Salt water boating

[tbirdkidd]

Is there anything I need to know before I take my 22 foot Angler with a Johnson 235 outboard down to Florida and into the ocean. This boat has only been in fresh water, will the salt water do any damage?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Salt water boating

Is there anything I need to know before I take my 22 foot Angler with a Johnson 235 outboard down to Florida and into the ocean. This boat has only been in fresh water, will the salt water do any damage?

Thanks in advance for any help

Do you have a galvanized trailer would be my first question, if no... I would leave it at home.

Second question would be are you familiar with the saltwater boating regulations?

 

[tbirdkidd]

Re: Salt water boating

I just bought a winter condo and want to to take it there for six months have a slip for the boat already

 

[Beefer]

Re: Salt water boating

Seeing how there are more boats kept in saltwater throughout the world then in saltwater.... no, saltwater will not do damage to your boat. After you're done for the day, hose it down, flush the motor, and carry on with your life. Unless, of course, you have one of those boats that explode on contact with saltwater....

 

[Blake0912]

Re: Salt water boating

My boat is kept on a lift in Galveston 10 months out of the year and it has not blown up from the saltwater yet... Just always remember to flush your motor and wash the boat of with soap when you are done using it for the day. Also i was turned onto a product called salt away to flush my motor out with to help prevent the salt from gumming up the cooling passages. And remember WD40 is your friend.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Salt water boating

You might want to pull the bolts that hold on the lower part of the drive and put some gasket sealing compound (or permatex aviation) on them to seal out the salt and inhibit corrosion making it easier to service it and the impeller later. Common prep.

 

[blifsey]

Re: Salt water boating

Does the slip have a lift or will it be sitting in water the full 6 months? If sitting in water, you might want to look into bottom paint for the hull. Also, if marina has lots of boats using shore power look into galvanic corrosion and using the right anodes & keeping them in good condition.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Salt water boating

Spray your entire tilt/trim unit, rams, motor, pump with white lithium grease, it'll set up semi-solid and stay on there real well, keeping salt off that unit. Double check the grease in trailer bearings and oil in lower unit, just a bit of saltwater in either place can really screw them up! Lots of other items to wash, flush, check, to head off saltwater damage, but modern motors do pretty darn well in saltwater. Good Luck!

 

[NFA]

Re: Salt water boating

I've been boating in salt for nearly 20 years and have a few suggestions;

Keep a tub of Vasoline on board. This prevents future saltwater corrosion. Apply it to anything from electronic wiring to cleats, to...?

As mentioned previously, flush the engine after you're done and always wash and rinse the boat with fresh water. I've never used anything when washing the boat, just a hose and a wash cloth.

You need to have a galvanized trailer, that's for sure. Also, flush and rinse out the under carriage of the back of your truck or towing vehicle. This is no different than rinsing or washing your vehicle when there's salt on the roads over the winter.

Most of this is just typical maintenance, but prolongs the life of your toy.

Have fun!



Scott

 

[tbirdkidd]

Re: Salt water boating

Thanks for the reply sounds like some great advise

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Salt water boating

get a saltwater fishing license. The registration has become complicated with criss-crossing federal and state regs.

Don't worry about any of the rest of it except hosing off your trailer axles if you dunk the trailer.

 

[johnson89]

Re: Salt water boating

if you never been in saltwater boating,it is a whole diffrent story.Unlike a lake (in Fl anyway) when you pull away from the dock an start heading out, it does not get deeper as you go, you have too know your channel markers an know them well, you can go from 10" deep to 2 inches real quick, some areas are a sandy bottom others are rock are oyster shells an will do major damage too a boat,take it real slow if you do not know the area

 

[kahuna123]

Re: Salt water boating

First and foremost if you don't know the rules of the road. Take a course, go out with someone who does know a few times first. You can be in 20 ft of water and go to 2 inches of water with rock bottom in seconds. My home channel is a mile long and the North side is all the rock they blew out to make it. A half mile out at low tide the rock piles are out of the water. I have seen some really stupid, dangerous, avoidable things happen. Get charts of the area you are going to be in. Look for the "bad" spots. Are you planning to keep the boat on a lift?? If not you need to scrub it every two weeks, at least. If you do bottom paint it you will decrease the value of by at least a grand. If you have a steel trailer leave it at home or have a marina splash the boat for you.
Make absolutely sure you have good bilge pumps. Pumps not pump is the key word. A good radio, compass, GPS. In the summer the weather can get real ugly here in no time. If you are in the Tampa area I will be glad to help out. If not find someone in your area to show you around. This is NOT a lake and things are completely different.
I am not trying to be a know it all. I am 52 and have had a boat since I was 7. Anything from a canoe to a 40ft twin diesel. I have brought boats down the ditch from Georgia to Crystal River several times. But if I was up North and not familiar with how it should be done there I would seek out local knowledge first.

 

[kahuna123]

Re: Salt water boating

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/boat_handling_safety.htm