Mercruiser and Salt Water?

[mcknight22]

New member here. Great forum!

I'm looking at a '87 Four Winns with its original 175hp V6. I'm completely new to I/O, only ever dealt with outboards and am a novice at that. My question is, is that motor capable of being run in salt water? Besides the lake, I'd like to be able to take it on trips to the Gulf. Thanks in advance.

Mike

 

[MarkSee]

Re: Mercruiser and Salt Water?

Welcome to IBOATS

All I boat in is salt water; back in the 80's and now again in this decade.

Just need to allow time to flush it out on a garden hose when done using it and be extra good with the maintenance.

Mark

 

[achris]

Re: Mercruiser and Salt Water?

Hi Mike,

Mercruiser engine and drives are designed to work well in salt-water.... As Mark said, just give it a good flush on the muff when you're done for the day.

Sometimes when I go out late and get back early , I flush the next day, just as long as the thermostat opens, you're good....

Chris.......

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Mercruiser and Salt Water?

Lots and lots of Mercruisers in salt water. It is best to have proper anode protection on the outdrive.

Since the boat that you are considering is a 1987, you may want to pressure test the cooling system to see if you have any issues from the get-go.

 

[mcknight22]

Re: Mercruiser and Salt Water?

Thanks guys! Yeah I wasn't sure if the inboards had a different more automobile type cooling system that precluded us in salt water.

 

[MarkSee]

Re: Mercruiser and Salt Water?

...I wasn't sure if the inboards had a different more automobile type cooling system that precluded us in salt water.

Yes many "inboards", especially those awesome diesel motors, do use a fresh water cooling setup similar in 'concept' to an automobile and so do some "inboard/outboards". This setup uses a heat exchanger instead of a radiator.

If you have a container similar to what you see in here:
Freshwater Cooling Kits at Go2marine
then you have a fresh water kit installed. Even then, you can have a "full system" that sends coolant through the motor and exhaust system or a "partial" system that sends coolant through just the engine. The raw/salt water is then used to remove heat from the heat exchanger the coolant is in.

But even if you have a fresh water system installed you can still use the boat in salt water just try and flush it out as soon as feasible after usage and there's even products on the market that you can use when running on a hose such as Salt-Away that may help break the salt up that stays inside the passages....though some folks may not think products like that are of any real value.

Mark