The first of many - boat questions!
 

Here is my initial round of questions.
I will be keeping my boat in a slip. Its never been bottom painted and after speaking with the marina, it will be a small fortune to do the initial coats. I dont think there is any way around this and have no time right now to do it myself. So I'll have to go with it

They mentioned "zincs" on the boat, never heard of that , do I need them?

Any reccomendations for keeping a boat in a slip? I plan on flushing the motor with freshwater after each use. Any other suggestions?

Zincs = yes mount them on the outboard, very easily done yourself, buy em at West, takes minutes to install. keeps the corrosion down on the metal, but being sacrificial (so they are usually changed annually or every other year)

barrier coat and bottom paint = yes (would take you a couple of hours over 2 days) or have them do it.

flushing = yes

make sure your bilge pump works!

zincs are used to fight electrolosis. any time you have metals in contact with water, electrolosis will happen. its likd of like rust. the zincs are a sacrificial lamb so to speak and will absorb the electrical currents and disolve away slowly. If you didnt have the zincs, your softer metals like aluminum outbaord parts would start to disolve..

if your going to use your boat all the time, you can probably get away with not painting it for a season. You might have to pull the boat on your trailer and pressure wash any growth off ever month. I wouldnt be scared of soft green growth, its the barnacles that will get you...

all of my boat knowlege comes from my upbringing on sailboats, but its the same with small motor boats.

perfect, thanks

Not to disagree..
but in wickford, paint your boat.
it will cost $$ but will save time, effort, money to powerwash/scrub at the end of the year. plus growth = reduced fuel economy!!!

Ain't no way you're going to keep an unpainted bottom free of growth unless you power wash it everyday! :)

agreed. You NEED to paint the bottom.

Also....

you can bottom paint in one weekend.

Saturday, tape/sand/prep

Sunday 3 or 4 coats barrier & 2 coats bottom.

I did it on my Northcoast 19.

IT WILL SAVE YOU SO MUCH $$$. You are going to need save where you can because the boat will suck your wallet dry!!!

Also, your outboard will most likely already have zincs on it. You may or may not need to replace.

YUP!!

Paint the bottom = $$$$$$$$ and time saved in the long run.
Sacrificial zincs are a must.
Before you put that boat in the water, fill the bilge with water and test the pump. You dont want to leave that boat sitting at dockside or on the mooring without a functioning bilge pump.

the boat has a self draining cockpit, I assumed that means no bilge?

take that back, it has a bilge

There i always a bilge. My cockpit is self draining too, but there is a bilge below.

yeah.. paint the bottom. these guys are right.

As far as bilge pumps are concerned-

You are going to want [need] two bigle pumps w/ float switches. Especially because you are keeping the boat in the water, and you don't live close enough to just take a quick drive down.

it will help you sleep better at night.

Don't get me wrong, you can live with one... hell, i only have one. But if it is really raining and storming, I will go down and check my boat before dinner and again around midnight, and again first thing in the AM.

Go with two bilge pumps. As a added layer of security, find for the second bilge pump one with a high water alarm. Should you be taking on some water or the primary pump has failed, you will have an audible warning should the backup pump need to kick in.

checked w/current owner, boat has 2 bilges.
Thanks and keep the info coming!

Add a second battery and a rule switch. Flip over the battery every week so you can always be sure you have a battery fully charged.
One major storm and you can have you battery drained!!!

Huh? Two compartments in the bilge is what I think you meant. Is there a waterproof bulkhead between them? If so you need a bilge pump in each compartment.

sorry mike, I meant two bilge pumps

Bill, 2 batteries two, I'll see about the rule switch