On Sun, 10 Apr 2016 17:13:21 -0700 (PDT), True North
wrote:


On Sun, 10 Apr 2016 14:30:29 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:
- hide quoted text -

On Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 1:27:57 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Squirrels or some other chewy thing ate one of the cables on my boat.
I fixed it but I am still not happy about it. (Tilt down was broke)
I wrapped the cable in expanded metal and rubber tape where it is
exposed. Let's see those little buggers chew through that Â*;-)
I am still not sure why they decided that was a good thing to eat. It
wasn't even easy for them to get to.

This may seem an oddity, but here at Richland County's Eastfork lake there were several boats sunk back in 'the day' because the muskrats loved to Â*chew on those big rubber gaskets on the OMC Stringer outdrives. I guess they liked to gnaw at them to keep their little teefers sharpened...

"Guys who keep I/Os in the water here get bitched at and they fight
until their boat sinks Â*;-)"


My buddy in the Virgin Islands claims that the ocean is saltier down there vs here. I suppose it wouldn't be a real good idea to keep an I/O in the water for any length of time. You'd think low useage in a short season would minimalize the problems up here.

The popularity of them up there, particularly as trainer boats is a
testament to how well they work in cool places but they are very rare
here unless someone brought one with them.
As for salinity, Here is a satellite picture from Nasa (SAC)-D,
Aquarius.
http://science1.nasa.gov/media/media...3/Salinity.jpg
It will be different when you are close to a place where fresh water
influences it so the shorelines tend to be blue.

I think the warmer water just makes everything more reactive. (first
week High School chemistry stuff)
Something that is salt water resistant in 60-80f water starts going to
hell fast when that water gets more like 80-90. The classic hot dipped
galvanized bolt that outlives the wood up north will rust out in a
decade or so here. I had to stop using HDG hooks to lift my boat
because I was only getting 4 or 5 years out of them. I never had one
break or anything, they just got too rusty to handle.