Salt water vs Fresh water
 

Who has had their boat in boat salt and fresh water and noticed a difference is speeds.
And can you attest that it was not due to altitude differences?

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

salt is slightly faster due to buoyancy with all other conditions being identical....

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

I bought a 330 Sundancer several years ago that was a salt water boat. On an inland river (90 miles inland/ freshwater) the boat sat almost 2 inches lower in the water. Don't know speeds, but it has to make a difference.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

not a big deal with under 70 boat anyways.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

2 mph on my rig

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

I saw no real difference in Salt vs. Fresh. Salt is more bouyant but it is also denser. One of the magazines hashed this out a couple years ago. Temperature, humidity and altitude seemed to be much bigger factors.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

Offshore vs. Onshore :D :D

2-3Mph at least

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

Mine was a tad faster in salt, but I could definately feel the more bouancy of the SW in the handling of both of my boats.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

That was Poker Runs America and they did a real in-depth analysis on the subject...they concluded that there was little difference. And yes, they confirmed that temp and humidity were much bigger factors.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

I've found temp , humidity , and altitude make more difference than salt/fresh which seems to be little to nothing in mine.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

So, can we assume that the extra bouyancy cause outdrives to blow up? :eek: :p :D :drink: :evilb:

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

I have run in the Gulf(very salty) and also in Lake Tarpon(fresh) on the same day and noticed NO difference.

Sure, saltwater is more buoyant because it's more dense, but at the same time the hydrodynamic drag coefficient is also more due to this increased density.

Most of the claims of incresed speed are due to altitude. Saltwater is always at sea level and most lakes are above.

Atmospheric pressure decreases roughly 0.5psi for every 1000' of elevation. See here:
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=58617

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

My claim of 2 mph is not scientific at all but max I have hit on GPS on our lake is 80.2 that was very light...fumes... and only 2 guys, altitude is about 100ft and again on the same gps in Florida is 82.1 with about 1/3 tank of fuel and four guys. I have blower engines so altitude is not an issue. And the more humid of the two situations was probably Florida. If anything the 80 on the Lake was harder to hit than the number in Florida, on the lake I had waited till the boat was on fumes and ran it just for that purpose. In Florida we were just trying to keep up with Jim Lee in his Skater 47... futile effort obviously! :D:D:D

Might of been the chop was different and all but that is the numbers I have experienced.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

Hmm don't know for sure on that one. I only got 3 miles in the salt before it happened that day, but it sure was fun. :D :D

Actually, I was referring to being out on the Choptank River, right off the salty Chesapeake Bay. I went out and played around a bit, whipping some turns, and such, and I could feel the handling difference.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

I've seen the difference first hand.

My old boat would cruise at 52 mph at 3600 in salt water. When I would go up the Hudson River and get past Haverstraw into brackish water I would loose 2 mph in cruise speed. This was NOT due to currents because no matter what direction I would go in the MPH was 2 MPH less, the boat also felt like it was dragging an anchor.

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

The empty corona bottles rolling around on the floor had nothing to do with the extra weight or speed did they? :drink: :drink:

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

The only difference I noticed was the boat came on plane faster... probably due to the denser salt water... :cool:

Re: Salt water vs Fresh water
 

I would think there would be less of a difference in a stepped bottom hull than a straight bottom. I posted my fastest speed in our T/S Gun on Lake Havasu which was 83.6. I saw a little over 82 in the salt. Not implying that salt is slower, but I never seemed to be able to post a bigger number on it.