Fresh Water to Salt - Preparations

[mikebikeboy]

Originally Posted by zstine

We bought a great lakes boat and brought it to Rhode Island. After a few months we noticed a lot of things rusting! The previous owner got away with crappy zinc plates steel fasteners, hose clamps, engine bed, etc. in fresh water. But man it was a PITA to replace all that crap as it rusted and stained the boat... Not sure if there's much you could do ahead of time, but just watch out for things rusting and change it out ASAP or do appropriate remediation before it becomes a rust bucket.

Wow good intel. I'll examine my boat for inferior metals.

[mikebikeboy]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

We did have a bit of a problem with a Great Lakes boat in the ocean. The raw water strainer was so fine a mesh that it plugged up with plankton every 24 hours.

The other issue you may find is if the head is flushed with salt water, you can get a sulfur smell if you don't use the boat for a week or two. It has something to do with the inlet hoses.

Thanks I have a composting toilet so not problem there.

[mikebikeboy]

Originally Posted by wfetter

Another thing to consider is your bottom paint. We has VC17 on our Great Lakes boat which can be removed with a little alcohol and a rag. Salt water will sand this off in no time. You might think about have a salt water bottom done before you go. Also, in fresh water you don't use zincs, magnesium tends to have a bad reaction with salt water. Either change to actual zinc or aluminum for the trip. You will want actual zincs in the salt. We trucked our boat (full disclosure) and had our bottom done in FL before splashing.

So maybe what I'll plan on doing is hauling the boat once I reach Mobile Alabama and do the paint, change the magnesium to zinc, actually might be a good time to update the standing rigging as well, which might be original, I don't know.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by mikebikeboy

This is great information, do you spray for example, blanket coat the engine with that stuff? Or, just bare metal areas.

Can anyone tell me why some boats have sea strainers and some don't? My intake seacock has a grill but there's probably 1/8 inch between each grill tooth. A minnow could probably swim in there. Would my coolant system just cook it and puke it out?

Spray all bare metal surfaces or anywhere paint has been breached. We spray the backs of our electical panels too. Boeing has been spraying all of their planes with this stuff for a couple of decades.

That you don't have a strainer basket is very curious, I've never seen a boat without one (maybe it's the size boats we deal with). We are currently in the Bay of Quinte, the weeds are astonishing this year. Frequent cleaning of the strainer basket is a PIA but it beats replacing impellers or cleaning out heat exchangers ... install a strainer basket.

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by mikebikeboy

This is great information, do you spray for example, blanket coat the engine with that stuff? Or, just bare metal areas.

Can anyone tell me why some boats have sea strainers and some don't? My intake seacock has a grill but there's probably 1/8 inch between each grill tooth. A minnow could probably swim in there. Would my coolant system just cook it and puke it out?

Boeshield, while very effective, is also very pricey so you won't end up blanket spraying anything with it. Use it very selectively on high ticket items you don't want to rust. White Lithium Grease is also a great product anywhere you might be tempted to use WD40 (which tends to leave a sticky film)

[nortonscove]

Originally Posted by wfetter

Another thing to consider is your bottom paint. We has VC17 on our Great Lakes boat which can be removed with a little alcohol and a rag. Salt water will sand this off in no time. You might think about have a salt water bottom done before you go. Also, in fresh water you don't use zincs, magnesium tends to have a bad reaction with salt water. Either change to actual zinc or aluminum for the trip. You will want actual zincs in the salt. We trucked our boat (full disclosure) and had our bottom done in FL before splashing.

I've not had this issue with that bottom paint. It may be a temperature thing.