How to clean your jet ski after a salt water ride - Hiseadock

How To Clean Jet Ski After Salt Water Ride

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Cleaning jet ski after saltwater rides can be an extremely arduous task, especially when you are new to riding jet skis. Ensuring their proper maintenance is a top priority for you. Saltwater is known to thoroughly damage jet skis, and that’s why many people are wary of riding them in salty waters. But we completely understand that sometimes it can become especially impossible to resist the temptation of riding on your jet ski in a sea or an empty ocean. 

That’s why, to ensure that you are able to clean your jet ski properly after riding it in such environments, we are writing this article that covers exactly how you should clean your jet ski, what preventative measures you can take, such as installing a floating dock, and what is the maximum amount of duration you can ride in such an environment.

Jet Ski In Salt Water – Is It Really That Bad?

Saltwater might seem that it’s not really dangerous, but in reality, it is an extremely major threat for metallic parts, mechanical components, and electronics. This is because the liquid is highly corrosive and can easily damage machines that are primarily made from metals – such as your jet ski. As a general rule of the thumb, you should avoid using jet skis in saltwater whenever possible and instead opt for skiing in freshwater bodies instead. 

That being said, jet skiing in saltwater isn’t as bad as you’d think. As long as you do a proper cleaning routine after each of your saltwater rides, you will ensure that your jet ski won’t go bad or get damaged. Now before you head off to riding in the ocean, we also strongly recommend you check the build and model of your jet ski. 

In case your jet ski is a lighter model with an extremely lightweight hull, you can face stability and comfort issues while riding in the sea or ocean but jet ski riding in a pond should still be a smooth experience. The last thing you would want in your saltwater ride is toppling off your jet ski in the water and exposing its expensive components to extreme harm. 

That’s why we strongly recommend that you use a jet ski that is designed for heavy marine use – something with a larger and deeper hull that provides the rider with immense comfort and stability even when riding the jet ski in an ocean or sea.

What To Do Immediately After Riding A Jet Ski In Salt Water To Clean It.

 Floating platform dock.
Source – Hisea Dock

When you are done riding your jet ski in a saltwater ride of your choice, there are a number of cleaning procedures you must do to ensure your jet ski’s crucial components don’t get corroded. Let’s find out what these procedures are and exactly how you should do them.

Clean Your Jet Ski From Outside.

The first and the simplest step you need to do before you do anything else is to ensure that you thoroughly clean your jet ski with normal fresh water available in most homes. Take your jet ski off the saltwater body and place it in a dry spot, preferably with a drain nearby, where it doesn’t come in contact with salty water again.

Now all you need to do is take your hose, turn up the settings if you have the option to, and bring down as much freshwater you can on your jet ski. Wash every visible corner you can see on the jet ski with your hose until you eliminate as many traces of saltwater as you can. If you don’t have a hose nearby, a simple bucket of water and a jug does the trick as well. 

While this is a relatively simple step, it still holds a lot of importance, and it is crucial that you clean your jet ski as much as you can before doing anything else. This will only help you later on during the actual process where you check the quality and reliability of your jet ski. What’s more, is that this will also help you clean off any dust or debris that might have accumulated on the upper half of the jet ski or on the seat. Thus, this step is literally a win-win situation for you.

Clean The Inside Of Your Waverunner.

After you are done cleaning your jet ski, the next thing you need to do is take off any detachable components that are still attached to your jet ski. Having a floating drive-on boat dock here helps a lot as they can also be attached and detached as per your preference. This includes everything from seat coverings, glove boxes, storage areas and even your jet ski hood. Doing so will help you clean your jet ski more easily and also allow you to clean the deeper components inside your jet ski. 

Essentially, your priority in this step would be to permit yourself to get as much access as possible to the inner components of your jet ski to ensure that you get to clean everything properly. There also might be a few bilge plugs on your jet ski that you might want to remove. Many people forget about removing these components despite knowing that they are completely removable. Doing this allows you to drain any water that might have gotten inside your outside components. 

Another thing you want to ensure is that when you are examining the wheels on your jet ski’s trailer, you want the trailer’s front to be a bit elevated from the ground. This allows the backend of your jet ski to drain out as much saltwater as possible from its rear side. When you are done with that, you need to clean down the jet ski from left to right again with freshwater to clean the inside components out. 

Ensure that you pay a particular attention to the jet ski’s fuel tank, coupler and engine. These are the main components that need the most cleaning but unfortunately they are the ones that get blocked the most by other parts that are relatively small in size. When you have ensured that you cleaned out your entire jet ski properly without a shadow of a doubt, shift your attention to the detachable parts that we earlier asked you to remove. Similarly, you can also get floating work platform docks that allow you to do the same in a much more seamless manner. 

