A week in saltwater, flush the boat out every day?

[2x2smoke]

I'm taking my boat on vacation for a week. The rental house has a dock. Is the boat going to dissolve if I leave it moored in saltwater for a week? The boat ramp is a couple of miles away but I'd like to not hassle with pulling it out every day If I don't have to.

Plan is to get a new anode and bilge pump and bring enough garden hose and extension cord to reach the dock from the house to rinse the topside and keep the battery topped off overnights.

I guess it would be possible to flush the engines with the boat in the water by pinching off the inlet hose from the jet pump whilst flushing from the upper flush fittings.

Suggestions welcomed!

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

No problem for a week, try to keep salt out of the bilge and rinse it all out once you haul the boat. If the trailer is mild steel, it'll probably never be the same again unless you rinse it well right away.

 

[mikidymac]

Yes. No reason until the end of the trip. If your battery is good no reason to charge it either. Just enjoy the boat.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Long as you use the boat once every few days, and your bilge pump is not working every 5min, your battery should be fine. Agreed on the trailer, but the boat itself will never be 100% the same. Salt is one of those things you just have to accept. It's worth a little corrosion to enjoy saltwater boating. As mentioned, flush it out very well once you pull it out, and rinse EVERYTHING. I pressure wash mine every time I trailer it to/from boat ramp. It's a huge pain in the ass. I miss lakes, but life has cast me down to S Fl.

 

[mikidymac]

Also it helps to wash everything with a salt neutralizer lake SaltAway and flush the engine with it too. I then fog the engine and WD-40 the outside of the engine.

It will be fine so don't worry about it too much.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Curious, when you say "fog the engine", do you mean pull each plug and fog it, or just fog the intake? I found that pulling each plug and fogging it takes forever on a dual engine 4tec. Huge PITA, especially as I tend to use it a few times per month in salt.

 

[mikidymac]

Well, we are in the 2-stroke section, LOL.
Yes, I fog my engines through the intake then a squirt down each plug hole after every ride. Honestly now it takes me less than 10 minutes to do both skis in the parking lot while my family is getting ready for the ride home.

I also do it on my boat with a chevy V8 if it is going to be sitting for more than a couple weeks but only a squirt in each plug hole on that.

 

[2x2smoke]

Boat survived the trip but I had a definite issue. I have never left the boat in the water for any time longer than a lunch break.

Of course I had a leak so I needed to pull the boat out the first night. It was coming from below the driveshaft bellows out of sight, of course. I could feel some fractured fiberglass just below the driveshaft penetration. I assumed this was the source so I fiberglass patched the area.

Next morning put back in and still leaking. Arrgh. This time used my phone to image what was going on down there by taking a video. Sure enough there was a good spout of water coming through a hole around the driveshaft.

There is a black sleeve for the driveshaft that goes through the hull. It looks like two layers of plastic bonded together by some green resin? The leak wash shooting through the green layer between the two black layers. I used some Marine weld putty to fix the leak in the water, it actually worked!

All I can think of is that the the area was cracked after a tow rope was ingested by that driveshaft. The expanding tangle flexed the through hull fitting downward until the motor stopped.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Yep, a tow-rope could do that for sure, drive shaft can get bent (causing vibration) that way too. I use epoxy (and there are many) for a repair like that due to it's a structural adhesive. The more liquid and longer curing time allow deeper penetration, also grinding and drilling in some cases to open up (and stop) the crack.

 

[mikidymac]

There is a metal repair collar that you epoxy into the hull for this very issue.