MC Saltwater Series - Rust!

I hate to see it but my friends x-45 saltwater series has some disappointing stains appearing. Light rust stains are running at the boarding ladder hinge, engine cover hinges and at the base of grab bars. Also, it appears a couple non-stainless washers at the wind screen made it into the parts bin as they are a mess.

All this after 40 hours. I don't know if it's inferior stainless or a lack of attention to what's in the parts bin but the battle against cancer continues.

I've seen this happen on other mcs. Rust in the drivers seat from "ss" hardware. The plant's reaction was that their are different levels of stainless steel. The screws that they use in certain parts won't fend off rust forever. I also was told that the only major different component of the sw series was the crusader engine.

Yea, unfortunately to keep prices down, the only use stainless on the major components. Sucks since your friend probably paide 80k for his boat.

Does he rinse the boat regularly? guess thats what you get for running in salt water.

Thats pretty funny cuz i have 200 hours on a non salt water series mastercraft and have zero rust and everyone says the boat still looks brand new. Mastercraft is not to blame though, your friend is. Just because it is a salt water series doesn't mean you can skip the maintenance. I've had tons of boats, right now we have 3, the mastercraft, a 24 regulator and a 67 Bertram. Regulator and Bertram are like mastercraft or nautiques of center console and sport fish. We've also had boston whalers, a donzi, and I've been around basically every type of salt water boat and stainless steal will rust. The difference is that it is only cosmetic and wont eat it away, plus you can just polish it off. If you don't want it to show rust you need to remove all salt from your boat after using it and keep all metals waxed with a metal wax. Even the best stainless will rust a little in salt.

Neither of us is new to saltwater boating and I assure you Manny both our lists of boats and experience is a bit beyond yours.

There is a question of the quality/level of stainless fasteners that have gone into the boat. There is absolutely no excuse for non-stainless washers to be present particularly in exposed applications.

Time will surely tell what other shortcuts and mistakes have been made.

Maybe their quality control isn't up to par on the saltwater series. But stainless steal rusts on all boats, I have yet to see a saltwater boat that doesn't get a little rust on it at some point. For example, my dad's boat was being serviced the other day and there was an almost brand new Hatteras that had a big rust stain on one of the rails and no one will argue that Hatteras is not one of the top quality Sportfish mfgs, I'll admit and my dad owns a Bertram. All I'm saying is that stainless steal does rust, and that really is no big deal. Now as far as non stainless washers that is rediculouse and there is no excuse for that. What washers have you noticed that aren't stainless? Personally I think the saltwater series is a little over hyped. I have looked at a bunch of them and everything seems to be the same as on non saltwater series other than the engine. They claim they have tinned wiring and waterproof connection. So does my boat and I've seen waterproof connections on many other wakeboats. They say everything is much more corrosion resistant, when judging by your situation compared to main that isn't the case.

We used to keep a FourWinns cuddy cabin in a saltwater marina year round IN the water for years. A good rinse after every use and even on vists to the marina if the boat was not used.
But you could clearly see where they 'forgot' to use stainless. It was not in many places, but the places that got affected got it real fast in spite of the regular washdowns.
I'm sure MC will learn and fix it. Don't forget that the saltwater thing is pretty new for this ski-boat builder.

It's still under warranty, get it fixed...

I'm glad mastercraft made the step forward as it will only push other Maufacturers.

By the way have you ever noticed that Marine Speakers always seem to arrive with non-stainless fasteners. One of my pet peeves.

I love how ppl say warranty, and use SS everywhere...this is not the manufacturers fault...it's the owners. Maintenance when running in saltwater should be the #1 priority! I have over 500hrs on my MC entirely in saltwater. YES there are some signs that it's been in salt water, but not many! It's all about the maintenance. This issue gets beaten around this site over and over and over and over again, I'm getting a little PO'd at ppl that claim to know what they are talking about in saltwater usage when they don't know at all!

Wash/wax/lubricate/protect. These are the 4 keys to boating in saltwater with the boats that we all use!

I'm gonna write a book on this...then make you all buy it!

I would add one more to the list of "keys" to boating in salt water...closed cooling! You can flush till you're blue in the face and it ain't all coming out of the pourous iron inside the engine.

Manny

What model Bertram do you have? I had a 1968 Moppie before my inboard. They are awesome boats!

My dad has a 2005 67. But we've also had a 1997 60, a 1989 43, and a 37 (dont remember the year) so basically we are big Bertram fans. The Moppie is awesome, I've seen some restored ones that are beautiful

You're right guys, he shouldn't me mad since he probably paid 90k for a boat that mastercraft said would hold up to salt like no other boat. Its his fault, not theirs. Yea right, he's got every right in the world to be pissed. If they market the boat as they do then it better hold up a little better right out of the box.

Matt, get over it. I would bet any amount of money that if you put any competitors boat out there, since no one makes a Saltwater inboard other than MC, with the same maintenance those guys put into the SS MC, you would see a big difference. BTW, why are you bitching? It wasnt your $90K...Do you really think a Malibu, CC, Tige, or any other manufacturers boat would hold up better?

(Message edited by Byrd on April 04, 2007)

SS will rust if not taken care of. I have even seen stainless props rust, which are usually top notch SS. There is a cleaner called Wink that will take rust stains off like magic. Like Byrd said its under warranty get it fixed. I would like to look at other mfgs boats after a month in salt ie; seat shocks, underwater gear etc.

Notice the original post,

" hate to see it but my friends x-45 saltwater series has some disappointing stains appearing"

It's his friends boat, the guy might not even be mad about it. Like Byrd said, it's under warranty get it fixed. Living in the midwest i am not that familiar with saltwater, but i do know if you don't take really good care of things in salt, you might find little rust spots.

I'm starting to think this boat is just not well maintained. Personally if I were Mastercraft I wouldn't warrenty it, Stainless rusts too, everyone knows it.

I'm not mad. For years I was waiting for one of the major manufactures to pay attention to saltwater needs. Now that MC is in the arena others may follow. It's a good thing.

My understanding is there are other things done to protect the machine like relocating the starter higher in the bilge, hydraulic steering to eliminate cables, tinning of wires, there are zincs on all the running gear although a couple have deteriorated super fast indicating a stray current. (I believe from the Mastercraft)

KG is absolutely correct about the extra maintenance needs of a saltwater machine. I've been running in salt for years and I understand and adhere to extra maintenance requirements. No problem. I even pay someone to keep up with the detailing maintenance requirements on my offshore boat. It can be a lot of work to keep things looking crisp.

My friend is even more anal and experienced than I. For years he worked at Broward Yachts and has been part of the design process for other boats. He know boats.

It seems my post started a feeding frenzy to the point of confusion. Manny has started to think the boat is not well maintained to the point where the steel screws are not stainless and should not be under warranty.

Pull a couple screws and washers out of your exposed hardware and replace them with non-stainless. Tell me how your maintenance procedures work.

Let me start my next complaint: Nuts without nylon inserts. Who finds these loose parts in their bilges.