This will ensure that the remaining saltwater on your detached parts won’t seep into your expensive components when you arrange them properly again. There are various ways through which you can understand your jet ski and it is critical that you utilize them to fix your jet ski model in particular as most vehicles go through different damages and have different builds than their industry counterparts. 

We also strongly recommend that you go through your user manual about this situation here and consult with a nearby repairman or serviceman that can help you get more insights on how to clean your jet ski after a saltwater ride. After all, owning a jet ski is a pretty rare occurrence and the people that are experts in them are even rarer. If you find someone like that online or near you, make sure that you make their acquaintance and keep in contact with them. 

Floating boat dock
Source – Hisea Dock

Flush Your Jet Ski.

The next crucial step on this list is flushing your jet ski thoroughly. There are many jet ski owners out there that confuse themselves with the difference between flushing and cleaning and thus think that flushing is the same as cleaning. In reality it couldn’t be further from the truth and thus causes the jet ski owners hundreds of dollars worth of corrosive saltwater damage later on. 

To ensure that you don’t wind up next to them, you need to ensure that you deeply learn how this process works and then reliably put it into action. Flushing as a process basically implies removing salt and other outside matter from the internal components of your jet ski motor, various cooling systems, and your jet ski’s pump. There are many expert jet ski owners that recommend flushing a jet ski regardless of its usage in freshwater or saltwater because it is simply that crucial a maintenance step. Experts also say that it is crucial that you too find a floating dock manufacturer for storing your jet ski. 

Once you finally complete the setup, your hose’s water goes through all your engine’s smaller parts and then cleans them off any residues of saltwater. These residues can cause a ship to get corroded in a matter of a few months which is why it is necessary to clean them from the inside and flush a jet ski. 

What’s more is that even if your jet didn’t go through saltwater and doesn’t have residues of saltwater inside its parts and even outside the jet ski, we still recommend that you flush your jet ski out because in the end it will help you out a lot. This is because even if you ride in normal freshwater, you may get dangerous external matter like sand, dirt and other debris etc. 

The process is also significantly dissimilar to washing your jet ski because in the flushing process you need to ensure that your jet ski is in a level or flat position from the ground unlike washing position which requires the jet ski tilted with its rear side at the bottom for better drainage removal. This flat position can be easily achieved when you have a floating platform in place that is stable and balanced. 

Again, it is extremely important that you clean your jet ski like it’s a new one and never treat two jet skis in two different ways even if they are from the same manufacturer or brand. This is simply because each jet ski is modelled in a different way and has an unique build of its own. We strongly recommend that you go through the user manual once again as they provide the best instructions for all your worries and concerns. 

The manual should usually give you what you need to do and how you need to wash your jet ski accordingly in different waters that the jet ski is taken to ride in. Flushing is an extremely easy and seamless process and doesn’t take more than a few minutes to complete or understand it. It is also an extremely crucial one because it single handedly decides whether you can ride in saltwater for your next ride.

Check For Any Damage.

This is not a step that you need to do after you are done cleaning but rather something that you will do while you are cleaning and flushing your jet ski and that is checking your jet ski for any damage. Visible damage is the easiest to spot – anything from major scratches due to constant heat and saltwater can sometimes cause that to happen. 

If this isn’t your first time cleaning a jet ski after being in saltwater, we strongly recommend that you do it as soon as possible to ensure that you at least get experience of how damage identification and scalability works while you are working on your jet ski. A floating bridge can easily help you get your jet ski from one spot to another without getting it wet for repairs. The earlier you check your jet ski for any damage, the better it is for the health and maintenance of your jet ski. Having a clear idea of the damages also helps you minimize it and understand what kind of repair services you need if the damage happens to be extensive. 

There are various ways through which you can keep your parts and components of your jet ski safe from the harm of saltwater and avoid any further damages that may occur in the future. It is necessary that you utilize all avenues of help and assistance while you are cleaning your jet ski after a salt water ride. 

Lubricate

If you are still thinking of moving your jet ski around in saltwater despite knowing everything, we have one great suggestion for you – lubrication. Lubricating your parts with lubricating oil, grease and oil products helps improve the performance of your jet ski and also gives it a temporary resistance against saltwater and its accompanying corrosion – a property all floating restaurants from Hisao permanently have 

For this, all you need to do is to buy a corrosion inhibitor that is specially made for this purpose. You can find them anywhere in a normal supermarket but the most reliable ones are said to be Salt-away and WD-40. When you get inside your jet ski’s engine while opening it, spray the corrosion inhibitor wherever you can see inside the engine except the surfaces that are made from rubber. 

