Buying a saltwater boat for freshwater

jabs

New Member
Sep 25, 2009
179
Saint Croix river/Stillwater MN
Boat Info
2000 Searay 270
Engines
Twin 4.3 Alpha 1 - 240 hours
Thinking of purchasing a boat out of town that has been a saltwater boat for five or six years and I will be using it on a freshwater river. I spoke to few dealers in the area and they said to avoid saltwater boats period. They said the saltwater gets every where and will corrode the wiring and everything else.
The one dealer is very well known and trusted by a lot of people but I find it hard to believe that salt destroys boats to that extent.

The current owner has done more preventive maintenance on this boat then I have seen before and have all the service records.

The wife and I are your average joes and can keep up with standard maintenance and a few hiccups but I don't want to have lots of problems with a our new used boat. We are basically newbie’s to the boating world and just want to make sure it's right.
 
Jabs,
If you do a search you shoould find lots of thoughts on this topic. As a saltwater boater for the past 40 years I can tell you that it requires much more maintainance and the salt does get everywhere but you learn to deal with it. I used to add an hour for claen up after docking. Moved to freshwater last year and was amazed as to how easy clean up became. However a properly maintained salt water boat will serve you better than the fresh water boat with poor attention to detail. As always the survey is the critical part of the process. Salt water use should by itself not eliminate a boat from consideration.
Good luck
Paul
 
I agree with Paul... Salt water requires more maintence especially with I/Os... Inboards with fresh water cooling have less to worry about in salt water. If I were on fresh water, I would definately include the saltwater boats in my search. Remeber the farther North you go the shorter the season and the less a boat is exposed to the salt water...
 
Jabs, Up your way theres alot of fresh water boats to be had for CHEAP $$.
I'd never buy a salt water boat. But thats just me.
My manifolds & risers are just like brand new after 22yrs of being in fresh water. :smt038
Here's a pic of the bad girls that have NEVER been apart !!
If you notice they are still OMC original gray paint. :smt001
Motors.jpg
 
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My boat was previously a "salty" and I can tell you that there is undue fear mongering about salt. Yes, I/O's that sit in salt water can be a problem area. Yes, a raw water cooled engine(s) can be another area of problems - depending on the PO's level of care.

With my boat, I've had issues with exhaust manifolds (all have now been replaced) and heat exchangers take a beating (one replaced). One of my starter motors was not working intermittently. My local mechanic said "SALT! It messes anything electrical up big time - just face it and get a new one.", but after I took the time to diagnose found that a main ground wire on the engine was not getting good contact. That's an example the "fear mongering" I mentioned.


I wouldn't necessarily rule out salt water boats in the future. Just go in with your eyes open, knowing that systems on the boat that have raw water flowing through them may have to be replaced and price accordingly. It may be that a salty is the only boat available in some particular models.

As far as electrical, on my boat all of the electrical connections have been sprayed with some sort of gummy sealant to keep corrosion at bay.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are numerous mid-eighties Sea Ray owners on CSR that operate in Salt Water. Their boats haven't curled up and died as a result!
 
Jabs, Up your way theres alot of fresh water boats to be had for CHEAP $$.
I'd never buy a salt water boat. But thats just me.
My manifolds & risers are just like brand new after 22yrs of being in fresh water. :smt038
Here's a pic of the bad girls that have NEVER been apart !!
If you notice they are still OMC original gray paint. :smt001
Motors.jpg

Good advice. Why buy a saltwater boat when you can find any number of clean freshwater boats to evaluate? I learned this from a buddy who owned boats in Florida and Michigan for many years. He brought a Florida boat to Michigan to clean up and sell. It was a very nice Formula. After 5 years of saltwater, it had various cosmetic things that needed fixing in spite of the good care it had enjoyed. Shifting linkage was corroded as well as many of the fittings. He ended up replacing most of that and it looked good when it was completed, but it was not cheap.
 

Actually I'm having a tough time finding a boat in this market not a lot of used stuff out there for Sea Rays, Crownlines or Maxum in the 28' range with twins. Dealers are saying people are not upgrading due to the economy.

We have a local used boat mag called Scuttlebutt and it's probably the thinnest I have seen.

We are patient though we like our little 23' boat just trying to upgrade if the price/boat is right.


 
Perhaps some boats wither up and corrode away in a salt water environment, but Sea Rays are built for salt water use. Sure, caring for a salt water boat is a little more involved, and you can certainly find neglected boats anywhere. I tend to think that identifying a neglected boat is easier in a salt water location than one from freshwater. Corrosion is an obvious sign of neglect and it is readily visible to even a cursory inspection of a saltwater boat, but not so much so on a freshwater boat.

I've had my current boat since 1997 and have yet to have a single corrosion related electrical problem.......and it lives in salt water 24/7/365. Honestly, I think the sun does more damage to a FWC cooled boat than salt water does, and I spend more time and money fighting the effects of the sun than I do the effects salt water. My view would be to locate the cleanest, best kept and nicest boat you can find in the model and price range you are looking for and don't worry so much about the fresh or salt water question.
 
Actually I'm having a tough time finding a boat in this market not a lot of used stuff out there for Sea Rays,
Really !!! where are you looking ??. :huh:
I found about 50 Sea Rays with doing just the basic searching. :smt001
 
Crap!

Now all my wiring is going to rot away... Just when I thought everything would be fine.
 
Yep your boat was the only one that was built in the Bayliner factory .
rofl3.gif

I'd scrap it out for parts if I was you !!!. :smt043
 
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Really !!! where are you looking ??. :huh:
I found about 50 Sea Rays with doing just the basic searching. :smt001

So far we tried Scuttlebutt (used boats in mn listings), Boattrader, Yachtworld and the local dealers and Marina's in the area. We found some 27' Sea Rays but I am looking for twins in the 28' to 29', nothing under 1999 and under $40,000.
 
So far we tried Scuttlebutt (used boats in mn listings), Boattrader, Yachtworld and the local dealers and Marina's in the area. We found some 27' Sea Rays but I am looking for twins in the 28' to 29', nothing under 1999 and under $40,000.

Never mind....I re-read your post, you don't want to laydown over $40K...
 
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