Tips on Using Salt Away

[Jonah]

Thanks everyone. Again, this is very helpful.

I am going to continue flushing with fresh water after each outing, and will use Salt Away every few outings. I will either ensure that my T-Stats are cleaned at 100 hours, or might give it a shot myself sometime.

 

[seasick]

Thanks everyone. Again, this is very helpful.

I am going to continue flushing with fresh water after each outing, and will use Salt Away every few outings. I will either ensure that my T-Stats are cleaned at 100 hours, or might give it a shot myself sometime.

Its the tstat chambers that you want to keep clean of buildup. A dirty tstat can be replaced.
Get some spare gaskets before you remove the t-stats. You may get away with reusing the old ones but if they have been on a long time, they probably won't come off intact. No sealant and don't overtightem the bolts. They are not that hard to snap. At one time I used a torque wrench for all bolts and that is a good idea but after a while you do get the feel for torques for a specific bolt sizes. ( that said, things like head bolts or manifold bolts always get a torque wrench)

You can reuse the old t-stats if they are working. A simple check is to put them in a pot of water and heat the water. Starting from a closed position, they will eventually start to open and will do so until fully opened. Do both at the same time so you can see if one is acting differently from the other. If you want you can put a kitchen thermometer in the water and note the operating range.
Make sure you note the direction of the tstat when reinstalling. On some motors, the stat can be installed backwards.
Since I am a bit anal, i do the hot water test on new stats also just to make sure they are not defective.

 

[CleanupRequired]

I flush with fresh water after every use and salt away every few uses. Any that is remaining in the cup gets sprayed on the boat and trailer.

 

[seasick]

I flush with fresh water after every use and salt away every few uses. Any that is remaining in the cup gets sprayed on the boat and trailer.

Vinegar works too especially for rinsing the trailer. It's also a lot less expensive.

 

[Halfhitch]

If you use vinegar make sure the run-off doesn't run onto your grass.

 

[trapper]

Hi guys, thanks for the "checking the t stat" maintenance. Yamaha F 200 xb Yes, use salt away after every dip. These pics show the t stat and housing after 5 years in the Pacific around Vancouver Island. Appears quite clean! I see some rust on the back of the t stat that I will keep an eye on and replace down the road. No overheating and gauges show always running at appropriate temp. Diff Oceans diff salt content? Apologies for the focus on some but the message gets through. Cheer, trapper p.s. got to love posting photos, could easily get carried away, would like to see my......... Anyway Cheers trapper

 

[HMBJack]

Trapper,

Good on you for taking the time to inspect. Yes - your T-stat bores look excellent after 5 years.

I assume you are flushing w muffs and engine on?
Or just the garden hose powerhead fitting with engine off?

Please advise. Thanks!

 

[trapper]

Jack, without the muffs most of the time, then every 3 or 4 dips I fire it up with muffs. Also changed out my impeller after 5 years. Still was showing 20 psi at cruise, but thought it was time. On inspection impeller was in good shape but forming a memory. I have had talks with the Salt Away folk, great responce to questions. Some years ago I purchased some S A locally and it was orange colour not the blue. Talked the president of the co. to see if was a different formula, she informed me that the wrong colour had been a mistake at factory, then sent me a free gallon of the blue, I explained to her I was having problems with the distribution device, on sending her a pic, she informed me I had purchased a badly made clone (fake). Then she promptly send me one of theirs all free of charge. One has to love that kind of customer care!!!! They got me for life!! Cheers, trapper

 

[Halfhitch]

I am impressed with the looks of the inside of your water passages! Pictures are great! After 5 years to have them look that clean is phenomenal. That Salt Away outfit seems to know how to please customers, and obviously the stuff must work. That story is similar to mine concerning Bennett Trim tabs. They have the same outlook. I used to flush with the muffs every third trip or so besides using the static flush fitting everytime but the new 4.2 liter Yamaha I bought has two additional water pickups on the leading edge of the lower unit "bullet" so the muffs don't work anymore. I guess Yamaha is forcing us to use the hose fitting only.

 

[Doc Stressor]

Here's a couple of more things about flushing your engine:

1. The hose attachment on most outboards is designed to be used with the engine tilted fully up. That allows the engine to be flushed with freshwater on boats that are stored in wet slips. More water will reach the upper parts of the water jacket when you flush with the engine tilted up. I start my flush with the engine tilted up and then drop it down to let everything drain.

2. If you can flush with fresh water as soon as you take the boat out of the salt, you don't really need to use a product like Saltaway. Marine salts are fully soluble in freshwater as long as they are not allowed to dry down on surfaces. As saltwater dries down in the presence of air, it forms calcium and magnesium carbonates that cannot easily be removed by freshwater. To get rid of them you need to use an acid solution or chelating agents.

If you need to trailer the boat home before the engine can be flushed, using SaltAway or an equivalent product can make a big difference.

 

[trapper]

Interesting, that there is NO Gasket on the thermostat cover. Metal to metal, with no leaks. Cheers, trapper

 

[SkunkBoat]

Again - good points and I agree with you. I do my boating in deep cold salt water off San Francisco. No sand ever goes into my water pumps and I go 400+ hours with no problems. I used to change them every year or two and found it a waste of time and parts. Now it's 3 seasons minimum for me between WP impellor changes.

My only worry there is that you won't remove the lower unit bolts and the water pump bolts for 3 years.
After a frozen/snapped bolt, I started changing the impeller every season just because it forced me to take it apart.
Impeller/gasket kits are $40 or less. Might as well change it while its apart... I agree I have thrown away a lot of perfectly good impellers over the years, but I have never had one fail.
And thats the point...

 

[seasick]

Again - good points and I agree with you. I do my boating in deep cold salt water off San Francisco. No sand ever goes into my water pumps and I go 400+ hours with no problems. I used to change them every year or two and found it a waste of time and parts. Now it's 3 seasons minimum for me between WP impellor changes.

My only worry there is that you won't remove the lower unit bolts and the water pump bolts for 3 years.
After a frozen/snapped bolt, I started changing the impeller every season just because it forced me to take it apart.
Impeller/gasket kits are $40 or less. Might as well change it while its apart... I agree I have thrown away a lot of perfectly good impellers over the years, but I have never had one fail.
And thats the point...

A little anti-seize on the bolts makes a world of difference next overhaul

 

[ric2352]

I make my own SaltAway.....in a gallon jug 1/2 full of water add 40oz. Distilled white vinegar and 14 oz of good car wash soap or boat soap, liquid,top off with water gently to avoid foaming. Way cheaper than SaltAway, works just as good, has virtually the same ph as SaltAway. Just use in the SA dispenser or whatever you use. Great on hull and trailer....run it thru the engine and rinse.