Re: Saltwater Fishing
I just signed up to this forum so I could respond to your question. I am a diehard Lund customer and live on an island in the Puget Sound (WA). I have never owned anything but Lund and am now on my fourth boat since 1981. Just purchase a new WC-14 last month. I only occasionally use my boats in fresh water. I just sold my trusty 1999 17 foot Prosport with Yamaha F100 because I couldn't keep ahead of the blistering paint. When a freshwater boat owner occasionally makes a saltwater trip I don't think it is a long term problem because you are going to dunk it back into fresh. I was always meticulous about cleaning and rinsing but it is chore. The unpainted Lund skiffs do well on saltwater because they aren?t painted on the bottom so the metal can be cleaned. My first boat was a 1981 S-14 that was exclusively used on salt water in our inland sound for salmon fishing. In 2001 a local guy purchased it and he is still setting crab pots every summer; I see him at the boat ramp. I also wonder about salt water getting in between the double plate hull on the larger boats like my Prosport. Again, if you spend most of your time in fresh water the boat will get rinsed and there won?t be long term problems. Around here many of the hard core salt water fisherman use welded aluminum boats that are largely unpainted; only on the topsides and interior. Lund uses the best aluminum available but once the corrosion starts to bubble under the paint around the rivets it is impossible to stop. Paint stripping, bead blasting, acid washing, alodine, and painting is a lot of work; I?ve done it on my Prosport several times.
Freshwater boaters have it so easy? go boating and put it back in the garage at the end of the day without a major rinse and wash project. This is the reason I went back to a Lund skiff for the time being. A simple run out to the mouth of the harbor to set crab or shrimp pots is not going to be a huge project because the small skiff is quick to rinse out. My wife is already grousing about not having a bigger boat so I?ll have to replace the Prosport before too long.
Sorry for the long post.
Brian
Bainbridge Island, WA
