Fresh water verses salt water boats
- Thread starter Bob S
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I don't think there's an actual difference intheboat, but salt water will corrode things more quickly than fresh. Kinda like " highway miles" versus " city miles" for cars.
Obviously, salt water is a corrosive environment for anything metal. All else being equal, I'd much prefer a well-maintained salt water boat than a poorly maintained fresh water one.
Don's right.
Water corrodes, salt water corrodes absolutely!
But if you hose off the salt water boat after sails, what's the difference? All boats should be dry down below, so what's the difference?
Water corrodes, salt water corrodes absolutely!
But if you hose off the salt water boat after sails, what's the difference? All boats should be dry down below, so what's the difference?
Stu,
Got a question on the mast of the 34 verses the 30. I know the mast on my 30 is deck stepped and I drop her every fall and store it inside. On the 34 it's keel stepped if I'm saying it right. Can the mast be dropped? We've been thinking of up sizing and there are a lot of 34and 36's out there. The admiral feels claustrophobic in our 30. Personally, I love our boat and would be comfortable in anything. additional buffing doesn't sound too inviting each spring :cry:
Got a question on the mast of the 34 verses the 30. I know the mast on my 30 is deck stepped and I drop her every fall and store it inside. On the 34 it's keel stepped if I'm saying it right. Can the mast be dropped? We've been thinking of up sizing and there are a lot of 34and 36's out there. The admiral feels claustrophobic in our 30. Personally, I love our boat and would be comfortable in anything. additional buffing doesn't sound too inviting each spring :cry:
Bob, the Mark Is had a factory option of keel vs deck stepped (took me months of research to figure that out: http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=History Poke around the wiki some more and you'll find the original price list showing the option). The Mark IIs are all deck stepped.
I don't pull my stick every year, but I'm sure it makes little difference and that there are millions of skippers with keel stepped masts who pull them every year.
Heck, buy a C34 and I'll tutor you about how to use the C34 website for free!
Bob S,
In addition to the effects of salt water corrsion, another less ovious factor to consider in the 'Fresh vs. Salt Water' discussion is that up here in the Great Lakes area we take our boats 'out of the water' during the 6-months between October and April. That typically means less wear & tear for the same model, size and year of a boat as compared to its Salt Water counterpart that would be in the water year around.
Also, in shopping for our present boat we ran across several former Charter boats that were transported from Florida and/or the Carribean to sell as "Fresh Water" boats up here.
Regards,
James
In addition to the effects of salt water corrsion, another less ovious factor to consider in the 'Fresh vs. Salt Water' discussion is that up here in the Great Lakes area we take our boats 'out of the water' during the 6-months between October and April. That typically means less wear & tear for the same model, size and year of a boat as compared to its Salt Water counterpart that would be in the water year around.
Also, in shopping for our present boat we ran across several former Charter boats that were transported from Florida and/or the Carribean to sell as "Fresh Water" boats up here.
Regards,
James
Uhm, James, I think skippers from the Chesapeake to Maine would disagree with your assessment. They're in salt water and take their boats out in the winter, too.
Stu,Uhm, James, I think skippers from the Chesapeake to Maine would disagree with your assessment. They're in salt water and take their boats out in the winter, too.
No doubt. Just speaking from my own perspective here in Michigan.
We also seem to have allot of what I'd call 'Dockside Condos' (a summer home that doesn't leave the dock too often) here in the Great Lakes too. Do you folks out there in the real ocean have something similar?
Our own Hunter was a former Dockside Condo. It's now 25 years old and only had about 700 hours on the engine when we bought it seven years ago. That's about 40 hours per year.
Regards,
James
and there are lots of folks who get hauled and covered in the summer here in the south as this isn't really our season for sailing.Uhm, James, I think skippers from the Chesapeake to Maine would disagree with your assessment. They're in salt water and take their boats out in the winter, too.
It all boils down to condition and maintenance trumping location.
Interesting debate. To me there are two major environmental factors: Fresh or salt, winter freeze, high humidity or temperate climate. I suspect even boats taken out of the water in winter suffer lots of effects from freezing weather. Likewise, boats subjected to year round high humidity are likely to have rot issues. So maintenance being equal, would one prefer a salt water boat from a temperate climate vs. a fresh water boat from a thaw/freeze or high humidity climate?
I believe that boats float higher in salt water than in fresh so the water line is longer in fresh water. That would make a fresh water boat faster if you could some how race them side by side.
I'm also thinking that the owner is more important than what type of water it is floating in.
I'm also thinking that the owner is more important than what type of water it is floating in.
Guys,
I'm going off on a tangent here, but I would like to ad my thoughts about boats on the hard for extended time. I don't know of any fellow boaters with this problem thus far.
Some years ago, I pulled my 1980 C30 boat for a simple(?) bottom job. I discovered I had a huge problem with blisters. In the era when the boat was made (1980 in Calif.), laying fiberglass & quality control were distant cousins back then.
I discovered 118 blisters, most of which were 4" or more in length with widths of 3" or more. I decided to use the West System & do it myself. I did this for the next 4 weeks, in HOT Florida August conditions; highs in the 90's under a brutal sun. There were other problems to force me to haulout then, but's another story.
