Saltwater Survey...

[Gvmhlal]

Never purchased a "salt" boat before but I am looking at a 2015 Nautique that has been in brackish water a handful of times (the engine was freshwater rinsed each time). My initial reaction towards a salt boat is to walk away. However, she is a beauty that looks immaculate and has less than 100 hours. How does the saltwater effect the NSS, ballasts, interior, etc? I have a survey scheduled next week, but there's no freshwater nearby for the sea trial. Do I have him conduct the sea trial in saltwater (ugh)...or forego the sea trial and just complete the land portion of the survey and figure another way out to take it for a freshwater test drive at a later date? Or since it's already been in saltwater, just complete the sea trial and see what comes of the survey?

Appreciate any feedback y'all may have!
Gvmhlal

[bturner]

Hope you're getting a good discount on the price. I never trust anyone that says the boat's only be in saltwater a couple times. For ME, it's either a saltwater boat or it isn't. What bothers me more is that there's no fresh water where the boat is located.

Salt gets into everything and starts it's thing immediately. Every screw thread, every bolt and every seam in the seats, you name it. If there's a trailer and it's not galvanized or aluminum expect to have issues with it as well. If you go in knowing this, you're accepting this as the norm and there's nothing wrong with that. If it were mine I'd have a hard time dropping it in the salt but then again I probably wouldn't be buying it either due to it's saltwater history.

[SilentSeven]

Is the engine equipped with a freshwater cooling system? I wouldn't buy a boat that's been used in salt / brackish water on any regular basis that didn't have a freshwater cooling system period.

If it does have a freshwater cooling system, then these are your likely considerations:

- Manifolds may need replacement soon
- likely exterior engine corrosion issues and will need replacement parts
- Cosmetic damage as noted above.

I purchased a new (used) boat last fall and looked at about 7 or 8 boats before I settled on the one on my profile. Of those,3 were saltwater boats and they all had fresh water cooling systems but also all had issues. There was salt damage on all the engines - couplers, motor mounts, brackets, etc all had various ranges of damage. The trailers for 2 of them were junk and the other had a new galvanized trailer. Visible salt damage to the components seemed to vary by the owner. One boat was nearly perfect...no corrosion at all - but it was clear the owner was super attentive to the issue and managed it well. Two had pretty obvious surface corrosion issues - more than I personally considered acceptable for my standards.

In the end, I walked away from all three. I did consider one (from the attentive owner) as it was a nice boat but I figured it needed $800 to $1k in motor parts to clean it up plus it was one where the trailer was shot (brakes, tires, bunks, coupler all were no good) and it needed another $1k to $1.5k in trailer work. Owner had an unrealistic sales price in mind so we never got far.

I may have some motor pics handy....hope this helps. Good luck!

PS: I can't speak to brackish water as much as salt water. Where in TN do you get brackish water?

[Gvmhlal]

Appreciate the feedback! No closed cooling system. Boat was in Orlando until this past fall. Used in brackish water on the St Johns in Jacksonville. Currently being stored down near West Palm but hasn't been in the water since last fall (while it was still in Orlando).

No brackish water that I know of in TN

[GatorBaitWake]

Take a good look at the bottom of the engine and transmission and you should be able to tell right away if it was used in salt water or not. Those areas are hard to clean.

There are a bunch of lakes in the West Palm area. Lake Idda, Lake Osborne, Lake Okeehelee, and Mills Pond in Fort Lauderdale. I would find a way to get it there instead of testing it in pure salt water.

[SilentSeven]

A few samples of salt water damage. Engine pics, corrosion on the audio amp and a video of an engine walk around.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AoJnMC1oR2hM7KV6RHg3tY2Lg1S6Fw

Posted via phone. Sorry for the tpyos.

[shag]

All above are correct. I lived and owned/boated (with a Nautique) in salt and brackish many years ago, for about 10 years and yes, Salt gets everywhere... Everywhere... That said, I took meticulous care of my boat which involved easily an hour or better of cleaning each and every time we went out. (probably one reason I moved from the west coast of Florida to Orlando). I did not have closed cooling and just my opinion, I like it better.(I just feel that there is more to go wrong with closed cooling and more parts. Also they seem to run hotter, by design I guess) I always flushed completely after EVERY use and soaked everything in the engine compartment and bilge with WD40 or T9 Boeshield (I bought the stuff by the case). I remember seeing freshwater boats that were not taken care of as good. It really depends on owner attention to detail and service intervals with a Salt boat. No matter what a salt boat will have a lower resale just for reasons we are discussing here, but I would not rule it out totally. Trailer: It is nearly impossible to keep a trailer from rusting once dunked in salt. I have seen plenty a galvanized trailer even rust away. I have even seen stainless steel components rust! Even aluminum trailers will rust the fasteners. Any trailer that has been in salt will almost surely need the following at a much faster interval: Lights/wiring, Brakes (the entire system including coupler-actuator maybe even), wheels, bunks, guide pole mounts, and even the frame... Box frame trailers are bad since they usually rust from the inside out and once you discover it, its too late. Brackish is interesting. We sometimes would ride in brackish water well up the mouth of the manatee river. Sometimes it was like there was no salt in at all! Other times you could tell there was... Like above, mainly its either been in salt or not.. Good luck with your search and I would also not buy without a water test, unless you have legal document that says the owner will repair 'X' if anything is found in water test after sale... Or, 'sale pending water test'..

[LakesideRec]

Bought a "salt" boat and moved it up here to MN. Its a 2015 210 SAN Coastal Edition. Reportedly it spent a couple of years in San Diego, CA before being moved to TN. Yes, there is some superficial corrosion on the steel and iron engine parts (similar to the photos, above, but not as extensive). It also had some wear and tear more due to it having high hours, but the price was $20k less than other 2015's we were looking at. It also came with a trailer that was added after its life in the salt, so the trailer is still like new.

Like any used boat, its all about the tradeoff of how much you enjoy having a perfect boat vs having that extra money available for other fun uses. As I was putting it away for the winter last fall, I noticed the battery was not really holding a charge. I was annoyed for half a second until I reminded myself and chuckled that "Hey at least it lasted through the season and didn't spoil any time on the water."

The bottom line is that the only repair time/money I have put into it since buying it have been refurbishing the ballast pumps (which had some corrosion/deposits inside the pump bodies), some re-wiring of a poorly-installed audio system, an oil change, detailed cleaning, winterizing, and now it needs a new battery.

On first look, it looks great, but if you look close, you can see a little bit of bubbling of paint on the heat exchanger. This photo doesn't really show the underside of the engine pan and the v-drive transmission down in the bilge area where the paint is failing and there is surface rust.

[Gvmhlal]

Appreciate the feedback!

[Outdoorjp]

I'm typing on a phone so forgive me if I misspelled anything.

I would ask anyone giving feedback have they owned the boat themselves?
"Lakesiderec" had good feedback I thought.....

I live on a lagoon with ocean water in San Diego..I see all the local boats and have a 210 coastal edition.

We also use it in lake water....

I would not buy a boat used in salt unless ....

1.coastal edition..
"closed cooling" "stainless package"

2.rinsed every use with salt away or fresh water
" rinse inside and engine flush"

3. Engine bay washed and treated regularly....
"I use corrosion x" engine bay looks great!!

That being said are 210 is in great condition and better that alot of fresh boats of the same age..2011

LAKE POWELL water takes longer and the hull bottom is a wreck compared to the salt water....

We bought are boat at a discount and will sell it at a discount...
BEST/SMARTEST PUTCHASE I HAVE MADE IN MY BOAT PURCHASES !!

Owned 2 mastercrafts, 1 houseboat and 2 ski boats..