we see here.

Had to come back and post an action shot a friend sent me. Flat out on plane with 4 adults, one kid, and a dog. We might have been over weight. I didn't weigh the dog.

Finally Got the name decals on. Not the normal placement, but it was the only thing we liked the look of.

Nice stable boats with a great wide usable bow. Our #1 boat is still a 1971' 15' Citation Cathedral hull (close to a tri) using a very similar 1988 88 SPL Evinrude. My wife and still love this set up. Yes it pounds but with that Erude I can just plane it off over the chop (as long as the waves are close set!) and it's all pretty smooth then.
You just can't beat that wide bow in a 15' foot package for comfort!