Best Practices for a Daytona in Salt Water
 

I can't wait any longer for this weather to break. I am taking my boat down to fla next month to make a couple of poker runs, etc...

I've never run my 28 daytona in salt water and am concerned about it.

Should I have this thing re-rigged any differently before going down there for a few weeks of salt water running?

Or is it as simple as just buying some flush kit and flushing the engine every day after use?

Do any of you guys run your elminator in the ocean - or do you just keep it in the fresh stuff?

i don't have an eliminator,
flush at the end of every day for atleast 5 minutes a motor.
spray motor's and trimm pumps with crc or wd 40 before you go and then again after your done on your trip . that is the trick to keeping the motor's looking good i have had and know of a lot of boats that only run salt water and look brand new after a few years just by doing a litle more maintance.
have fun and be carfule of the rollers in the ocean
mike

I've always been more concerned with all the billet hdwe- saw a used Daytona in FL a few yrs back- did not know the care it got but the billet hdwe looked sick- I'd try asking the FL Elim dealers- one on the west coasdt... Lightning Bay??

We run our boat 2 times a year in Fla. For sure soap and hose every thing down at the end of the day. The soap neutralizes the salt. Flush motors for atleast 5 min. We bring a case of wd-40 spraying every metal part including the screws in your rub rail. The Wd-40 wont hurt anything so dont be cheap let it fly. There are different chemicals they sell but it seems to work the best. anodized parts seem to be most effected so keep them clean. One thing I would do is have a marina put your boat in if you have a steel painted trailer. Once your trailer has been in salt they eat themselves from the inside out along with your wiring. Lightning Bay is a dealer in ST.Petersburg good guys real helpful.
Good Luck Have fun !

That whole salt thing is nutz with a fancy Extreme trailer!!!

The case of WD is key!!!!

What a challenge this has been - trying to arrange a travel lift to get my boat in the water and out of the water to save the Extreme Trailer from Salt Water Trauma. APRA finally got back to me, and let me know that there will be a travel lift, but it's only available on M-F - no service on the weekend....this equates to my boat being put in the salt water on Friday, and not being able to be pulled out until Monday - I am thinking this would cause some serious damage to the boat and should be avoided.

Have you guys ever left your boat in the salt water for successive days - or is the only option, for avoiding damage, pulling out and flushing each day?

My 27 stays in for a week sometimes.

This salt water we are talking about not acid!

The only thing on your boat that will suffer are any polished aluminum parts that will be below the waterline. You will have to spend some time making them shiny again. Besides that nothing will happen to your boat other than a little scum collecting on it. The drives are designed for the boat to sit in the water full time and obviously the fiberglass won't be damaged. Make sure you do a good wash job each day after using it. The motors will be fine if you don't flush them for 3 days. When you get home give it a long run in the lake to really clean it well.

The bottom line is you will have to do a good cleaning but aside from that no big deal. Good idea keeping the steel trailer out of the salt a few dunks here and there won't do much if you rinse it like crazy but better to avoid it if you can.

So clean it, clean it, clean it and clean it some more?
Im going down in 2 weeks to check out one in Flordia that Im most likely going to purchase. thats one of my only concerns was the salt water. it has closed cooling so that eases my mind some.

what are you buying?