Leaving your Jetboat in the lake all summer

[Sonic Blue]

Hi All. I am awaiting delivery of my Yamaha 252SD. As some of you know, its my first boat ever. This is all new to me and I'm super excited. Anyway, I got my hands on the 275SD Manual and I have been studying it. Within the manual there is a section that states' "Some owners prefer to moor their boats seasonally rather than keeping it on the trailer between uses. Extended mooring is not recommended." Basically, you cant flush the cooling system properly, leaving it in the water and especially salt water, can accelerate deterioration of parts, etc. Finding a seasonal slip in my area was very difficult, but I landed one finally in Lake Eerie. I do plan on trailering it between Lake Eerie and Lake Huron BUT I was wondering who of you out there may be able to provide some real-world advice on how long is too long between flushing and cleaning. Am I looking at days? weeks? months? Do any of you leave your boat in the water all season?

 

[Rockfords Fosgate]

It's not just a cooling system concern, your hull will get dirty, grow algae, and left long enough...barnacles. May seem trivial, but believe it or not that hull growth can eventually impede performance.

Anyhow, nice boat! jealous...

 

[Seattle-Wind]

Congrats on the new boat and for securing moorage. Having moorage is so convenient, you'll get way more time on your boat because of it.

I have a 2019 AR190 that we keep moored at a marina in a fresh water lake for 6 months out of the year. I saw zero issues with keeping it moored in the water. Upon pulling it out of the water last week at the end of the season, I did notice a little bit of corrosion/barnacle things on the jet pump which was easily wiped off with a scrub brush. The hull will get dirty and grow algae that can be easily cleaned off at the end of the season with an acid-based hull cleaner. I wax my hull prior to putting it in the water for the season and I don't even need acid wash to get the algae and dirt off the hull at the end of the season, just normal car wash soap and a scrub brush took it right off. Wax makes end of season cleaning way easier.

Previously I had a 2007 SeaDoo Speedster 150 (15' jet boat) that we moored in the water for 6 months out of the year for 13 years straight and saw no issues aside from a bit of corrosion/barnacle things like mentioned above.

 

[Miitch]

Congrats on the boat! and i can confirm (at least with rotax powerplants anyway) that leaving it in the water all season just demands extra cleaning. I bought mine June of this year and was planning on trailering it. My parents surprised (college grad present) me with a slip down the road from our house (Lake Ontario) and I dont think i will go a summer WITHOUT slipping it. I took it out once a month just to clean the hull and interior.

I noticed some yellowing of the white hull but it didn't bother me much as it was always in the water. Some growth on the metal parts of the pump but nothing that cant be washed away. Never noticed a hit to my performance. Mind you, what we are experiencing is more of a "colour change" than it is a growth.

I think if you do a monthly cleaning/wax touch up you should be fine. At the end of the year, wash the hull with an acid compound (Toilet bowl cleaner worked for me - 9% Muriatic acid or HCl was the main ingredient in both toilet bowl cleaner and hull cleaner. I saved my pennies) and rewax/seal your hull and you should be fine.

Mind you, this is coming from my little 4 months experience LOL. But thats 4 months free if mooring related issues none-the-less!!

 

[Canuckjetboater]

Hi All. I am awaiting delivery of my Yamaha 252SD. As some of you know, its my first boat ever. This is all new to me and I'm super excited. Anyway, I got my hands on the 275SD Manual and I have been studying it. Within the manual there is a section that states' "Some owners prefer to moor their boats seasonally rather than keeping it on the trailer between uses. Extended mooring is not recommended." Basically, you cant flush the cooling system properly, leaving it in the water and especially salt water, can accelerate deterioration of parts, etc. Finding a seasonal slip in my area was very difficult, but I landed one finally in Lake Eerie. I do plan on trailering it between Lake Eerie and Lake Huron BUT I was wondering who of you out there may be able to provide some real-world advice on how long is too long between flushing and cleaning. Am I looking at days? weeks? months? Do any of you leave your boat in the water all season?

@Sonic Blue.......most of my boats have been on lifts BUT from 2008 on I have had five boats wet slipped ALL summer with NO problems at all. Two notes: 1. Two of those boats, a 31 foot cruiser and a 38 foot cruiser had slips where there were power pedestals so I had to ensure their anodes were in good shape to counter possible galvanic corrosion. 2. All of the boats were wet slipped in fresh water. As for the hull getting "dirty" there are two ways to address that: 1. clean it with a soft brush if you anchor it near a beach (which is what I do with our 2020 Yamaha SX195) or 2. some friends put their boat on its trailer a couple of times a summer and wash the hull. As for "extended mooring is not recommended" I called yamaha on this. They now offer lifetime/transferrable hull warranties so they might prefer you don't wet slip nit all year BUT they stated unequivocally that doing so would not alter their responsibility at all. they did nsay salt water was a lot harsher on the underwater metal parts than fresh water. this was nin response from my question: I have had more than a dozen boats, most bought new from different manufacturers not ONe of them ever stated anything remotely like your caution - are you saying your hulls can't stand being wet slipped. The answer was "no, no, no, not at all" then the backpedaling began. "We just want to make sure the boats are well looked after". No kidding with the $ I have invested like i'm not going to look after it. Sooo, in my opinion, have NO fear at all of wet slipping your boat. We did from May to October (fresh water) and our hull looks great big BIG bonus was not having to trailer to launch ramps every time we wanted to use it. I put he boat bon the trailer once and flushed it and nothing but water came out (flushed into two pails) no sand nothing. Don't read the first few pages either as Yamaha (and most manufacturers tell you how many ways you can kill yourself or someone else by doing stupid things!