Boating USA — March 2018

A:

W E

TEST

STUFF

38 | BOATINGMAG.COM | MARCH 2018

BOAT DOCTOR///Q&A

Q:

Thanks for the tip, Jim. We know what you mean about basically being

able to watch tools rust in salty air. Remove the oxygen, and corrosion

is thwarted. (A thin coat of wiped-on oil works for tools, like filter

wrenches, that are needed with some regularity.)

I trailer the boat to the ramp

each time I go boating. My

question is: When f lushing

the outboard after a day on

salt water, does the outboard

need to be f lushed immedi-

ately after pulling the boat

out of the water? Sometimes

I get back when it’s dark. Is

it harmful to f lush the next

morning or sometime during

the next day?

Also, on the outboard there

is a hose connection that

allows for f lushing without

running the outboard. Which

is the most effective way

of f lushing the outboard:

through this connection or

with the outboard running on

the muffs? Or would they both

be the same? Thank you.

Robert Donnelly

Via email

A: Your most effective time

to f lush will be as soon after

you finish boating for the day

as possible. With time, water

evaporates, leaving harder-

to-f lush salt crystals behind.

There is no way to quantify

this crystallization except

to say that the longer after

boating you begin f lushing, the

longer you should f lush for. At

a minimum, f lush until you get

the strongest discharge from

the telltale (aka “pee stream”).

The most thorough f lush is

using the muffs and f lushing

until the outboard comes up to

temperature so that the ther-

mostats open up. Of course, if

one keeps a boat docked in salt

water, this is not feasible.

ASK THE DOCTOR

Send questions to Mick with

your name and address to:

[email protected] or

The Boat Doctor, Boating, 460

N. Orlando Ave., Suite 200,

Winter Park, FL 32789.

GREAT

READER TIP

Hi Mick. I live

very close to

salt water, and

despite keeping

my tools in a bag inside the ga-

rage, they rust. This time I put

them in a FoodSaver bag and

vacuum-sealed it. Six months

have gone by and no rust is

apparent!

Jim Cohen

Key Largo, Florida

STAR BRITE

REGGAE MOP

This is most absorbent

mop I’ve used. There

are two tasks specific

to my boat for which

Star brite’s Reggae Mop

proves ideally suited. It

makes soaking up the

last bit of water, that

which the macerator

pump cannot get, a job

I can do using a mop

handle and while stand-

ing up instead of lying

on the cockpit and

reaching down with a

rag or sponge. Second,

the shoreline near my

dock is heavily treed.

In the spring, my boat

turns green with a thick

coating of pollen. Used

dry, the Reggae Mop

works great as a dust

collector, and though I

could use the hose for the

task, dusting allows me

to depollen and then go

boating without having

to dry the leaning

post or suffer drips

from the hardtop.

Did I mention

its super-soft,

super-absorbent,

nonscratching fronds are

great for quickly soaking

up dew or drying off the

boat after washing?

The Reggae Mop fits

Star brite Extend-A-

Brush ( boatingmag

.com/we-test-star-

brite-extend-brush)

handles utilizing a

push-button connector

built into the mop. If you

don’t have a Star brite

pole, an adapter ($9.29)

is available to use the

Reggae Mop with poles

that have the push but-

ton. $29; walmart

.com —Kevin Falvey PHOTOS: (FROM TOP) COURTESY JIM COHEN, COURTESY STAR BRITE