Questions: Maintenance for Dummies

[Aces_Over_Kings]

Hi folks,

If it has a mouse and keyboard, I can build it, fix it, or program it. But if it has an engine... yikes. So here I come asking questions.

I could really use help with some step-by-step maintenance in the engine compartment:

• When washing/flushing the boat after a salt-water ride, I flush the engine with Salt-Away (and wash the whole boat with it), but I've seen people recommend doing the engine compartment also, either with Salt-Away or simply rinsing everything down with fresh water. Is there anything in the engine compartment that shouldn't get wet? The photo below isn't mine, but looks more or less the same. Is it really okay to rinse of the engine?

• If so, it seems like there should be another step. Hand dry everything? Air dry? Hit it with XPS Lube? T-9? Battery terminals with dielectric grease?

• What else do you guys do to keep corrosion at bay?

• What about the bilge pump, any maintenance or lubrication there? I thought about closing drain plugs and filling with salt-away mixture and running the bilge pump, but figured I'd check first.

The dealer that winterizes it insists that all I need to do is drop the battery in and I'm good for the season, but I take good care of my gear and want to make sure it stays in the best condition possible.

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

 

[Aces_Over_Kings]

Thanks @SuperJetDan.

Is everything else in there fair game for a salt-away spraydown and rinse with fresh water?

 

[Bruce]

Is that air filter stock? It does not look like something intended to be around a water hose.

If I always boated in salt I would just spray my favorite corrosion inhibitor on the non aluminum metal parts every few weeks. I am currently using a CRC product, I believe 3-36. I sprayed the engines and fittings in the bilge before and after our Bimini trip.

If I was getting a lot of salt water in the engine compartment then I would want to wash it down. But I keep the bilge pump on whenever the boat is in the water so any water that is in there gets pumped out pretty quickly.

I have not heard of anyone using any product to maintain bilge pumps. If you wash your engine with salt away you could use the bilge pump to pump it out which would clean the bilge pump.

 

[davel501]

I would add pop the bilge pump apart and make sure the screen is not all full of junk. There should be 2 tabs that you press in on so you can lift the pump off the base.

 

[Andy S]

I could really use help with some step-by-step maintenance in the engine compartment:

• When washing/flushing the boat after a salt-water ride, I flush the engine with Salt-Away (and wash the whole boat with it), but I've seen people recommend doing the engine compartment also, either with Salt-Away or simply rinsing everything down with fresh water. Is there anything in the engine compartment that shouldn't get wet? The photo below isn't mine, but looks more or less the same. Is it really okay to rinse of the engine?
• If so, it seems like there should be another step. Hand dry everything? Air dry? Hit it with XPS Lube? T-9? Battery terminals with dielectric grease?
• What else do you guys do to keep corrosion at bay?
• What about the bilge pump, any maintenance or lubrication there? I thought about closing drain plugs and filling with salt-away mixture and running the bilge pump, but figured I'd check first.

The dealer that winterizes it insists that all I need to do is drop the battery in and I'm good for the season, but I take good care of my gear and want to make sure it stays in the best condition possible.

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

After each use in saltwater flush the engine and washing anything that got in contact with saltwater. Instead of salt-away what I have been succesfully using is a mixture of white vinegar and blue Dawn dishwashing detergent, equal amounts of each. After washdown I use use Hot Sauce to keep everything looking new, http://boatbling.net/products/boat-blings-product/hot-sauce/ or you can use something similar, I get my Hot Sauce from www.JetBoatPilot.com. Since the engine compartment should not get any saltwater exposure you should not have to wash it down after each use. If I do washdown my engine compartment I do a combination of drying, electric blower and air drying.

I agree with @Bruce coat everything with some type of corrosion inhibitor, I like Boeshield T-9, http://boeshield.com/, which I get a West Marine.

The bilge pump is almost maintenence free. The pump is all plastic other than the stainless steel drive shaft and the motor is hermetically sealed. Once a year I pull up the pump, check the intake screen, remove any debris, and reinstall, no lubrication is necessary. After reinstalling I fill the bilge and make sure it pumps water and the hose does not leak.

After a proper winterization your dealer is probably correct but I would ready the owners/service manual to see what the manufacture recommends.

 

[Aces_Over_Kings]

My takeaways so far:

• Cover the air-filter, and then it's safe to Salt-Away/rinse the engine and compartment. Follow with an aerosol corrosion inhibitor: T-9, CRC 336/656, or Corrosion X.

• Bilge pumps are mostly maintenance-free, but can be disassembled to check the intake grate for accumulated debris. If disassembling, perform a functional check afterwards to ensure proper operation without leaks.

• Other recommendations: boatbling products for the exterior, and be sure to follow manufacturer's recommendations in owner's manual

Thanks guys, I appreciate the information.

 

[ScarabMike]

http://www.sea-doo.net/SHOPMANUALS/PWC/2005/seadoo_a/smr2005_1503_4-TEC_engine _a.pdf

And this is for the air filter. Just measure yours, and buy the one you need.

• For a proper fit onto non-Injen Air Filters, check the following measurements of your current filter:
  
  Base: The circumference at the bottom.
  
  Top: The circumference at the top.
  
  Tall: The height from base to top.

http://www.autoanything.com/air-fil...jmoyPCa0Os5bcpDa6WkAo5116IymEeDoSqhoCXn7w_wcB

 

[OCMD]

If using salt-away, first flush ten minutes with fresh water. Then fill up the cup and run that a few minutes until most of the blue fades. You would like to leave some salt away product in there when done. Flushing for ten minutes with the salt away adapter and product basically means you will be running fresh water through there at the end, which defeats the purpose of the salt away. The salt away leaves a salt reducing/fighting compound (for lack of a better phrase) on your parts and you do not want to wash it away by a ten minute flush because that's all you're doing. So flush with fresh, then add the product, and flush a few minutes more until the blue color begins to fade. This way you know you have product remaining inside to coat the parts. The product builds up over time and inhibits the salt corrosion. At least that's what my Dupont chemist/bomb making cousin - yes, a real one - he likes to say tries to keep the world safe for democracy - told me when he analyzed the stuff years ago for me. I can't argue with success. My LS looked/ran brand new the day I sold it when it was 12 years old.