Outdrive sitting in water

BrentJones

Member
Oct 4, 2006
405
Fenton/Lake Ozark, MO
Boat Info
2005 240 Sundeck
Engines
6.2L
I'm looking to move up to a cruiser and deciding how I should keep it in my wet slip. I'm looking at either an older 290 or 280. Both of these boats will demand a heavy lift and with that comes a heavy tab. With fresh water boating in the midwest, how feasable is it to keep in the water instead of a lift? And typically how long will bottom pain last in these conditions?
 
Brent

Mine has the factory bottom paint which is an ablative paint meaning a little bit wears off each time you use the boat. Mine has been in the water for nine months and the bottom is clean as the day it was launched. Our lake has no barnacles and I suspect your's doesn't either. If you have barnacles, then there are a whole different set of issues. As far as your outdrives go, just make sure you have adequate Mercathode protection and you should be OK leaving the boat in the water. Once a year you will have to get pulled out of the water to have the drives serviced anyway. You can use that time to touch up your drive paint and take care of any corrosion. Another advantage to having the boat in the water is you can use your heat pump to keep down the temperatures and humidity levels in the cabin in the summer and you will also have heat for the winter. The same goes for the engines in winter. They are less likely to freeze up sitting in the water and a bilge heater will be more effective than if the boat was raised up on a lift.

In short, unless you have some special circumstances, leave the boat in the water and don't buy a lift. You can use the money on other things.

Dave
 
You do know that there are one or more bellows (big rubber boot) between the outdrive and the gimble housing and that hunk of rubber is all that is keeping the water in the lake and not in your boat if you leave it in the water.

If I were you, I'd look for a mid 90's 300 Weekender, most of which are inboards.......a side benefit is that the 300WE is one of the best boats Sea Ray ever offered.
 
fwebster said:
You do know that there are one or more bellows (big rubber boot) between the outdrive and the gimble housing and that hunk of rubber is all that is keeping the water in the lake and not in your boat if you leave it in the water.

Frank: Any idea how often the bellows fail if they are maintained/replaced per the Mercury service schedule? My suspicion is that if properly maintained, they rarely, if ever, fail. I'm willing to be educated, however.
 
And when they do fail it’s not like the world ends. If you do not maintain them, they will eventually get a crack. It is best to keep the drive in its lowest position when you leave so the three rubber boots are in the relaxed state.

If they do crack you have a bilge pump. Connected to shore power would be great. If not, the pump will eventually drain the batteries and cause the boat to sink.

This is the #1 reason why unattended boats sink according to Boat US insurance claims. It is very preventable with maintenance and care.

Inland lakes, most boats have I/O drives. They are better then inboards for shallow water.
 
Bellows fail because they crack or because of physical damage. Regular drive maintenance handles the drying out and cracking, but you are on your own when it comes to physical damage.

My last outdrive cost me a fortune for regular removal and service but also for damage from sticks and limbs in the water. Unfortunately, you don't figure out you have torn a bellows until other damage has been done. Even in freshwater it is normal to ruin a gimble bearing when you tear a bellows.

I just think there is a better plan than leaving an outdrive boat in the water all the time.
 
So say over a 5 year period, it is a better financial decision to invest in a lift rather than to bottom paint and keep the outdrive in the water?
 
BrentJones said:
So say over a 5 year period, it is a better financial decision to invest in a lift rather than to bottom paint and keep the outdrive in the water?

I don't know if you can quantify it that way because the cost of bottom paint over a ten year period would probably be less than the cost of a lift. Now if something were to happen to the boat as a result of it being wet slipped, then by all means a lift would have been (in hindsight) a better and cheaper choice. My thoughts for my own boat which is wet slipped is while I don't like the thought of my boat sinking because of boot damage or failure, I know my insurance would cover it if it ever happened. So it's a risk I accept.

Buying an inboard, such as Frank suggested, would eliminate that risk and might also be cheaper in the long run as well.
 
So would the concensus here be that keeping the outdrives stored in the water would be OK? Well, with the exception of Frank. I realize that there is no guarantee with preventative maintenance, but the odds should be on my side, right? It is going to be really hard to justify the initial cost of a 12k LB lift.
 
