Saltwater Cleanup Survey.

[magicalbill]

Interested in how much time you all invest in clean-up after saltwater trips.

What do you think is necessary?
Do You always flush your engines?
Do you spend time washing the boat or is it too much work after every trip?
Do you just spray it off instead?
Do you do little or nothing?

I wash my 232 and flush my Yamahas after every trip. My Obsessiveness won't let me do otherwise, but...Here's the key...The amount of work I do to keep the boat looking good makes me NOT want to take it out as much, because I dread the clean-up time afterword. It's just easier to stay home.
I'd like to know what you all do..

Thanks...

 

[wahoo33417]

Bill: Ditto the obsessiveness. Although, as it gets hotter and I get older, I'm more mellow. Now I find I can let myself do a good job on either the interior or exterior, alternating. Still give it lots of freshwater, especially on the hull, but don't have to scrub everything. My rationale is that the wax lasts longer!

But I do chamois the glass and stainless. Learned on my first boat that hard water can do permanent damage. And I do flush the engine each time.

Hopefully all this comes back to us at trade-in time. Or maybe in the next life we come back as a dolphin and bleed all over someone else's boat.

 

[Fishtales]

The salt environment is one of the harshest around.
- engine flush: yes every time. i have a two hose set up and do this first while doing general clean up.
- wash: yes every time. I use a foamer with boat soap, a quick brush (don't go crazy brushing everything over and over) and rinse. this saves a ton of time. For deck areas I use simple green, magic erasers, zep mildew and stain remover and soft scrub with bleach depending upon the issue.
- water spray: yes. this is what to do at a minimum, you have to at least wash it down after every use. Piping is critical as well as enclosure. Nothing better for a boat if you can do nothing else but a good fresh water wash.

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

I also have a two hose set up, one to flush motors(ALWAYS) and one to clean the boat. We, two or three guys, spend at least 45 minutes to an hour to clean the boat, i use Woody Wax boat soap and i will never change it and when all cleaned i towel dry all glass, clear enclosure, aluminum and stainless. Two or maybe three times a season i wax all the aluminum pipe work with Collinites metal wax, great product by the way.

 

[seasick]

There are several options:
If you have a lot of money, let the boat go to hell and buy a new one.
Bite the bullet and do the clean up.
Go out with friends and make it known that they have to help with the cleanup. I find that the last option works very well, especially for fishing.

In reality, I don't spend as much post trip time on cleaning as I did in the past. I flush the motor, and hose down the deck. If there is crud or worse, I use soap and a brush. As needed, I brush off the hull.

Polish the railings after each trip?? Are you nuts

On the other hand, I know a few boaters that spend most of their time cleaning and waxing and hardly ever actually take the boat out. Different strokes for different folks I guess

 

[tilewave]

- after most fishing trips boat gets a complete scrub down with help from guys who fish with me of course.

- after a pleasure / cocktail or dinner cruise boat usually gets a good spray/ scrub the deck only.

- i flush the motors if i know i wont be using the boat the next day.

- chamois the glass/ enclosure most of the time when i have the time.

- wax the topside pre- season and midseason

- alumagard the the metal as necessary

 

[magicalbill]

Thanks All;
Appreciate the responses.

Glad to know others spend the time to clean up their rigs also.

It's astounding to me how salty the boat gets after a day out, or even a short trip across the bay with a steep quartering sea with a stiff wind. The hullsides, top, engines are covered..you guys know.

What keeps me going is how shiny it looks after washdown and toweling off. Besides, it only takes a short walk around my marina to see what happens to boats that are NOT cared for. Wow....

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Bill,
When I am near the ocean, I am like you in I wash it really well. I find it pleasing though to clean the boat at the end of the day. I enjoy it. I hate honey do lists at home though, just hate it (lol), but my boat is another story. I see it as I get to clean to the boat versus I have to clean the boat. So we wash it well after every day on the sea, salt is hard on the boat and keeping her clean is a good thing to do. When you are out on the Gulf miles from shore, that boat is your joy, your transport and keeps you alive. Taking care of it makes sense as your life is on the line while on her more so than a car or anything else I use.

 

[magicalbill]

Indeed; pride of ownership is part of the fun of owning the boat. I'm just finding out that it's easier to clean it up during a limited vacation than to stay at it year 'round.
When on holiday, everyone is excited, you get in all the trips you can and clean-up easily goes along with it. All year, every trip, gets tiring. That's why I limit trips, but even so, I'm out once every couple weeks.
I was curious if others had the same feelings and routine.

NEM; Collinites Metal Wax; When you use it on the "aluminum pipe work" I assume you mean the hardtop piping?

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Magic,
She is in the water on a freshwater lake right now. I meant what I said on the clean up. We spent about an hour Saturday cleaning the boat while on the water. We swam around the water line and scrubbed the scum, we washed the deck with biodegradible soap, we polished the curtians with Nexus, lubed the snaps and zippers. We used a stainless steel polish on the piping as well. I maintain the boat the same way regardless of fresh or saltwater.

