I asked at Jensen's where we stayed a couple days last fall what they would recommend about leaving the outboard in the water or pulling it out when you could. They said that they pull all of the outboards on their rentals out anytime they had a chance. Now these boats are in the water all year.
We have sailed with it in the water, but with the lift it is so easy to pull out and put down that we do that unless we forget. We always have pulled it up at night in fresh or saltwater. Of course the gas tank isn't in the way now. Before the inboard tank we kept the tank on the ...
...port side cockpit seat, so it wasn't in the way of pulling the outboard up there either. It is behind the cushion above.
....How long in the water would it be when you begin to see stuff growing on it?
I'd check with locals, but I wouldn't worry too much if you are talking less than a few weeks and then it is pretty easy to get off at that stage.
Our boat had new bottom paint last fall before going to Florida and it should of been good for what we paid for it. We were in the water for almost a month and had no growth on the paint. No real growth on the rudder that wasn't painted and the same on the transducer for the depth finder and very little on the bottom of the dinghy that was in the water all the time with no paint.
This spring it was much different when the boat was in the water almost 2 months. Very small less than 1/8 th barnacle near the back bottom that came right off. That of course had bottom paint on it. The inflatable dinghy had to be cleaned 3 times total in that time and the barnacles got pretty large in my mind, but were still under 1/4 to 3/8 inch in dia. There was also some slime buildup, while none in the fall and the bottom paint has an anti-slime component. The rudder also had to be cleaned. A fair growth of slime at the waterline that I had to wipe off on the water using the dinghy a couple times. Barnacles on the transducer, rudder bracket, rudder and anything else that wasn't painted. Had to clean all of those a couple times on the water and at home.
That was in SW FL and the Keys. I guess it is different everywhere and at different times of the year. If you are only going out for a couple weeks I'd just go and clean the boat when you get home,
Sum
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