I/o in salt fulltime

[fstbttms]

I/Os were not designed to live in the water, salt or fresh. And every hull cleaner I know (myself included) charges an arm and a leg to clean them because they are a time consuming PITA.

[Tingum]

Sell it! The problem with out drives are small barnacles growing in the grooves of the bellows and then cutting them causing small leakes and ultimate gimbal bearing failure

[Miz Pea]

One thing most posters did not mention is the positive winter water temperature effect upon barnacles/weeds/slime growth.

In the winter here in Florida, the water temperature will eventually get down into the 60's F (15-20 degrees C). When the water temps go down below about 69 F (20.5 C) or so, there is much, much less barnacle and weed/slime growth. Hence, much less bottom maintenance. And the lower it goes, the less bottom maintenance is required.

When we had our Stamas at our dock, we had to get the bottom cleaned twice a month during spring/summer/fall, but only every other month in the winter. The Stamas had a 225 Merc outboard.

We have had a very warm winter this year in St. Petersburg, Florida. The water temperature today is finally down to 64 F(17.8 C) in the Gulf after a very chilly two days. (I actually wore closed-toe shoes one night.) Normally we would have gotten down that low in December, not January. Every winter here is a little different. But we were hovering around that magic 69 F last month.

So if you were to just come down for Dec, Jan and Feb, you most likely would not need quite as much maintenance as the commenters above postulate.

And if you really want to avoid the outdrive maintenance altogether, you can either get a different boat, one with an outboard that you can tilt all the way out of the saltwater, or an inboard, which does involve a bit more maintenance. Inboards, with their deep draft, also are not quite as conducive to visiting islands and running aground on sandbars along the ICW.

OR - and I know this is expensive - yank out your inboard motor & outdrive, put a bracket on the back and buy an outboard for your vessel. Outdrive boats have the engine closest to the stern so the weight distribution isn't as much as an issue as with a straight inboard. Had a pal who did that with her Steury houseboat and it worked out great. There's a third option, too: buy a boat to live on down here and keep your favorite boat up there. Tons of great used cruiser boats on Craigslist and Yachtworld this month, and I like that Craigslist has the "How many feet?" search option.

I'm curious, if you don't mind, what is your boat that you love so much? I can relate - I really miss our Stamas.

Best Regards,
Sweet Pea

[hobopacket]

A 1984 wellcraft 230 aftcabin. Great layout for an older boat and built like a tank. Freshwater all its life. Engine rebuild less than 100 hours ago.

Hell it is more dependable than my 2004 suburban. It's simple.

Thinking I am going to sell and go with my passion, a sail boat.

Just seems like too much work, I would be trading the hard work of trailering and not having a dock to maintaining a outdrive.

Sailboat is dive down and clean every so often.

[ontherocks83]

This is my old alpha 1 outdrive off of my new to me 1989 Checkmate.

At least one of the previous owners ran it in the salt water and I am assuming didn't flush it out or clean it afterwards. After I bought a new one, I wanted to see how bad the corrosion was so I lightly hit it with a hammer (I'm talking not hard at all) and it cracked up the side. I then very easily pried at it with a screw driver and opened up this giant hole in the side.

My engine is raw water cooled and when I replaced the port head the inside of the coolant passages are VERY corroded. Eventually I will have to replace the engine too.

Some of this may be from electrolysis but I can attest that the corrosion through out the engine is definitely from the salt.

I love I/O's in speed boats but as long as I own her she will never "live" in the water again. Fresh or salt.

[hobopacket]

Wow! Thank you for the picture. Yeah my mind is made, too much trouble. Either I will keep her and keep trailering or sell and buy something with an outboard or just the shaft and prop.

Thanks so much for the input everyone!

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by hobopacket

Wow! Thank you for the picture. Yeah my mind is made, too much trouble. Either I will keep her and keep trailering or sell and buy something with an outboard or just the shaft and prop.

Thanks so much for the input everyone!

PS I religiously flushed one after use, on the trailer. Raw water cooled the manifolds only last a few years.

[tuffr2]

There are not many clean boats in Florida for the reasons you have already figured out. I too am trying to figure out if I can take care of a salt water boat...so far the answer for me is no. There will be times I will not use the boat while out of state. Maybe for as much as 30 days. Then I would come back and take care of the yard and house then the boat. So the boat might not be used for 32 or 33 days. I think that is too long as algae would start to grow on it.

I notice barnacles on all dock pilings....heck, watching the nature channel I saw barnacles on whales...how does that happen???

Getting the engine out of the water is one key. It would be great if you could get a lift and a roof over it. But remember, birds will poo on it.

I am leaning toward a boat on a trailer and storing it where the storage facility has a fresh water wash.

But to be realistic my boat will probably end up looking like the thousands of crappy looking boats in Florida.

I think if you were married to the boat and spent many hours a week you can keep it nice looking...but look at other boats, yoou can see it is an uphill battle.

Good Luck

[Lepke]

The way commercial fishermen do it - get a heavy duty plastic bag bigger than the outdrive. If it doesn't have a reinforced lip, make it so you can add grommets. When you come in, lift the tail, slip the bag over the tail and pour in a cup of bleach. Tilt the tail back down and allow the bag to flood. Secure the bag with the top above any wave action. Nothing will grow and the plastic helps with electrolysis.