should i leave an I/O in a salt water slip?

[Learpilot2]

I have a 215 Express cruise I/O merc with alpha 1 outdrive. I want to leave it in a saltwater slip in South Carolina year around.

Will that kill my engine and outdrive?

I heard a good coat of bottom paint is all I need. That and raise the outdrive in the water when parked.

I have also heard the saltwater exposure will kill my outdrive and engine.

I always flush my engine with fresh water after each use. I cannot do that if it is parked in a saltwater slip. I am not sure if it is worth putting a fresh water flush kit on it. I heard the are expensive for such a cheap boat.

If I put it in dry stack with valet service, how do I get the engine properly run and flushed after each outing?

If I want a boat in a saltwater slip year around, would it be better next time to buy an inboard powered boat like an Inboard sundancer 320?


thanks
rick

 

[spfortjohn]

We dry stack our boat. They wash and flush when they pull it out. I would not leave te drive tilted up as the bellows will be stretched all the time.

 

[Phlorida]

I leave my boat in dry stack and it works out quite well for me. After each use the marina flushes the engine, turns off the batteries, rinses the boat, puts the cover on and removes the drain plug. The dry stack customers get unlimited slip privileges meaning we can take an available slip anytime we want - I did that this weekend.

 

[IanBat]

330DA with twin 7.4's and Volvo Penta duo props, stainless props, sitting in a berth, I need to change the anodes approx every 6 months.

Would be the norm in Australia, as we don't really fresh water boat, and dry docks are not common yet


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[mwph]

... That and raise the outdrive in the water when parked.

Your best advice is probably in the above posts, but just to be clear... Even with the drive fully raised, It won't be out of the water.

 

[kaz911]

I kept my 210 Select in very salty and hot water all year around. Not a problem. Just remember it WILL mean more maintenance!

but one thing... NEVER EVER lift your drives up while you are docked for any long period of time. You expose the hydraulic arms and extend the rubber bellows. Barnacles and mussels LOVES those extended surfaces. If you have a few barnacles on your bellows - and you lower the drive - you can push holes through the bellows. And bellows are not happy about being extended to their furthest position for any length of time. And the barnacles will take up residence on your hydraulic arms - so you might not even be able to lower your stern drive. Keep the drive as low as it will go.

Other things:

Flush your engine at LEAST once a week after outings - with something like salt away
Flush your engine cooling system once pr. year with engine flush acid (Barnacle Buster, Rydlime, Triton Engine Flush)

Replace water pump impeller EVERY year - and since it is an alpha 1 - you can service the drive at the same time (and flush the engine)
Expect to replace the water pump every 3 years or so.

Get a really good coat of primer and anti fouling paint. Different paints react differently in different waters - so ASK guys on your harbour what paints they use.

If your paint on the Alpha 1 is in good condition - I would normally NOT anti-foul paint it until I start seeing things growing on it.

Alpha 1's can't get a fresh water flush kit as far as I know since pump and impeller is in the drive. (Mercruiser does not sell a kit for Alpha to the best of my knowledge) - use good Quicksilver/Merc's muff's with the "steel pin" that goes all the way through the drive.

And if you consider changing boats - a V drive is off course the best maintenance wise. 2nd best is Merc' with "Seacore" (1/2 fresh water cooled - 1/2 raw water cooled) - and with flush port directly on the engine. 3rd place is Merc Horizon with B3's (that is the "older" model of seacore). 4th place is Merc with B3.

I still use salt away when flushing. (right now I'm testing BlueThrough tabs but that is another story)

 

[Henry Boyd]

I kept my 210 Select in very salty and hot water all year around. Not a problem. Just remember it WILL mean more maintenance!

but one thing... NEVER EVER lift your drives up while you are docked for any long period of time. You expose the hydraulic arms and extend the rubber bellows. Barnacles and mussels LOVES those extended surfaces. If you have a few barnacles on your bellows - and you lower the drive - you can push holes through the bellows. And bellows are not happy about being extended to their furthest position for any length of time. And the barnacles will take up residence on your hydraulic arms - so you might not even be able to lower your stern drive. Keep the drive as low as it will go.

Not so fast there. Because our mooring barely provides enough water at low tide to keep the boat floating, the drive is up whenever it is not running. Barnacle growth being preferable to having the sterndrive act as a boat stand during the low tide hours. As for extensive damage to bellows, after six years of this life there has been no irregular bellows wear issue.

Henry

 

[kaz911]

Not so fast there. Because our mooring barely provides enough water at low tide to keep the boat floating, the drive is up whenever it is not running. Barnacle growth being preferable to having the sterndrive act as a boat stand during the low tide hours. As for extensive damage to bellows, after six years of this life there has been no irregular bellows wear issue.

Henry

if you have not other option - then yes keep them up - but keep checking for leaks and barnacles and mussels.