We also recommend you to lubricate your jet ski’s parts in your pump with this corrosion inhibitor, along with the parts inside your braking system and other metal parts on the exterior which only improve your jet ski’s performance and get rid of all the saltwater residues that may have piled up inside. Electrical connectors are also known to rust over time because of saltwater corrosion but since they need to be conductive, we don’t recommend using a normal corrosion inhibitor there. Instead, use insulating grease that is both conductive of electricity and lubricative. 

We advise you to keep your jet ski lubricated from time to time for smooth functioning but even doing it 4-5 times a year is more than enough. 

How To Prevent Maximum Damage After Riding A Jet Ski In Salt Water.

Boat floating dock.
Source – Hisea Dock

Since you now know how to clean your jet ski after it goes through a salt water ride, it is time to understand how you can prevent maximum damage even before you go on a saltwater ride. Your first step would be to use as much protection as possible on your jet and this can be achieved in a number of different ways. Protection helps your jet ski protect better against the corrosive dangers of the sea’s saltwater. 

We strongly recommend using products such as a corrosion blocker. Detach every conductor and then coat them with a corrosion block on each side before you reconnect them again. The next step in this process involves getting any visible metal parts in your jet ski an additional layer of protection that helps them protect against external harm. Do this enough and a thick layer of covering should form on your jet ski’s external metal parts. 

Don’t worry, this covering is harmless and can be removed extremely easily. It is crucial that you apply this layer from time to time, every once to every four months, depending on your preference and usage. Another way to ensure additional protection for your jet ski is to examine how many hours you have used on your jet ski and whether you have a customizable jet ski dock and work platform that can help you out. Most experts single-handedly agree that you should re-apply protection once you reach every 50 hours of jet ski usage. Still, it honestly just depends on how you use your jet ski and how often. 

Another thing you should consider doing before you jet ski ride is lubricate your spark plugs and the holes they occupy. Their lubrication is done using a special lubrication product called fogging oil. Simply put this oil in the spark plug holes so that the cylinders inside the jet ski get lubricated and the jet ski runs better at a lower chance of your cylinders getting corroded. This is a viable usage method that you should know and use each time before you use your jet ski.

This process is especially vital during the colder seasons when you don’t plan on using your jet ski for a long while. Experts say that the most optimal time you should use fogging oil in your jet ski is right after you finish the flushing of your jet ski’s cooling system. Doing this allows your internal components to get ample lubrication as well and prevents them from getting corroded in any form. While you can use fogging oil anytime of the year and lubricate your jet ski, the best time to do so is right after your flushing. 

This will not only help you keep track of your jet ski’s maintenance but also help your jet ski out. You can also try fishing with a fish cage farm while you are on your jet ski ride or repairs as it is a good way to earn some side money and additional revenue.

People often wonder how much fogging oil they should add to their jet ski and a good indication of that is by checking if there is a lot of smoke coming from your jet ski’s exhaust. If there is smoke, the fogging process is successful. 

We also recommend that you keep your jet ski dry as much as you can. We know that it sounds rather counterintuitive considering that a jet ski is designed to ride the ocean and sea and other water bodies in general, but it is important to let your jet ski get some air of its own when you get offshore by removing its drain plugs for a while. 

Make sure that you install these plugs back in when you take your jet ski to ride into the ocean or otherwise you just stand to negate all the efforts you did till this point. The crucial thing to remember here is that jet skis in general are considered to be extremely vulnerable to water, especially saltwater in general. Thus, it is crucial to keep the engine and some other precious components inside your jet ski dry. 

Last but not least, ask yourself – where will you be keeping your jet ski in? Most people like to offshore them and keep them as far away from saltwater as they can. However, the people that do end up keeping their jet skis in saltwater bodies use a special dock for the jet ski called a lift or a floating jet ski dock. 

What’s The Maximum Amount Of Time You Can Spend On A Salt Water Ride On Your Jet Ski?

In case you don’t have a lift or a floating jet ski dock and are thinking about keeping your jet ski in saltwater because it’s too much trouble bringing it offshore again, then we strongly recommend against that. Not only are you giving your jet ski a free chance to get corroded in the water but you are also risking theft and losing it in a harmful wave or two. 

Thus, we only recommend that you use your jet ski for 3-4 hours during daytime when you are actually using it. When you don’t need it anymore, bring the jet ski back to the shore again and keep it in a dry place to protect it. 

Conclusion.

We hope this article was helpful for you in deciding what to do while cleaning your jet ski after it goes through a salt water ride. After all, ensuring proper care and maintenance of our dear ski jets is an important part of every jet ski rider’s life. If you are looking for more ways to ensure that your jet ski gets minimal corrosion damage, contact us right away and we will be more than happy to provide our excellent docking solutions. 

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