First Salt Water Ride- Anything to do?

[enginesilo]

So I finally found a boat and picked it up this week! a sweet 2005 Sea Ray 180 Sport with the 135 3.0L I/O engine.

I was wondering if there is anything I should be doing to the I/O for my first ride in salt water? The boat has been a fresh water boat for its 22 hours of use since 2006.

In my last seadoo jet boat I would spray the steering and reverse cables with protective corrosion spray to lube them, and also with hopes of a little protection.

Is there anything I should be spraying with corrosion protection spray on an Inboard/Outboard?

I will already be planning on rinsing it extra good and flushing when I am done, but I am more interested in what to do before hand?

 

[enginesilo]

Re: First Salt Water Ride- Anything to do?

Anyone?

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: First Salt Water Ride- Anything to do?

Howdy,

there's not really anything to before other than regular checks you would always do according to the manufactures recommendations.

Just do good flushing and rinsing of the boat, engine and trailer/brakes afterwards. DO NOT run the engine out of the water even if only for a a few seconds (like a lot of PWC owners do) or you will destroy/damage the raw water pump.

Oh by the way....it's used boat and if you do not know the condition of the raw water pump, and it over heats at idle someone in those first 22 hours probably DID run it dry and ruined it. Some people replace the raw pump after only 3 years...

Have fun,


Rick

 

[borz170]

Re: First Salt Water Ride- Anything to do?

Hello,

I have pretty much the same boat. I have a 2007 Larson 180 Sport powered by a Volvo Penta 3.0 135 hp SX drive. You have the right Idea about flushing and rinsing the boat after every use. If I were you, I would take an hour or two and address every electrical connection you can find. Take Dielectric grease and coat every connection, both under the helm and under the engine compartment cover. I greased everything from fuses to pigtails and everything in between. Will this be necessary before use in salt? No, but if you want to prolong the life of these connections and prepare for a problem free, easy going boating season, do it now rather than later. I unplugged everything, every wire from every instrument, ign switch, etc and coated them with grease. I did this after about 20 hrs, and there was light corrosion on every exposed connection. The horn had already failed, electrolysis had already set in (turned green) requiring replacement. Yes, that's after 2 months (20 hrs) of salt water use. Scary, ain't it? Also, go to Boaters World and buy some T-9 "Boeshield" by Boeing. Coat the entire engine lightly, and then do the lower unit. This stuff is expensive ~$15/can, but it's worth it. You will only need to use it a few times/yr. Coat your entire trailer with it also, do it every 6 mos. Buy some generic anti-corrosive spray and use it every few trips (engine/out drive). They say you should lightly spray off your engine every 2-3 trips out, during your routine of rinsing/flushing after use. I would use the anti-corrosive after spraying the engine, once it's dry. Wax the hull. I would do it before splashing it in salt water, but that's just me. Use Collinite brand 845 wax. This is the most durable wax I have ever used.

Hope this helps, also, I hope you didn't expect everyone to say "just go have fun with your boat". You can do this, but I wouldn't recomend it.

 

[enginesilo]

Re: First Salt Water Ride- Anything to do?

Thanks Rick and Borz170 for the replies.

I have grown up on the salt water so I am a hard core corrosion protectant type guy I have owned boats in the past, and just sold off a fleet of Seadoo jet ski's which I had maintained excellent for salt water machine's. However, I am totally new to an I/O and have never owned one, so I feel like a newbie and am looking for the learning curve's, and I think you guys have helped with that!


Thanks for the tip on the impeller and water pump. The guy who I bought it from was a fresh water guy, and he was extremely meticulous with everything he did so my guess is that he never ran it out of the water. It was garaged its entire life, and only used for 22 hours and looks brand spanking new so I want to be sure I keep it as maintained as I possibly can.

Can you elaborate a little more on the raw water pump? Is this related to the impeller? Any way to check this out? or if the boat is running at a normal temp should it be ok? I went for a 45 minute water test ride and I think it stayed around 160 or 170 the entire time.

About how long should I flush the engine for on the hose with the hose flush muffs? I thought I read at least 10 minutes so the thermostat could open? Can anyone confirm?

Borz, good tips on the dielectric grease. I am going to plan to do this some time next week I think. I already use T-9 so I will plan to give the boat a nice spray. So do you just spray it all over the lower unit in a light coat? Do you wipe it afterwards, or just spray and forget? I never put it on a trailer but maybe i'll do that too. The only thing I HATE about the corrosion spray is that it makes a mess of the engine compartment with time. My seadoo boats and ski's all had greasy and messy looking engine's because of the corrosion spray, but I preferred a greasy looking engine, versus a salt water rotting engine from the inside out.

And Nope, totally knew people would say to do all sorts of stuff to it to keep it up. I am a maintenance freak when it comes to this stuff so I will do all I can to keep that salt water corrosion away. I had a jet ski engine blow up on me from the lack of salt water maintenence from the previous owner. Was ashame because the ski looked nearly new, but the engine was a time bomb waiting to blow...and sure enough it ended up dying.