I had a "dock mate" who left his up for 3 months. In 3 months there was so many barnacles on the hydraulic arms they could not lower it. But I am in extreme growth area. They cleaned everything and still could only trim down 10 degrees. So they got towed back to a harbour with lift facilities - and had to get two new hydraulic arms installed. The old ones was not salvageable (since they tried to force trim down...). And about 3 months later the bellows started leaking.

And since you are in ? Northern Massachusetts? where the water temperatures are not as "inviting" for growth as the more southern destinations - so you might not get the growth of the south.

 

[GrandMaster]

I leave my boat in dry stack and it works out quite well for me. After each use the marina flushes the engine, turns off the batteries, rinses the boat, puts the cover on and removes the drain plug. The dry stack customers get unlimited slip privileges meaning we can take an available slip anytime we want - I did that this weekend.

Same here. Plus there is no cost for a haul-out if I need/want work done. Dry stack is the best way to go for salt water boats that are a size that allows for it. It isn't cheap though. Here in South Florida it can run as much as 50% more than a wet slip depending on the location

With regard to the freshwater flush system, my boat had one on each engine at the time I got it, and in my opinion it was a worthless piece of junk...and that was before one of the fittings on it broke and sprayed my engine room. Fortunately I saw the bilge pump come on right before leaving the dock, otherwise it could have been ugly. Both have since been removed.

 

[julians]

My boat ( A 200 select with alpha 1 drive) has been kept moored in salt water all its life. It is now 7 years old, and comes out of the water once per year for a service and the be re antifouled etc.

- Definitely leave the drive down, not up (unless for some reason you cant) - as above, it stops the barnacles growing on the rams and damaging the seal next time you lower the drive.
- Try to avoid leaving the boat plugged into shorepower - shorepower can accelerate the corrosion process (I say can, it depends on how well earthed etc everything is in your marina)
- replace the anodes whenever they need replacing - mine need doing once per year
- paint the hull with whatever antifoul is recommended for your area - repaint as often as is necessary for your area.
- The thermostat may seize up every couple of years .
- I've never flushed my engine with fresh water - seems to be impossible on alpha one without lifting the boat out of the water.

Like I say, mine is now about to enter its 8th year (~400 running hours in total) moored in salt water, and its fine, the drive and prop is showing no signs of corrosion, the engine is running nicely, The hull is fine.

 

[Billfletcher]

Re full time immersion in salt, keep an eye on your zincs. I get in the water and check myself even in the winter when water temp is 58f. My last diver let the main stern zinc go to 0, even though I told him 2 weeks prior it was low. He was fired and I have made it my mission to let every person in my marina know about his service which also entails general yacht mait. Looser.

 

[rcon]

Slightly off topic, but largely related.

Is it possible to change over zincs on an Alpha one drive whilst in water? I suspect the answer is "you can do some, but not all", but interested to hear from someone who's actually done it.

 

[julians]

regarding replacing the anodes whilst still in the water - I've replaced a few of mine whilst still on the water, I put a snorkel and mask on and jumped in with a screwdriver/spanner. I think its technically possible to do them all. but probably a little awkward to get the correct purchase/leverage/you may run out of breath, when you're floating about with just a snorkel and mask on.

 

[kkalsch]

My boat ( A 200 select with alpha 1 drive) has been kept moored in salt water all its life. It is now 7 years old, and comes out of the water once per year for a service and the be re antifouled etc.

- Definitely leave the drive down, not up (unless for some reason you cant) - as above, it stops the barnacles growing on the rams and damaging the seal next time you lower the drive.
- Try to avoid leaving the boat plugged into shorepower - shorepower can accelerate the corrosion process (I say can, it depends on how well earthed etc everything is in your marina)
- replace the anodes whenever they need replacing - mine need doing once per year
- paint the hull with whatever antifoul is recommended for your area - repaint as often as is necessary for your area.
- The thermostat may seize up every couple of years .
- I've never flushed my engine with fresh water - seems to be impossible on alpha one without lifting the boat out of the water.

Like I say, mine is now about to enter its 8th year (~400 running hours in total) moored in salt water, and its fine, the drive and prop is showing no signs of corrosion, the engine is running nicely, The hull is fine.

My boat also sits in salt water full time.. 9 years old and all original and no signs of corrosion -scheduled maintenance is the key. I agree inboards are less maintenance but where I boat every time there is a storm the sand bar locations change -so its nice to be able to lift the drive and keep going. I agree with everything said above -and I also never flush my engine until the end of the year at haul out

 

[rcon]

regarding replacing the anodes whilst still in the water - I've replaced a few of mine whilst still on the water, I put a snorkel and mask on and jumped in with a screwdriver/spanner. I think its technically possible to do them all. but probably a little awkward to get the correct purchase/leverage/you may run out of breath, when you're floating about with just a snorkel and mask on.

Cheers, julians.