I imagine just sitting on a lift near a marine environment it will get salty doing nothing. This weekend we will be washing the deck and adding the woody wax to it. In the end I still get to clean the boat. I enjoy it.

 

[noXcuse]

I only use my boat in saltwater. I flush and completely drain my engine after every single trip. I have 6 places on the engine and exhaust risers (yes, I have an I/O. Uncommon on this site. lol) that have drain plugs. I also wash the whole entire boat and trailer with soap and water, and a deck brush.

 

[Bigfoot]

Do the research on flushing the engines....I use it ensure I flush mine. Then talked to the old salts and did the research. Don't worry about flushing any longer - no issues. Many many engines with thousands of hours with never being flushed. What kills an engine is sitting up. Use it.

Fwiw, I quit flushing 10 years ago. No issues. Just sayin.

Rinse salt blood off boat and trailer done.

 

[bayrat]

I ALWAYS flush the engine, hose down the boat and pay special attention to the metal parts (especially up under the hardtop) after every trip.I clean and Woodywax the decks when I start to have trouble getting crap off of it.(monthly?) Will wash and wax the boat on some windy overcast day when I cant fish and when the black stains start to become noticeable and wont wash off with just a spray and brush.

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

NEM; Collinites Metal Wax; When you use it on the "aluminum pipe work" I assume you mean the hardtop piping?

Yes, the hardtop piping.

 

[reelserious]

Magicalbill....not to derail your thread, but what am I missing? Salt on your boat in Indiana? How do you manage that?

 

[magicalbill]

You missed nothing;; I didn't mention I re-located to Fla. after retiring.
I did get road salt on the boat in Indiana during the infrequent winter trailering trips.

Again, thanks to all for the responses. Like Smoky, I enjoy cleaning and generally messing with the boat; It gets overwhelming down here, but it's good to know others are dedicated also. I now realize I'm not the only guy who scrubs down the boat at sunset after a long day.

I don't think I could pschyologically do what Bigfoot does and not flush the engines. I do not doubt his word and am glad he gets by, but I have heard too much to the contrary not to.
From here on out, if anyone wants to debate the pro's and con's of engine flushing, I do not consider it thread derailment.

 

[drbatts]

I wash mine after everytrip. I Usually use soap and water, have used a number of products in the past but this season im trying meguires gold. However if we get in late and are going out again the next morning early. she will usually just get a hose down to get the salt off. I routinly flush the engines with a seperate hose while im washing everything else. Again the exception will be when we are going out early again the next morning. I will usually do a second wax of the topside areas towards the end of the season. I got a nice day in december last year after the boat was pulled so I gave the hull a second waxing, which made spring cleanup little easier. If i get some non fishing days during the summer I will go and hit the metal with some woody wax and do a good cleaning and apply protectant to the enclosure.

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

What Bigfoot says is correct, but, applies to commercial guys, Law enforcement and the like. I am sure i never saw the Police boat getting their motors flush, NEVER and we dock very close, but we hear that they get 4K, 6K, or more hours out of them, but, if you think about it, if the motors work for 8 hrs a day for 7 days, that is 56 hours a week, times that by 52 weeks a year and you get 2912 hrs in a year, so if you follow this they'll get 2 maybe 3 years out of their engines, too soon to show any corrosion.
So, us weekend warriors, if we want our engines to last we better flush them.

 

[magicalbill]

That and the fact that it's not that big a deal to do. Simple hose hookup, turn on water flow and go do something else. Like others, I start washing/spraying while they flush.
Yamaha says 20 minutes per engine. The only person I know of that flushes that long is me. I'm scared not to, as I paid..well you know how much I paid for those things. They say 20 minutes; I've got that kind of time if it truly cleans all the salt out of it.

 

[alfa1023]

Just to add something to the mix. I am like the others here that probably go overboard on post use clean-up. But I stare at the boat out the back windows of the house all day and it would drive me crazy if it wasn't clean.

As far as the motors, I started using Salt-Away at the suggestion of a local Yamaha mechanic who I have used for years. He usually dismisses such products as snake oil, so when he actually recommends something, I will give it a try (BTW - he is a strong believer in Yamaha Ring Free). I have a 1997 Yamaha 90hp that I have owned almost since new that developed a leak in the head and the exhaust side of the block. After teardown, my mechanic asked me if I even bothered flushing the motor and when I reminded him how religious I am about flushing the motors immediately when we get the boat home, he suggested that I start using Salt-Away when I flush the motors.

Time will tell if this stuff actually does anything. But I do notice that the pee stream on both this 90hp and my Yamaha F250's on my Grady are now always strong and never clog up, which they seemed to do from time to time before.

I buy the stuff from Amazon - they seem to have the best price.