Salt water use, long term issues

[BoomZilla]

I have a 2016 212SS that I bought new and keep on a lift in SW Florida. I use the boat a lot and love it with almost 400 hours already. Even though I flush and rinse down religiously with Salt Terminator and have a Sunbrella cover, I have experienced a number of saltwater issues. I'll describe those below but would also like to hear what others have run into so I know what to watch out for.

The Latches on the ski locker and clean out port cover corroded through the first year. These are plated zinc and where the pin goes through for the hinge the zinc seems to get exposed and corrodes badly.

The rear speakers rusted out, one of them to the point that the magnet fell off when I pulled it out to replace it. The Polk speakers are not marine rated, they are for "Jeep and RV" use if you look them up on the Polk website.

While most of the stainless steel fixtures are fine, several, such as the clamp for the table stand and the hinges on the rear hatch rust up quickly. While this hasn't affected their use, they look ugly.

Finally, last week I went to start the boat after not using it for over 2 weeks and there was a terrible racket from the port jet drive. Turns out there is corrosion building up between the stainless steel sleeve and the aluminum housing around the impeller along the bottom, see pic. This makes the sleeve bulge out until it hits the impeller.

 

[swatski]

I have a 2016 212SS that I bought new and keep on a lift in SW Florida. I use the boat a lot and love it with almost 400 hours already. Even though I flush and rinse down religiously with Salt Terminator and have a Sunbrella cover, I have experienced a number of saltwater issues. I'll describe those below but would also like to hear what others have run into so I know what to watch out for.

The Latches on the ski locker and clean out port cover corroded through the first year. These are plated zinc and where the pin goes through for the hinge the zinc seems to get exposed and corrodes badly.

The rear speakers rusted out, one of them to the point that the magnet fell off when I pulled it out to replace it. The Polk speakers are not marine rated, they are for "Jeep and RV" use if you look them up on the Polk website.

While most of the stainless steel fixtures are fine, several, such as the clamp for the table stand and the hinges on the rear hatch rust up quickly. While this hasn't affected their use, they look ugly.

Finally, last week I went to start the boat after not using it for over 2 weeks and there was a terrible racket from the port jet drive. Turns out there is corrosion building up between the stainless steel sleeve and the aluminum housing around the impeller along the bottom, see pic. This makes the sleeve bulge out until it hits the impeller.

Great post, and a great thread! That picture you posted looks like something @Cobra Jet Steering LLC has shown here several times, the SS liner inside the aluminum wear ring is a recipe for galvanic corrosion, espcially in salt.
I'm watching the thread!

I'm 99% fresh water with this boat, my 3rd season, not even 300hrs. I use the CRC 6-56 by a gallon on everything metal. But I know Cobra uses Lithium grease spray? Hopefully he will chime in, he's puts serious hours on his skis.

EDIT: Polk DB651s need no salt to rust, lol.
I love them for the price/performance, but those are not real marine electronics...

I'm more concern with long term COnnext, the screen delamination can be an issue. I'm dousing mine with 303, along with all the vinyl, see if it makes it last.

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[AJack]

I just purchased 4xDB 652!!!

EDIT: Polk DB651s need no salt to rust, lol.
I love them for the price/performance, but those are not real marine electronics...

I'm more concern with long term COnnext, the screen delamination can be an issue. I'm dousing mine with 303, along with all the vinyl, see if it makes it last.

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[swatski]

I just purchased 4xDB 652!!!

For the price - those are great speakers!

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[CraigAR]

@BoomZilla how long are you flushing your motors for? I'm also in swfl and I use boeshield t-9 spray on everything and flush each motor for roughly 20-25 minutes with dawn dish soap while washing down the inside of the boat. I fill the flush hose full before attaching it.

 

[Andy NJ]

112 hours all salt...brackish. Same issues except the impeller housing. I make a point to rinse up the business end of the jets. Then spray liberally.
My speakers were corroded out the same amount. I replaced cabin speakers with jl Audio and moved 2 polks to back for this $eason. I’m going to change latchs out to true marine grade hardware in the fall.

 

[Brad_Ct]

Put hose clamps on the list also, the boat I bought last fall was originally out of Florida and must of been in salt water because most if not all of the spring clamps on the cooling hoses are so rusted they fall apart when trying to get them off.

