Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

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pcrg28328

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I have always taken the time to run fresh water through my engines no matter I/O or Outboard after a trip to the ocean. But my question is, WHY? I see boats very similar to mine that stay in the harbor year round and never leave the salt water and get rinsed out. So do I absolutely have to? What if I don't? I always rinse down the fishing gear and trailer also.
 
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MarkSee

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

pcrg28328 said:
So do I absolutely have to? What if I don't? I always rinse down the fishing gear and trailer also.
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"Absolutely have to" technically, probably not. But it's how you can help your equipment last longer.

It's also good to use a Salt-Away type product running through the motor also.

Now for me personally, I do consider a flush after each use "absolutely have to".

Mark
 
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UncleWillie

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

You only have to do as much as you want.
Some people do as little as necessary; Some as much as they possibly can.
Rinsing it will certainly not hurt and will make everything last longer. I would! :joyous:

To rephrase your question;
"I have always taken the time to brush my teeth and rinse after every meal. But my question is, WHY? I see other people who never brush their teeth at all! So do I absolutely have to? What if I don't? I wash my hair and shower every day also."

See the similarity? :D
 
tpenfield

tpenfield

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

pcrg28328 said:
I have always taken the time to run fresh water through my engines no matter I/O or Outboard after a trip to the ocean. But my question is, WHY? I see boats very similar to mine that stay in the harbor year round and never leave the salt water and get rinsed out. So do I absolutely have to? What if I don't? I always rinse down the fishing gear and trailer also.
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Yea, I'm one of those guys who leaves their boat in salt water . . . I rinse out once a year, whether it needs it or not.

Rinsing probably helps for occasional trips to the ocean, but it is not totally clear (to me) how much it helps. I think salt has a way of doing its thing regardless.
 
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Home Cookin'

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

I don't think the tooth-brushing analogy works. To me, the better analogy is: do I absolutely have to keep my car in the garage instead of the driveway? Well, it helps some if you do, doesn't hurt much if you don't.

To steal someone else's line, salt-away (and similar products) are good for flushing dollars out of your wallet.

Do you wash the road salt from under your car every day you drive? If not, how often? What about those who wash it weekly/monthly/seaonally/never? right/wrong? Absolutes?

Anyway, my view is that if you don't wash the salt water away before it dries (a matter of minutes) then it does little good. More important is to flush out silt while it's still wet.

those of us with salt water in our veins don't fret about it like lake boaters do. Thousands of boats, for decades, do fine in salt water with never a flush. You do have to replace your water pump impeller more often, and some things called risers I don't know about.
 
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lrak

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

This falls into the same category as synthetic oil in cars. If you aren't going to keep a car more than 200k miles (and most people don't), I don't think it matters what oil you use. If you aren't going to keep an outboard more than 20 years (and most people don't), I don't think it matters if you flush or not.

(After 202k miles (of running on the lowest price oil I could find), I'm now adding half a quart to my car every 2k miles. My 1992 (owned since new and always flushed after salt or murky water) outboard just got its 2nd thermostat replacement last summer.) :)
 
brnschoneck

brnschoneck

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

Yeah id say if u can do it , it wont hurt heck I flush mine after lake use .(but im anal like that and my motors is 50 yrs old !!)
 
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H20Rat

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

lrak said:
This falls into the same category as synthetic oil in cars. If you aren't going to keep a car more than 200k miles (and most people don't), I don't think it matters what oil you use. If you aren't going to keep an outboard more than 20 years (and most people don't), I don't think it matters if you flush or not.
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Depends on the car, some cars DO require it and will spin a bearing fairly quickly (under 10k miles) without synthetic. Run conventional oil through a turbo and it will coke up and sheer to something similar to water in consistency.
 
Sea Rider

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

Always flush all my engines after use in salt water, the ones who lives constantly anchored at sea will develope more corrosion in interior parts as in crankase, block, head, around head gasket, water passages, salt layer formation or crust formation in thermostat area and sometimes lessening diameters of all internal water passages, which lessens best refrigeration, worst if engines are used commercialy on daily basis.

No matter how well you flush your engine salt formation will start to develope in microscopic thin layers through it's use, so it's a good idea depending on the engine model to tear head down periodically each 300-500 worked hours, clean all water paths, thermostat area, place a new head gasket, torque to specs. That way engine will last much longer and perform, refrigerate nicely as when it was taken out of the box..

Happy Boating
 
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Chris1956

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

Flush it if practical. If not practical, have a beer and forget about it.

I/O motors kept at a salt water dock are probably not practical to flush. OBs kept at a saltwater dock may have a flush port, and it is probably worth doing. It is practical to flush all trailered boats used in salt or brackish water. It is not necessary to flush boats used or kept in freshwater.

