Wet Berth Storage

deafwish · **Posted:** Wed Dec 03, 2014 8:51 pm

My Wife & I have floated the concept of maybe investing in a 25-28ft cruiser (Mustang 28/ SeaRay etc).
I'm trying to work out some sums in my head for additional maintenance if the boat is anti-fouled & stored in the water.
It's going to be an additional $2000 p/a to dry store the boat (racking) and trying to decipher whether this is justifiable?
Having the boat in the water could be good, as we could hang out & stay overnight on it, in the pen.
The boat would likely have a single engine/ duo prop configuration and I'd try do most of the basic maintenance myself.
Any tips or pointers I should know or consider?

Cheers.

ric · **Posted:** Wed Dec 03, 2014 9:34 pm

Take this from experience.. If you wet slip you must epoxy barrier coat at a minimum. Fiberglass isn't waterproof. After a year of wet my boat sits 1in lower than normal and takes about 6 months of trailer storage to "dry out".

LouC · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:58 am

The main issue is finding anti fouling paints for Alu that actually work for the whole season. The tin based paints did but they were outlawed. What we have now ( Trilux) does not last the whole season. I have to pull the boat in early August and clean and reprint the drive if I don't want a mess in Oct. If you want to to this check with people who have and find out what they used. Bigger boat in salt, better if it's got outboards or inboards, not I/Os. Ive done it in Long Island NY for 12 seasons and that's my opinion....

LouC · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:45 pm

You've probably seen pix of my salt water slipped drive on here, take a good look at that as ask yourself do you want to deal with this problem every year.

ric · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:55 pm

LouC wrote:

You've probably seen pix of my salt water slipped drive on here, take a good look at that as ask yourself do you want to deal with this problem every year.

this.

Jdpber · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:45 pm

^^ that

Put on dry rack and be done

deafwish · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:32 pm

Would the growth be any different to a shaft driven/ diesel cruiser?

LouC · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2014 5:33 pm

Sure it would. Outdrives have numerous nooks and crannies, trim hoses, etc. It is exceedingly difficult to get enough paint in some of these spots to stop growth. Straight shaft drives or V drives have none of that, very simple and easy to paint under the waterline metal. Even when you do brush on 2 coats and spray the inaccessible areas, the stuff just doesn't work that well.
If you are in a high fouling area forget it. If low fouling then it can be done. So it varies by location.

Plus straight shaft/vee drive running gear is not aluminum. You can use anti fouling paint that actually works. The stuff we can use for aluminum just does not work well, at all. Maybe its different in Aust. Ask around. Make sure you are asking in the exact location you keep the boat.

You will even get barnacles growing inside the water intakes. Yes, inside. Causes hard to diagnose over heating because you don't see how far up they go. Then, you will to split the drive upper and lower units, scrape that crap out of there, and paint it INSIDE too. And do that about every other year. Although this happens on raw water pick ups on inboard, to clean them out is not a project. This is.

See been there and done that.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nbiqnmzm0zmlt ... 5.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hsu59glgt405x ... t.JPG?dl=0

Second pic is with it taken apart to clean the crap out.

Vintage Beauty · **Posted:** Sat Dec 06, 2014 3:19 pm

Love living the boat life unsalted! Too bad the trade-off here in Michigan is a short season

LouC · **Posted:** Sat Dec 06, 2014 5:38 pm

Ours isn't really much longer, really just May to end of Oct...
We have salt, tides and tidal changes but no low water levels except for tides.

alex8q4 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 07, 2014 10:10 am

Lou's photos only show 2/3 of the fun... Still have to go over the gimble housing after that. This is a time consuming task indeed.

I'm not a salt water guy so i can only assume regardless of the boat you have, you will be pulling it out of the water at least 2 or 3 times a year to clean and bottom coat. There is time and cost to consider for this as well.

On the flip side, harbour life can be very nice. My father keeps his boat in a harbour that feels like a small Community. They often spend the weekend on the boat and not leave the dock.

LouC · **Posted:** Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:56 am

Well here are some more things I did not say:
Yes the damn transom mount is a bear to clean out and repaint and you have to use the spray to get in there. I even paint the bellows and trim lines because yes, barnacles grow on them, and yes under the right conditions the shells can cut them.
The paint you can use on the hull is much more effective than the crap paint for aluminum. So its not nearly as much of a problem.
I haven't touched on the problem of hot marinas and galvinism because I don't deal with that. My boat sits on a rotating mooring not in a marina. So there is no shore power and no boats nearby with current leaking into the water.

So here's what it breaks down to:
When you pull the boat do a good power wash of the hull, drive and transom mount. The soft stuff comes off easy, the hard stuff no so easy.
1) in the fall you remove the drive to check the bellows, gimble and ujoints. Do the normal sterndrive maintenance
2) in the spring you re-paint the drive and transom mount, reinstall the drive. Replace the anodes.
3) monitor growth while its in the water. For us we usually pull it around August 1st for a short haul. We powerwash the crap off the drive, let it dry out over night and then check the gear oil and anodes. If all is OK, repaint it (one more coat brushed on, spray transom mount) and re-launch.

If you leave it in all season (May -- Oct) some years it could be a nightmare, in about 4 hrs of work to clean it right. Much better to pull it mid season and catch any problems that could be starting.

deafwish · **Posted:** Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:55 pm

These are all valid issues & is making me reconsider the headache associated with wet berthing an outdrive boat!
I can either:

Dry stack the outdrive boat & use the marina's pen when we want to stay on it overnight.

Find a similarly sized boat, but with a shaft driven petrol/ diesel engine (any suggestions?).

Cheers.

LouC · **Posted:** Sun Dec 07, 2014 8:51 pm

Compare costs and convenience factors. Think about resale. Will a big boat with outdrives sell in a salt water market? Think about water depth levels. If you must often traverse shallow spots, a straight shaft inboard is going to make you stressed out. You can't trim up like an outdrive. Most people here do not want outdrives on a big boat kept in the water. The one exception is the south shore of Long Island, people put up with them there, because the water levels are much more shallow than where I am on the North Shore....
Which leads to what I think you should strongly consider:
Modern Outboards. More costly up front but many advantages. Better performance, less weight, safer, probably easier maintenance than some inboard boats. Downside is the cost of certain repairs.
For a boat slipped in salt water its no contest. Outboards all the way vs outdrives. When we had anti fouling paint that worked it was not so bad. Now we don't, and its a chore.

deafwish · **Posted:** Mon Dec 08, 2014 4:13 am

However reliable, I really dislike outboards on pleasure boats.
Nothing worse than wanting a leisurely swim and fighting your way around a cowling...

Cost of ownership for a trailer-able Bowrider is pretty cheap if you start adding up all these new costs!
The next boat size bracket is a considerable step up in financial commitment!

www.iFourWinns.com

Wet Berth Storage

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