Here's the problem I encountered while on stands. Deck water drainage had been no problem, it flowed to the drain scupper (if this is the correct term) indent in the toe rail and overboard. When the boat was re-splashed however, it became apparent that the water no longer drained as normal, but now would pool up on deck four feet forward of the scupper/drain area both port & stbd. sides.
I have to assume that that under hot conditions, the hull had sagged slightly. I suspect that the stands used may have been spaced too far apart (or not enough of em), and the heat & weight of the boat over 4 weeks led to this. Add to this the forces of rigging tension, and it's now permanent.
So, you guys having to spend months on the hard, please make sure the yard uses a few extra stands spaced properly so you never have this problem.
My tangent here is done.......
CR
I'm going off on a tangent here, but I would like to ad my thoughts about boats on the hard for extended time. I don't know of any fellow boaters with this problem thus far.
Some years ago, I pulled my 1980 C30 boat for a simple(?) bottom job. I discovered I had a huge problem with blisters. In the era when the boat was made (1980 in Calif.), laying fiberglass & quality control were distant cousins back then.
I discovered 118 blisters, most of which were 4" or more in length with widths of 3" or more. I decided to use the West System & do it myself. I did this for the next 4 weeks, in HOT Florida August conditions; highs in the 90's under a brutal sun. There were other problems to force me to haulout then, but's another story.
Here's the problem I encountered while on stands. Deck water drainage had been no problem, it flowed to the drain scupper (if this is the correct term) indent in the toe rail and overboard. When the boat was re-splashed however, it became apparent that the water no longer drained as normal, but now would pool up on deck four feet forward of the scupper/drain area both port & stbd. sides.
I have to assume that that under hot conditions, the hull had sagged slightly. I suspect that the stands used may have been spaced too far apart (or not enough of em), and the heat & weight of the boat over 4 weeks led to this. Add to this the forces of rigging tension, and it's now permanent.
So, you guys having to spend months on the hard, please make sure the yard uses a few extra stands spaced properly so you never have this problem.
My tangent here is done.......
CR
There are some well cared for fresh water boats, and there are also the derelicts. Those of us that care about our boats know the drill for storing on the hard for the winter. Aside from being in the water only four months per year, many are stored on factory cradles. They also have custom covers with significant pitch to allow the snow to slide off rather than accumulate. If stored mast-up messenger lines are uses to remove any running rigging that would be exposed to weather. Standing rigging is relaxed to reduce tension on the hull, etc.
Certainly, if a fresh water boat ends up going to salt water, a bottom paint change is in order, but that's a relatively minor inconvenience. I would think one would take that into consideration anyway.
Certainly, if a fresh water boat ends up going to salt water, a bottom paint change is in order, but that's a relatively minor inconvenience. I would think one would take that into consideration anyway.
I would agree that the level of care and maintenance of the boat is more important than fresh vs. salt water in terms o a boat's condition.
That said, when we looked for our last boat, we travelled from the Great Lakes to the Cheasapeake and Virginia.
What we found was that there was usually a cosmetic difference between the salt water boats vs. the fresh water boats. Nothing significant but things like the chrome gone from the stantion bases. more corrosion on aluminum items like binnacles, winches etc.
The other thing we noticed was the increased amount of UV damage the futher south one went. A good indicator of that are hatch lenseswhich were usually in much rougher shape the further south one went.
In the end we bought a lake Michigan boat but that was simply the right boat, at the right time and we woudl have, happily, bought a salt water boat from he south had it been well maintained.
Matt
That said, when we looked for our last boat, we travelled from the Great Lakes to the Cheasapeake and Virginia.
What we found was that there was usually a cosmetic difference between the salt water boats vs. the fresh water boats. Nothing significant but things like the chrome gone from the stantion bases. more corrosion on aluminum items like binnacles, winches etc.
The other thing we noticed was the increased amount of UV damage the futher south one went. A good indicator of that are hatch lenseswhich were usually in much rougher shape the further south one went.
In the end we bought a lake Michigan boat but that was simply the right boat, at the right time and we woudl have, happily, bought a salt water boat from he south had it been well maintained.
Matt
We were in the great lakes for 4 years before hitting the ocean cruising.
We had zero rust stains on all our stainless hardware. Within 6 months in salt, we started seeing a lot of stains. We have to keep at them or they get pretty bad, to our eye anyway.
I had a conversation with a well known, respected rigger on the great lakes. He said that in over 30 years, he never saw one rig fail on a fresh water boat, even 40 year old rigs. No degradation with any of the hardware on fresh water boats.
You never see the need to change bronze thru hulls on fresh water boats. Same for heat exchangers on engine/genset.
So with a 25 year old fresh water boat; the rig, thru hulls, heat exchangers, deck hardware will look like new in regards to corrosion. Can you say that about a 25 year old salt water boat?
We had zero rust stains on all our stainless hardware. Within 6 months in salt, we started seeing a lot of stains. We have to keep at them or they get pretty bad, to our eye anyway.
I had a conversation with a well known, respected rigger on the great lakes. He said that in over 30 years, he never saw one rig fail on a fresh water boat, even 40 year old rigs. No degradation with any of the hardware on fresh water boats.
You never see the need to change bronze thru hulls on fresh water boats. Same for heat exchangers on engine/genset.
So with a 25 year old fresh water boat; the rig, thru hulls, heat exchangers, deck hardware will look like new in regards to corrosion. Can you say that about a 25 year old salt water boat?
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