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Avoiding Salt issues with Boat


rubble

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I'm aware of the need to always wash things down after being exposed to salt and normally do a full blown wash down of the boat (soap and power wash) when leaving FL but this year I was pushed for time and just sprayed the boat down really good along with spraying out the bilge and rigging box (which is open to the bilge) when we got out of the water.  I also ran through several heavy rain storms after the wash down.

Do I need follow up with an intense soap and power wash here in KY?

I didn't open up the live well or the release well supplies and I plugged the drains so they didn't get any saltwater in the system other than a little water getting in the live well thru the overflow scupper in the splash well.  Should I run fresh water through all of th plumbing systems?

All gear was sprayed down and the trailer was sprayed down after launching and loading.  

Have flushed the engine a couple of times hooking up to the hose connect.  Haven't run the motor with the muffs or in fresh water.  Also haven't run the Trolling motor.  

Just seeing how intense I need to get with the boat.   Haven't had the time or conditions to run the boat in fresh water or do a solid wash.  Plan on doing that as soon as I can get free on a decent day but if I need to *** it up and do it on a nasty day I'll jump on it ASAP.  

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A good rinse is fine... all you need to do is get the salt off.  Id say the 1st key to success with that is being able to rinse at the ramp before the saltwater evaporates leaving a dried salt residue.  I really dont see salt being the demon everyone is always saying it is on a boat.... yea if you dont rinse it and give it time to do its business yea stuffs gonna corrode look like crap and fail eventually.  

Items on the boat that I think most people dont think of are the pumps, an ez way Ive found to rinse them is to hold the water hose into the outlet fitting (where it pumps water out from) and let the water reverse flow thru the pump this applies to bilge and livewell pumps.

Personally I think the trailer suffers way more abuse from the salt, Ideally it should be rinsed after you launch but whos gonna do that when you are eager to get fishing?  I found the 2 main areas prone to rust are the guide poles and the torsion arms or leaf springs.  It took me a while to figure it out but was stumped for a while as to why the torsion arms and back side of the hubs would rust so quickly.  I finally came to the conclusion it was due to the wood and carpeting on the fender well liners.  That carpet and wood would hold water and drip it down on these items for hours.... my solution was to delete the wood and carpet and replaced it with black starboard, it has drastically reduced how fast the rust appears.  On the guide poles... they usually have a spot on the bend at the bottom that is lower and holds water, I figure this out when 1 broke due to rusting from the inside and found the other about to break after only about a year and a half.  When I replaced them... I drilled a bigger hole in the PVC cover that goes over the pipe and give both a quick rinse been on the same set now for 5 years

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