Salt water ?

[Travism]

Hey guys,

Recently moved from Calgary, Alberta to Houston, Texas area. There are some bayous and a creek not to far from me and I am throwing around the idea of sliding the boat in one of these days. I have a 2012 Z3 with the PCM409 that has closed loop cooling. What are my biggest risks and things to look out for if I decide to go in the salt water ?

Any insight is appreciated.

Thanks,

Travis.

[BLucas86]

Where exactly are you? Im not a fan of Salt at all, but have buddies that put in the brackish and have had zero issues, just lots of cleanup afterwards. Trailer is prone to deteriorating fast, but there are options.

Id be glad to fill you in on some good riding spots, just shoot me a text. Add our local wake club on Facebook "I am GCWA". Good group of folks.

(832) 878-7796

[skiguy]

Closed loop will protect the internal cooling system but you're asking for trouble for everything else in the boat. Here's the short list:

- your boat and trailer were never meant to be in salt water. All trim, bezels and fittings etc. inside and out will be exposed to a level of corrosiveness they were never meant to handle. A full rinse with fresh water inside and out (trailer included) would be necessary after every outing and will only postpone the inevitable.

- when swimmers come in from the water. When standing on the rear deck the water will drip down onto the engine, over time rust issues all over your engine and transmission. Potential issues with electrical connections corroding too. Your alternator will surely be exposed and have a half life at best.

- I wouldn't recommend storing the boat near brackish water. The salt in the air will do a job over time on your tower and exposed surfaces

- you will kill resale value on your boat when the above items become apparent as they are not reversible without considerable expense.

I took a chance and bought a boat at a big discount that lived for about 6 years in brackish water. I am slowly working through all the issues to restore the boat. Most are cosmetic but a couple are significant. I most likely will not come out ahead on the deal.

I advise you to not use the boat in the salt water but instead take advantage of the numerous fresh water lakes nearby.



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[whiteflash watersports]

We boat in brackish water all the time. The intracoastal waterway. You have to flush the engine after every outing. Do not skip this step. I wash the boat with West marine boat soap and then go over with boat bling hot sauce every time as soon as we get home. The steering cable will need replaced every 100 hours or so as well. Rinse the trailer every time as well but it will be toast after a couple of years no matter what you do. Galvanized or a custom built aluminum is the way to go.

Engine mounts will show signs of rust but everything else should be fine. We do not force people to dry off before they get in or any of that kind of thing. We have over 600 hrs and no issues. All trim, the tower etc are fine.

Just be very dilligent - no drip drying.

[Goodtimes619]

I am constantly dropping into the San Diego bay. I take everything out of all the storage bays and flood with water then shop vac everything out to get rid of the salt, also wash fiberglass and trailer with soap every outing. I've put over 100hrs this summer on the salt water and the only negative I've noticed so far is the trailer is a little rusty but not much, and the clean up time is a pain but I prefer this than driving far and paying to go on the lakes here (they have many rules on if you can fish, jump in the water, wake-board etc. extra charge for each person and for getting in the water on the occasion that we are allowed to that day).

The history on this boat is its always been in a very salty air but usually in fresh water occasionally salt down in Mexico.