Salt water boat

[hookedupf7]

Curious if you guys would steer clear of a salt water boat or buy?

[mr 580]

What type of drive and cooling system makes a difference.  Old i/o from salt- no.  Outboard maybe- you can repower.  IMO a freshwater boat is worth more than a saltwater boat most of the time.  There is a reason you don’t see old boats in Florida.

[rolmops]

14 hours ago, mr 580 said:

What type of drive and cooling system makes a difference.  Old i/o from salt- no.  Outboard maybe- you can repower.  IMO a freshwater boat is worth more than a saltwater boat most of the time.  There is a reason you don’t see old boats in Florida.

Most of the old boats migrate from Florida to south of Mexico where they have a lot of years as bread and butter boats for the village fishermen 

[Tall Tails]

This is a complicated question.  Is it in saltwater year round? (Basically anything south of Jersey).  The northern climate salt vessels have the same layup period that our boats do.  Does the boat run into brackish or freshwater after its use?  Is it flushed, washed and lift kept?  Salt air will penetrate everything.  You may chase wiring issues forever.  Corrosion on all finishes.  That being said you can find good boats in salt environments.  My Tiara was in Cape Cod for 3 years.  You can't tell it was in salt.  It was well cared for and was only exposed for 3 years.  The best advice I can give is have a thorough survey done by a qualified Marine Surveyor and be present when he does it.  

 

Hope this helps.

[sherman brown]

I bought a center console with a 150 HP Merc that was still a great motor for years until some good friends put something in the gas tank that caused it to lock up. I had to clean the separator filter a couple of times on my way back in but whatever it was did its job before I made it back in. hindsight is 20 20 and the first time I had to clean the filter and saw it had something in the gas I should have got a tow and not kept running the motor.

 

if a saltwater motor is cleaned and flushed out like it should be they are as good as any other motor.

[hookedupf7]

Thanks for the info guys. 👍

[Bozeman Bob]

I've bought 3 , all over 27' with dual straight inboards. Newest is a 96. Never had a issue with wiring or drive train because of salt water . All have closed cooling systems and 2 of the 3 were from the NJ and Conn. 1 from Fla. All wiring looks the same as fresh water wiring of the same age . A I/O I wouldn't purchase. 

[greenhornet73]

My first boat was a 95’ saltwater boat from Fire Island with a Yamaha 130hp outboard.  Had nothing but problems with the motor and corrosion.  The boat sank one day when the bilge failed ( the one time I really needed it) because it only worked intermittently because the connections were all corroded and was not easy to get to to replace. Lesson learned but I lived to tell about it.

Edited July 8, 2023 by greenhornet73