 

[EricM]

My 2010 was lake boat for 7 years never an issue also maintained as in water flushed , oil changes , fogged end of every season, last year was talked into putting in the ocean against every bone and sense I did was moored 5 days a weekend weekend use only for July and August,
after season flushed system with clean water and did everything i did for the previous 8 years. So now May 2019 Port steering cable frozen - okay delt with that issue after snaking the cable through the maze and scraped knuckles, put the boat in the lake and guess what right drive was so salt corroded the impeller was frozen. The anodes what are they even there for I mean really.So after an embarrassing hour at the launch took it home took apart the drive and well yup need a complete unit. priced that up even doing most of the work myself its still over a 1k in parts for one side. Now with that amount of corrosion is the engine internals just as bad? So the question is invest in a 10 year old boat or is it time to just throw in the towel?

 

[Frank Marshall]

Great post, and a great thread! That picture you posted looks like something @Cobra Jet Steering LLC has shown here several times, the SS liner inside the aluminum wear ring is a recipe for galvanic corrosion, espcially in salt.

I've been trying to resolve galvanic issues with my boat for a while. I have found most components touching the water are not bonded. Thus the anodes don't help. The bolts holding the intake grates in place for example are sealed with a non-conductive sealant. I switched that to conductive and tied bonding wires to them internally. I added an aluminum anode to the jet drive axles. Bonded the rudder with stainless steel flex washers. Added an aluminum anode to the rudder rod, as I couldn't get it bonded. The list goes on, but I haven't found all the issues yet.

 

[swatski]

That is a great solution, especially for those who must wet slip.
In the meantime, I use copious amounts of crc656... on a trailer or lift.

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[rkim808]

I've been trying to resolve galvanic issues with my boat for a while. I have found most components touching the water are not bonded. Thus the anodes don't help. The bolts holding the intake grates in place for example are sealed with a non-conductive sealant. I switched that to conductive and tied bonding wires to them internally. I added an aluminum anode to the jet drive axles. Bonded the rudder with stainless steel flex washers. Added an aluminum anode to the rudder rod, as I couldn't get it bonded. The list goes on, but I haven't found all the issues yet.

Aloha @Frank Marshall that’s great advice, I’m in Hawaii and everything here corrodes??. I want my Yammy to last a long time, preventative maintenance is a key. I will be looking into duplication what u’ve done to urs. Mahalo(thank u)??

 

[rkim808]

Great post, and a great thread! That picture you posted looks like something @Cobra Jet Steering LLC has shown here several times, the SS liner inside the aluminum wear ring is a recipe for galvanic corrosion, espcially in salt.
I'm watching the thread!

I'm 99% fresh water with this boat, my 3rd season, not even 300hrs. I use the CRC 6-56 by a gallon on everything metal. But I know Cobra uses Lithium grease spray? Hopefully he will chime in, he's puts serious hours on his skis.

EDIT: Polk DB651s need no salt to rust, lol.
I love them for the price/performance, but those are not real marine electronics...

I'm more concern with long term COnnext, the screen delamination can be an issue. I'm dousing mine with 303, along with all the vinyl, see if it makes it last.

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Aloha @swatski what r the symptoms of the Connext delaminating? On my last outing we left the harbor at 5:30am, after our pule(prayer) I started the engines and went to crank up our traveling music and the touch screen wouldn’t work. It was a little cold still but in the low 70’s, there was a little morning dew on the screen. I hope that not one of the symptom?.

 

[isitsummeryet]

An easier way to prevent Galvanic corrosion is to spray everything metal down there with CRC instant Galvanize spray. It can be sprayed right over existing rust (I looked into this) and it does not rub off by the force of water. I have sprayed everything on my trailer (all fasteners) and mostly all metal components under the boat with this stuff. It's cheap and I find it better than just spraying lubricant spray because that basically needs to be done over and over. The zinc coating actually holds and rubs off very little if any. Also I learned that if there is a gap in the zinc coating, since it is dissimilar metals touching in rest of the area and zinc is more anodic, it will still protect the base metal.

Let me know your thoughts on zinc spraying metal components.