Boat motors/salt water and free camping

[Throbbinhood]

Those that travel full time, or long freecamps with a tinny.. How are you flushing your motors after salt water use given limited fresh water access while freecamping?

Or just suck it up while your near the salt and give it a good long run next time your near freshwater?

[kizza1]

Most outboard have a silent flush option where you run water through the power head with it switched off. You could do this with a small amount of fresh every 3 or 4 days if you were concerned. 10litres should be heaps

[briann532]

Hell I know I'm going to shot down in flames for this but................

You see boats "living" in salt water for years and it's not that big a problem.
yes it does cause corrosion, yes it does slowly kill the motor, but how much and for how long?

I'd reckon you'd just flush it when you can. Then when you get home give it a right old clean out and proper flush using an inhibitor.

A quick google came up with these "mixed" responses.
https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/585640-how-often-should-i-flush-my-outboard.html

[glenm64]

Do more damage to them leaving them sitting there doing nothing for months, even after flushing them. You can never get all the salt out and it crystallises and blocks up water pump and small galleries. Just use it, abuse it and enjoy. It will go forever if you do good regular services and start them every month.

[Pete79]

I was going to say the same.
As long as it gets used often enough, I recon it will be fine until you stop somewhere with a tap to give it a really good fresh water flush out.

[Palmer]

I've got mates with outboards that only get flushed with freshwater when the boat gets taken to the lakes.
They use them a couple of times a week, so water is going through them regularly.  They've been doing things this way for ages.