It is not necessary to use any "salt away" type products as they are snakeoil, IMHO.
 
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pcrg28328

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

I always do it anyway. If not the day i get back then definatly the next day. I really wanted to be sure that supposeing i forgot one time that something in the outdrive wouldnt be seized up the nrxt time i fire it up.
 
MH Hawker

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

You do not have to do a single thing to maintain your boat, that's why their lots of crap boats on crags list.
 
jayhanig

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

UncleWillie said:
You only have to do as much as you want.
Some people do as little as necessary; Some as much as they possibly can.
Rinsing it will certainly not hurt and will make everything last longer. I would! :joyous:

To rephrase your question;
"I have always taken the time to brush my teeth and rinse after every meal. But my question is, WHY? I see other people who never brush their teeth at all! So do I absolutely have to? What if I don't? :D
Click to expand...


I asked my dentist if I really had to floss between my teeth every day. "Certainly not", he said, "only the ones you want to keep".

That being said, I flush my boat's engine wth Salt Terminator after every use, within half an hour of arriving back home. Considering what I paid for that engine last year, you can be sure I want to get the most life out of it that I can.
 
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UncleWillie

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

pcrg28328 said:
I always do it anyway. If not the day i get back then definitely the next day. I really wanted to be sure that supposing I forgot one time that something in the outdrive wouldn't be seized up the next time I fire it up.
Click to expand...

Nope! It is just like going camping for the weekend.
All your teeth are not going to fall out just because you didn't brush for a few days!
 
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crabby captain john

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

I own an indoor dry slip. Every time the boat is retrieved they rinse her AND flush the motor for at least 5 minutes. I always have flushed every engine after every use in saltwater and have never had a corrosion problem-- all were/are Yamahas. I'll not stop flushing now.
 
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Home Cookin'

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

pcrg28328 said:
I always do it anyway. If not the day i get back then definatly the next day. I really wanted to be sure that supposeing i forgot one time that something in the outdrive wouldnt be seized up the nrxt time i fire it up.
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if you thinkflushing will keep your outdrive from seizing up, you may as well throw virgins in a volcano to keep the crops from failing, too.

and not to keep you up nights worrying, but once it dries, flushing isn't going to clean it off. The next day is too late. So is an hour later I bet.
 
tazrig

tazrig

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

It's not the salt that rusts out your engine per say. It's the salt mixing with the oxygen that does it. When you take it out of the water and the air gets at it it will rust much faster than if you just leave it in the water. There is some oxygen in the water so the higher the water temperature the quicker it will rust also. Bottom line, it's more important to flush if you trailer your boat than if just leave it in the water. As others have stated a salt away type product every few flushes helps also. The Titanic is just starting to rust out now after 100 years because it's in cold salt water and hasn't been exposed to much oxygen. If it had it would have rusted out long ago.
 
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Home Cookin'

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

tazrig said:
It's not the salt that rusts out your engine per say. It's the salt mixing with the oxygen that does it. When you take it out of the water and the air gets at it it will rust much faster than if you just leave it in the water. There is some oxygen in the water so the higher the water temperature the quicker it will rust also. Bottom line, it's more important to flush if you trailer your boat than if just leave it in the water. As others have stated a salt away type product every few flushes helps also. The Titanic is just starting to rust out now after 100 years because it's in cold salt water and hasn't been exposed to much oxygen. If it had it would have rusted out long ago.
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that's true only if you leave the motor completely submerged in the salt water--which creates other problems. Motors drain; they do not hold water.
Your "advice" reminds me of a boat seller a friend encountered; he said he never flushed the motor because the salt water kept the motor from freezing. My friend terminated the negotiations at that point.

I hope you were kidding. That one should have been posted on Monday (April 1). First time I've heard about using the Titantic as a boating role model!
 
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pcrg28328

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Re: Wash my engine out after my ocean trip or not?

No i dont think flushing will stop the outdrive from seizing, i just mean that i didnt want something rusted in place because i neglected a task. Also I hope an hour isnt too late because i live 2 hours from the water, barring slow traffic of course. By the way guys, just exactly do you use salt away products with a stern drive? its not like i can put it in a barrel. I usually use muffs and fresh water for 5 or 10 minutes.
Home Cookin' said:
if you thinkflushing will keep your outdrive from seizing up, you may as well throw virgins in a volcano to keep the crops from failing, too.

and not to keep you up nights worrying, but once it dries, flushing isn't going to clean it off. The next day is too late. So is an hour later I bet.
Click to expand...
 
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