Outboard Jet in brackish water?

[rotus623]

Hey guys! Been fishing the heck out of my CC jet. Really enjoying it. We are going to be staying in a house off of the Rappahannock river (Chesapeake Bay watershed) in a week or so. I have looked up the salinity in the section of river that I would be running, and it looks to be 10-12.5% salt content. (.5% is freshwater, whereas 35% is full salt water). There is freshwater available to rinse the trailer, flush the motor, and clean the boat after each trip, which I would be doing. The boat will not stay in the water the whole week.

The jet foot has an anode on it. The liner is actually gouged pretty good and I am going to change it when I get back, so I will be removing the impeller and foot off after I return.

I don't plan on going into open water with her, but it would be nice to do some fishing in the tributaries that we are staying in. My wife is also hoping to see some dolphins at the mouth of the canal (we see them every year.)

With all this info, would you be hesitant to run your freshwater only 4 stroke outboard jet in the brackish? It's not ideal, but man life is short and I wanna take my boat!!!!!!

 

[SkinnywaterP]

:shock:

 

[Johnny]

rinse the trailer, flush the motor, and clean the boat after each trip

I see the jet skis in the open ocean salt all the time . . .
it depends on how you take care of it after the run.
who knows, you might find you like the high speed fishing !!!
(most inboard jet boats take the same jet ski motor and pumps, don't they ??)

I have a friend that lives right on the Chesapeake Bay in VA
and he custom builds jet skis and jet boats for open water fishing.
he's a little rough around the edges, but an awesome sportsman when you get to know him.
https://www.jetskibrian.com check him out.



.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Won't hurt it. Remove your grates and pins when you change your sleeve. I usually throw a little grease on my pins when I reinsert them.

 

[handyandy]

It will be fine especially if your planning to rinse it and flush it afterwords with fresh water. I've run my boat in full salt here and there. What hurts them is being in the salt all the time, and never getting rinsed/flushed with fresh water that leads to corrosion issues.

 

[jamesriverguy]

budy of mine takes his jet down to full salt along the NC coast for a full week every year. boat never comes out of the water the whole week since we camp on the island and only way to get to it is by boat. he just runs it in the lake when we get back to rinse it out good and has never had a problem.

 

[jtf]

jamesriverguy, sent you a pm.

 

[jamesriverguy]

Got it thanks, replied

 

[Lost Pole]

Jet ski motor..... salt water......

Where's the problem?
Not being confrontational, but I'm not understanding the issue.


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[S&MFISH]

Jet ski motor..... salt water......

Where's the problem?
Not being confrontational, but I'm not understanding the issue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The internal components of the jet drive are subject to salt corrosion more than the internals of a prop drive, which for the most part are in a sealed unit.

 

[rotus623]

Jet ski motor..... salt water......

Where's the problem?
Not being confrontational, but I'm not understanding the issue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The internal components of the jet drive are subject to salt corrosion more than the internals of a prop drive, which for the most part are in a sealed unit.

Yep, plus when you have a fresh water motor you don't want to corrode it all up in the salt.

I flushed her out and cleaned her up real good. I got some videos of me running my flat bottom tunnelled jet boat in the tidal rappahanock. I will try and put em up here.