Brent...........if you are looking for a used boat, I strongly suggest you consider Frank's suggestion of considering a Weekender. They are inexpensive and you can get twin engine inboards (they also come with outdrives) so you don't need a lift and you won't have outdrives to worry about. You may not be familiar with the Weekender series so you may have to do some research. Here is one listing to get you started. http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/5/6/85744856.htm In addition you can download a brochure from Sea Ray's web site.
http://www.searay.com/Archives_Manuals/Sea_Ray_Archives/1994/26-35 feet/300WE_SS.pdf

And here is a picture of a Weekender:

85744856_1.jpg
 
I have researched getting a lift on the NJ shore.

In figuring out "cost" and "benefit". . . you first need to understand cost.

Where is it being installed, and how much would it cost? Will this be like a pool that boosts property value?

You mentioned a 12K lift. Sounds like you are investing for the future and not installing the smallest lift that will work for your 240 sundeck.
 
I have kept my boat in the water for about five years and in that time have had one issue. A muskrat chewed on one of the rubber boots and the boat started taking on water. Luckily I have a very observant person keeping an eye on the boat or it would have sunk.

I keep the new boat on shore power at all times to prevent this now. If you do that I think a mercathode system becomes mandatory.
 
comsnark said:
I have researched getting a lift on the NJ shore.

In figuring out "cost" and "benefit". . . you first need to understand cost.

Where is it being installed, and how much would it cost? Will this be like a pool that boosts property value?

You mentioned a 12K lift. Sounds like you are investing for the future and not installing the smallest lift that will work for your 240 sundeck.

The lift won't boost any propery value of mine. I keep the boat at a marina and when I go to sell the lift in the future, it will have a depreciated value. I'm not sure about your area, but pools don't add to the value of the home here, so I'm not sure if I understood your analogy correctly. I already have a 6k LB lift for my 240SD. Moving up to a 280 or 290 will require me to jump up to a 12k LB lift atleast, maybe more. The dry weight on the 290 is 10,500 with full fuel, full water, generator and what ever else, I'm not sure if the 12k lift would work.

Dave and Frank, thanks for the suggestion on the weekender, but its not my style. I'm looking with something more modern, plus, I don't want to do an engine search and settle for a boat.
 
Oops. Sorry. I missed the "boat upgrade" part.

So. . .these boats are in fresh water? And you don't have to worry about salt water corrossion of the engines? Then I would not worry about getting a lift. Especially in a *marina*.

When I was shopping, the breakpoint on lifts was 13,000lbs. The cost difference between a 10,000lb lift and 13,000 lbs lift was $500-$750. A 16,000lb lift was a big step change because all of a sudden the aluminum beams on the lift became thicker AND the piling requirements changed.

I am not sure of the piling requirements relative to a 6,000lb lift vs a 10,000 lb lift. I suspect they are the same -> so your marina already has piles good enough for lifts? I was under the impression (based on three quotes) that standard "dock piles" would not be able to handle a boat lift.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I am not sure you will ever see a cost savings based upon "paint" -> unless others are painting for you. I have a 280SS (cuddy). Last year, under time pressure, I paid the dealer about $1000 for painting. This year, I spend $100 on one can of bottom paint, and $50 for two spray cans of outdrive paint (one can per engine), plus $10 in rollers, brushes, and masking tape. This was for standard paint. Ablative paint is "better", but costs twice as much. Time effort was 2 hours power washing, and 4 hours painting.

I would not expect to have to repaint every year in fresh water.

The decision between ablative and standard paint will have been made by the boats first owner. Starting fresh. . I would choose ablative . . . but 10-15 years ago, that choice may not have been obvious to the previous boat owner. Switching from standard paint to ablative will require a full paint removal of the standard paint. . .which would be a royal pain.
 
I keep my boat (200 select with alpha 1 drive) slipped in salt water all year round, no problems other than the yearly antifouling and anode replacement, its not hooked up to shore power. There is an increased risk that if the bellows or something else failed it could sink, but its in a marina so someone should notice it before it goes down, failing that, it is insured.

Lots of people here leave outdrive boats in the salt water permanently, if you leave them hooked up to shore power you need to really keep on top of your anodes, changing them maybe 2-3 times per year.

An outboard would be the ideal solution, but you dont tend to get the same type of boats with outboards as you do with sterndrives.
 

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