Salt Water Prep

[Vipersdad]

What preparations should be done before dropping a fresh-water sailed boat in salt water for the first time.

Thanks,

V.

[Billy]

depends on the boat.

But I think really the issue is after the salt water dip. Cleaning her off.

Are you planing on leaving her in the water? or is this just a trip here and there?

Every time I put my 19 in the salt, afterwards I dip her in the fresh water lake on my way home. This is mainly to flush the trailer, then I flush the engine with fresh water when I get home.

If you plan on leaving her in the water you may want to have the bottom painted w/ some anti-fouling paint. Others could speak better about which types of paint are best. I do know that if you don't leave them in the water, the paint will dry up, lose it's ability to work and chip off. No need to paint it if you are only gonna leave her in the water for a day or two.

Warm weather/water also plays a factor. more stuff grows the further south you go.

[Craig]

Not much to do really. Invest in GOOD bottom paint if you are going to keep her in the water. Micron 66 is a good ablative paint which does not lose its effectiveness if the boat is dry sailed. Fresh water wash down is always important.

[MacGyver]

To elaborate on Craigs post, and because I know Viper is a fresh water sailor mostly, I am compelled to say that the Micron 66 is Salt water only according to my data.
If you want to bottom paint your boat, Use Micron CSC, which is fresh water, and I am sure the couple of dips into salt water, you wont be having issue with since primary is Fresh water.

Micron 66 does have more biocides and such and thusly is a better product for continued salt water usage.

I am unsure of the growth rate for say a week in salt water, Billy or Craig, how badly does the growth run and what kinds of growth occur at say a week?

In our fresh water, it will be a slime buildup, but nothing that a light pressure spray wouldnt quickly remove on a painted bottom.

Mac

[Shawn]

" I do know that if you don't leave them in the water, the paint will dry up, lose it's ability to work and chip off. "

That depends upon the paint. Ablative paints won't do that and can go in/out of the water. If you have bunk boards you will be wearing away paint there pretty quickly though.

Shawn

[Shawn]

" how badly does the growth run and what kinds of growth occur at say a week?"

My white rudder (normally out of the water) will be discolored after a daysail due to growth. You don't just need to watch out for slime in salt, you will also have grass and barnacles. If one plans to trailer sail in saltwater you don't need to paint the bottom but you will need to wash it off every time you put it in. Much more than that though and it should be painted.

Shawn

[Craig]

I agree about the Micron CSC. Down here in SW FL the fouling is VERY aggressive. Peace River / Charlotte Harbor can be salty or brackish depending on the season/rainfall. When I had the Suncat on Cayuga Lake the fouling was minimal with just a little slime. Prior to bringing her down here I painted the bottom with Micron 66. We pulled her when she was sold after 9 months in the water with no cleaning and the bottom was practically pristine. By Contrast, the Horizon Cat has factory applied hard bottom paint and needs to be cleaned every 4-5 weeks. Needless to say I am going to repaint with Micron 66 this spring. I agree with Mac. If you are mostly a freshwater sailor Micron CSC is the way to go and will work ok for short forays into saltwater. By the way, we have had barrier coats on all our boats. If you dry sail you can get by without but if you are going to keep the boat in the water(especially fresh) for any length of time a barrier coat an bottom paint is a good idea.

[brackish]

I go from fresh to salt at least once a year and stay in the salt for a week to ten days at a time.  I don't do any prep, but put the boat back in fresh as soon as I can and as part of that process, start the motor so it can flush.  This launch to fresh also rinses off the trailer.  As soon as I pull from the salt, I hook up the flush hose if there is a water source to clear the trailer brake components of salt water, and rinse off the trailer and boat before travel. 

I use Blue Water Marine Copper Shield SCX 45.  It is an ablative paint that can be used in both fresh and salt.  It has a slime guard for fresh.  It was highly rated by Practical Sailor, is relatively inexpensive and has worked well for me.  I notice no real growth during the ten days or so in the salt.  Keep in mind, depending on the salinity and temperature you can get some really bad barnacles that will actually lock to the bottom but ten days has never been enough time for them to develop on my boat in the salt waters I travel to.  They will be most prevalent just below the waterline.

You may notice some slight rusting on stainless components after coming out of the salt depending on the quality of your stainless.  This will often occur around welds where there was some unintended carbon precipitation during the manufacturing process.  Fairly easy to fine 3m pad it off, and then a little wax and it will not continue to spread. 

[MacGyver]

brack, have you ever tried SS polish to get rid of the rust?

Just wondering instead of using a 3m pad. And does the 3m pad dull the surface?

Mac

[brackish]

brack, have you ever tried SS polish to get rid of the rust?

Just wondering instead of using a 3m pad. And does the 3m pad dull the surface?

Mac

No it seems like it is just a slight bloom rust and it comes right off with minimal rubbing without dulling with the 3m pad that is considered non abrasive.  I've only noticed it at the welds on the stanchion posts and pulpits.  The polish alone would probably work fine if it has any extraordinarily fine compounding material in it.  What you don't want to use is something like 0000 carbon steel wool, just adds to the carbon precipitation problem.  I suspect that when they were manufactured the welders may have used carbon wire wheels or grinder blades that had also been use on carbon steel to remove the slag.  A common problem in weld shops.  But not a big deal to control it.

[tmorgan]

In 2007 when we got our Sun Cat, a few weeks in the Chesapeake Bay in June was enough time for small barnacles to attach to the hull.  So we knew we needed bottom paint.  We painted the hull with a hard paint (Interlux VC Offshore) to minimize loss due to trailering.  We have never had any growth to date in saltwater with up to five weeks exposure in Maine and four weeks on the Chesapeake.  This year we kept the boat on a mooring at Smith Mountain Lake and the slime just washed off when we pulled the boat in November.  After six years, it is time to repaint and we'll stick with the Interlux VC because it has done well for us.  Note however, not many paints can be added on top of Interlux VC.  If we switched, we'd have to remove it...not going to happen! Just relating my experience here and in know way do I claim to know much about bottom paints.