Storage On the Hard

[O_Fred]

Hi All,

We're putting our Sea Ray 390MY on the hard for a few months in Titusville. We'll do a little maintenance at this opportunity.

I'm looking for tips on how to set raw water valves, etc. We've only been out of the water for maintenance ( bottom paint, etc.) as owners these past few years. We'll flush the raw water systems, but then what? Just leave the valves open, or what.

I'll take any feedback I can get.

Cheers, Fred

[wingless]

It would be best for the unattended boat for the AC/DC converter to remain plugged into power, to maintain the batteries at float voltage.

If the batteries are flooded cell, then properly top off the level in all batteries and all cells using distilled water.

WRT to the seacocks my experience is that THE VERY BEST thing that can be done is to remove the lever, gland nut, stem and nylon sealing washers. Then CAREFULLY clean all those parts and reassemble using plenty of marine grease. Lightly tighten the gland nut as tightly as possible w/ the lever moving w/ normal force. I did that well over a decade ago on mine and they still work great, every single time.

Remove the garboard drain plug.

My 2000 380DA was built using those horrible scoop through hull strainers for the engines and A/C. Those suck lemons through a garden hose. I have since replaced mine w/ properly bonded Groco APHS strainers. The original strainers permitted marine growth the was virtually impossible to get clean. The new ones get almost no marine growth and they have both a door permitting interior access and the screen is retained by screws, so the inside of mine remain clean.

WRT to raw water flush, I redesigned the exhaust on my boat using OEM parts. Previously my exhaust would change from beautiful OEM Mercruiser parts to horribly corroded heavy lumps of trash in five years. I would (and still do) perform an annual disassembly for inspection, while visually observing the progressive deterioration of the parts.

The OEM system was impossible to flush / impossible to drain. Now I can do both flush and drain after every usage. Even after eight  years the interior of my parts still looks brand new.

Assuming yours has dripless seals, then properly servicing those parts is a good idea. On mine, with vee drives, I remove the shafts using seal protectors. Properly polish the shafts. Periodically I move the spare seal to active, discard the active and install a new seal as the spare. The replacement also uses the seal protector.

Each time I have the shafts out I also clean the cutlass bearings and periodically swap those for new.

While plugged in on the hard I keep the A/C fans running in the cabin. Additional fans are not a bad idea if they are secure and safe.