TOPIC: salt water ?

will be keeping my boat in salt water for 30 hrs. at my acbs chapters show. will this do any damage to the motor? how soon afterwards should it be flushed and for how long? ron

I'm a fresh water sailor but if it's an outboard I would flush it right after you removed it, aluminum and salt don't like each other. If it's an I/O or inboard I would say flush as soon as reasonable.
Cal

Ditto on the flushing there Ron.

Ron,

I have the same issue after the Mystic Seaport show. Definitely flush. I take mine up to a lake and run it around for a couple of hours afterward. A lot more fun than standing in your driveway with a hose. (I've never seen your driveway, but it a guess)

Ron,
Salt water really raises trouble with all boats. I don't care how careful you can be, but you never get the salt out of all of the nternals. My brother boats on salt water and keeps his boats out of the water. When we go out, it is a minimum of 45 minutes of flush time on the hose running the engine. He then hoses the entire boat out, pulls the engine covers and sprays the block with WD-40 or the like. He ususally goes through impellor changes and thrmostat changes at least once per year. He has Yamaha, Mercury and Johnson and Evinrude motors). Two Boston Whalers, a Maverick and a Carolina Skiff. All engines require alot of upkeep due to the salt water...

flush it as soon as you remove it
use some salt killer for good measure
and don't forget to wash every surface on your boat
salt eats anything metal and dulls gelcoat

vuyosevich,

while i wouldn't violently disagree with anyone here, i've run OMC BIG TWINS for 5 decades in the south TX salt, with NO observable damage. - i flush mine with a "flushing attachment"/waterhose & then "wash-down" the hull & trailer, as soon as i get home from the gulf each time.

fwiw, i would NOT run a "show rig" out on the salt, ever. - fyi, most of my stuff has always been dedicated fishing rigs.
(My PASSION is "live-lineing" BIG live baits for TARPON, STRIPERS, WAHOO, LING, SHARKS & other gamefish, as many here know.)

yours, satx

vuyosevich,

while i wouldn't violently disagree with anyone here, i've run OMC BIG TWINS for 5 decades in the south TX salt, with NO observable damage. - i flush mine with a "flushing attachment"/waterhose & then "wash-down" the hull & trailer, as soon as i get home from the gulf each time.

fwiw, i would NOT run a "show rig" out on the salt, ever. - fyi, most of my stuff has always been dedicated fishing rigs.
(My PASSION is "live-lineing" BIG live baits for TARPON, STRIPERS, WAHOO, LING, SHARKS & other gamefish, as many here know.)

yours, satx

Ron, I agree with everyone on this point. I take a 1956 Chris Craft Continental every year to Florida to do the St. Johns River cruise. Pretty salty in Jacksonville Florida where we start (they may refere to it as Brack water there) and it is less so at Sanford where we take out. From there we haul over to Tavares and Mount Dora where we run it for three days on the chain of lakes. It is amzing to see what the water does on this trip. My tools, show the effects from being stored in the boat...I do a thorough cleaning before I head home to Iowa and a thorough cleaning and bilge wash and rinse when I get back. I don't think that you can ever flush enough! I think it is just the fact that I live in a fresh water world for most of my boating and only spend a week of a year down in that world. It's what you are all used to...

Well, my 2 cents. I agree on if its a "showboat", I would never dunk in salt just for show. Static trailer display is the way to go. Be surprised what unprotected metal parts will be effected. I can't get the DR Frankenmerc to drag his boats to my saltwater for anything, and he's 20 miles from me! I have to got to his fresh water lake!

Now, on salt with any other boat. I don't like putting my Merc rebuild/Flat Bottom in salt, but it gets used and out and flushed well, and hosed off. On my 24 year old ORIGINAL (1988), Bayliner Cuddy/125 Force? Sitting in the salt slip right now. Comes out every 3 weeks, Saltaway flush, bathed, gassed up, and back in. But still external metal stuff damn sure shows it.

So, salt water aint battery acid, but fresh water boats should stay fresh water boats, if a "show rig".

well the replies here have made up my mind!! its not going in tuckerton creek at the show. i had thot a few minutes of flushing with the muffs on would be sufficient. apparantly i was very wrong on this subject. thanks to all, you probably saved me a huge headache. guess i'll be a trailer queen again. wife is not going to be very happy. ron

Ron, I spend alot of time (alot fo elbow grease) getting my boats restored, and a lot of money as well. I use my boats, none are true trailer queens, but I want to keep them alive and in as good of condition as is possible. So I think you are making a good choice. It always amazes me of just what the salt air does to the varnish and the fiberglass surfaces as you can actually feel it.
My brother just replaced his 12 year old Yamaha outboard on his Maverick. When they tore it down, it had corroded from the inside out and let salt water into the cylinders causing it to eat it's pigs. This boat always lived on it's trailer, was used regularly, but my brother is a stickler for wash down and flushing. All of the mechanics I talk to tell me that you never get all of the salt out of the engine when you flush, no matter how long you actually flush.
It is just one of those things that we have to deal with! Enjoy the show at Tuckerton!

vuyosevich,

i would NOT even CONSIDER running that PURTY white Merc in the salt. EVER.
(those old Mercs & salt water don't mix well. - that is ONE reason that i run the OLD/tough BIG TWINS.)

just my opinion, satx

Or why I will most likely put a modern motor on my Glastron......

thetudor,

i seriously doubt that the new OB handle the salt any better than a well-maintained/flushed-out 50s or 60s OMC does AND if you DO ruin one, you cannot replace it for 2-500.oo.

yours, satx

Ron, you have a beautiful boat and motor. Its OK to just show it on the trailer this time out. I live on the saltwater here in the PNW and have a salty fishing boat... but my '63 850 Merc came from the mid-west and wont ever see the saltwater. Good decision!

vuyosevich, looking your pic, I bet that Merc has a steel driveshaft. I don't think I need to add anymore on that. Keep it on the trailer.