Maintenance

[JCasey]

I have a 23ft bow rider with a Mercruiser 5.7 Mag with a bravo I I/O drive which I use primarily in salt water. <br /><br />Recently a boater who stores his boat in my marina mentioned using Salt-Away or Salt Terminator and also spraying the engine/fittings with WD40 as some preventative maintenance. Until now, I have never heard of this. Actually I was always told that on a car engine one should keep it as keep as clean and as oil free as possible to avoid dust from sticking to the engine which can heat up the engine and/or lead to corrosion/rusting and/or could lower air filter life. Also, when I first purchased my boat I had purchased a can of engine cleaner and I decided not use it for fear that it might damage the fiberglass in the bilge. I have not had a chance to look into this, any input on this? <br /><br />Usually on "boating day" I hook up my earmuffs to a 5 gallon water jug to flush out my engine and then I run the boat and trailer through the car wash to wash off the salt water. I have been changing the filter/oil every 50 hours. <br /><br />Any quick maintenance tips or best practices that some of you have for boating and trailering in salt water would be greatly appreciated.

 

[snapperbait]

Re: Maintenance

Anything you can do to prevent corrosion is a plus... Wd-40 on the engine or anywhere else won't hurt a thing, especially on exposed metals... I use it frequently and plenty of it too.... <br /><br />As for engine cleaners, I use some degreaser thats available at HomeDepot called Formula 88 (brown bottle)... It works great and it's also great for cleaning anything on the boat including fiberglass...<br /><br />Don't neglect the trailer.. Wash it down good... Hit the lug nuts, hubs, winch, and jack with the wd-40 and fully service the wheel bearings, seals, and brakes at least once a year... Keep an eye on the grease in the bearings too... Keep some spare 1157 bulbs in the glove box of your tow vehicle just incase you need to do a quickie bulb change on the road...