salt water problems

[bubbs20]

Hey guys, i am new here. have a 2007 vlx in santa marta colombia. I have the boat in the ocean and was wondering what parts i should be ordering now, knowing eventually things are gonna start to break and to get parts down to colombia will take a while. thanks, i  apreciate the master classes i have got on this forum already 

[bubbs20]

also, where do i buy parts from? online? thanks

[Cole2001]

It's really hard to say what exactly you're going to need. Besides the basic cosmetic stuff you might see corrosion on,  I would say stuff along the line of starter, alternator, zincs, steering cable, belts, pullies, ballast pumps but really no way of predicting and these parts are all easy to get. 

Bakes is a pretty decent option for parts. No idea on shipping to Columbia.. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Cole2001

[justgary]

I would convert it to fresh water cooling with a heat exchanger and add stainless steel manifolds.

Get the engine warm, give it a bath with a garden hose, run it to dry it, then spray everything except the belts with spray oil.  Do the bath once a year and the oil spray once a month.  Dive under the dash and spray the electrical connections and steering helm with oil also.

[electricjohn]

Fluid Film or L & M Manufacturing Rust and Corrosion Preventive are popular on the NJ salt water. Keeping the engine at 160 degrees F is critical too.

[justgary]

Also spray your steering cable once a month.  Keep the bilge bone dry.  Letting water get on the starter or steering cable is bad for them.  The number one cause of stuck steering cables is letting them get wet.

[hawaiianstyln]

I have had two Malibu's in Hawaii (Oahu), I religiously washed everything down with SaltAway including all gear as well.  So when we dunk the boat for the day, someone was at the wash station ready to soap down the trailer so it isn't sitting all day from a fresh dunk in the Ocean. At the end of the day when we pulled her out, EVERYTHING gets drenched in SaltAway.  My process was extremely OCD to the point that I even took a hand mitten with a bucket of SaltAway and hand wiped down the entire engine and bilge.  As things dried, I would lightly dust the entire engine bay in WD-40 (later I switched to T-9 Boeshield this stuff is awesome) which also includes trailer and tower parts that were vulnerable.  My process was so extreme that after years of salt, I ended up shipping my 04 VLX to PHX where we moved and the Malibu dealer was shocked to not find a lick of rust.  The first thing you will probably have issues with is when running the boat on the trailer with SaltAway to flush the engine, the inside top of your risers never get the full SaltAway flush only because they are not being fully pressurized with the flush Idling on the trailer.  

To combat my Exhaust manifold riser issue where it couldn't reach the inside tops of the manifolds, I researched and found an amazing company that figured out how to pressurize the entire cooling system (engine running or not) called the "MST Guardian Flush System".  The idea was they had a system that routed flush lines to all areas on the engine before and after areas that were difficult to reach with just idling an engine and the flush would only fill-up half the cooling system.  So a manifold would distribute the SaltAway instantly to the entire engine, pressurized it 100% and blew it out the exhaust.  You will have to do some research as I think MST Guardian went out of business but their products are still purchasable on ebay.  I also believe there are other companies that have come out with the same technology but just call it something else.

Here is a quick read on MST Guardian but like I said they went out of business.  If you did enough research you can still buy one of those MST Guardian manifolds on ebay and make your own lines that connect to all areas of the engine and have your own advanced flushing technology system.  Possibly even getting an irrigation manifold and build your own advanced flushing system too.

https://www.merdocmarine-antigua.com/archives/mst.htm