# Boat flushing



## kodiak250 (Oct 23, 2007)

Hey guys. I have a Mercury saltwater 150 and am pretty religious about flushing the motor with fresh water after use. I am coming down this week and doubt I'll have the ability to flush when we get done fishing (leaving it at storage unit since I'm coming back for Memorial Day). Is there any concern or should I make sure to find somewhere to flush it? Am I overly anal by worrying about it so much?


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

I would just find somewhere to flush it and not have the worry in the back of your head


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

I'm no mechanic tech, but if you let it go ONCE, probably wouldn't hurt much. But if there were any opportunity to flush it- I'd take the extra time to do it. Why let one flake of corrosion embed in the heart of your engine?


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## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

Yep, I'd flush it. Preferably with SaltAway.


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## Mullethead (Oct 4, 2007)

Flush has to help - however I flush my engines about twice year .... when I pull for extended time off the water or spring maintenance .... pair 150 hp - 1,400 hours - no cooling issues ... I do change water pumps and thermo stats every 600 hours (works out to about every two years) .


Not flushing for a week then flushing afterwards would not worry me in the least - just my humble opinion 


Use the boat and fish often .. seems to help


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

I will add that my boat doesn't get flushed after every trip because sometimes it stays in the water for a few days at a time but I do flush it every time I take it out of the water for 5-10 minutes sometimes longer depending on what I have going on while I am flushing it or how ever long it takes me to drink my silver bullet haha


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

Where are you traveling to with your boat


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I would find a place to flush it. Car wash maybe or perhaps there's a forum member that lives nearby.


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

kodiak250 said:


> Hey guys. I have a Mercury saltwater 150 and am pretty religious about flushing the motor with fresh water after use. I am coming down this week and doubt I'll have the ability to flush when we get done fishing (leaving it at storage unit since I'm coming back for Memorial Day). Is there any concern or should I make sure to find somewhere to flush it? Am I overly anal by worrying about it so much?


Where will you be traveling to with your boat.


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## DreamWeaver21 (Oct 3, 2007)

I imagine a whole lot of people that keep their boats in the water flush the motors somewhere between once a year and never. I read THT a lot and a good bit of the people in the NE only flush at the end of the season. I generally flush mine after every trip but if I forget or I can't for some reason it doesn't bother me.

It is kind of a religious thing. If it makes you feel better, great, do it. In the end, does it matter? Who knows?

Letting it sit for a week or two without flushing it won't hurt anything.


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## tiderider (Oct 1, 2007)

I always flush, it gets kind of stinky if avoided. Just saying.


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## swander (Dec 1, 2007)

Go ahead and dont flush it. Here is an oil cooler that failed after only 400 hrs and it was flushed religiously!! Problem is the lines going to it are so small you cant flushi it at idle speed. You need to run it up to the rev limiter for a few seconds during the flush!! When this fails it pumps all your oil out and you dont even know it till your oil light comes on. Note the inlet and outlet line sizes below.


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## purple haze (Sep 2, 2013)

WE flush our engines after every use. I flush both engines with salt away every other outing. The way I look at it is our engines run about 15 hours straight and a lot of that time the engines are hot. I imagine the salt along with the heat is allowing corrosion deposit to enter areas they should not be. A little effort on shore may prevent a problem offshore.


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## kodiak250 (Oct 23, 2007)

Thanks for the help guys. I actually just brought the boat back home with me so it got flushed after last trip. I will be back down in Orange beach this weekend and the boat will stay in the water the whole time so it won't get flushed until I leave. I would think that since mine is a "saltwater" series motor it would be more resistant to the corrosion....is that a true assumption? I ride by all the houses on the water and I know that those guys with boats on lifts aren't flushing them every time. I obviously want to go the extra mile to protect my investment but sometimes I wonder if I'm paranoid.


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## PusherManB2 (Apr 11, 2015)

You're supposed to flush your outboard?? 

All kidding aside I left my rabbit ears on today when I took my skiff out. Could have been bad and it was the first time I flushed my motor in about 6 months. Motor gods telling me something or?


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## AndyS (Nov 22, 2011)

kodiak250 said:


> Hey guys. I have a Mercury saltwater 150 and am pretty religious about flushing the motor with fresh water after use. I am coming down this week and doubt I'll have the ability to flush when we get done fishing (leaving it at storage unit since I'm coming back for Memorial Day). Is there any concern or should I make sure to find somewhere to flush it? Am I overly anal by worrying about it so much?


If you'd seen the thermostats on my old Merc when I swapped 'em out a couple of months ago you'd flush it after every outing. Caked with salt! And I usually flush it within a couple days of taking it out. Now i flush it soon as I get home .... every time. _ (that's just my personal experience .... your mileage may vary)_


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

I would suggest that you use the ramp at Pensacola Shipyard...You can flush the motor when you come out of the water.


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