: Really? That's news to me. Unless it's covered with sand or
: something, I can't think of a good reason to rinse a boat. With
: SOFs, rinsing with fresh water promotes rot.

If I am reading news reports correctly, it may soon be the law to hose down your boat when you pull it out of the water in several midwestern states. Of course none of these are near salt water, but it's where I live.

There is a huge concern with transporting non-native plant and animal life from one body of water to another. Apparently some people think that eggs, seads, and weed clippings may get picked up on "sea-weed" in one lake (why don't they call it "Lake Weed?) and still be viable when the boat gets launched in another lake. Whether that is true, or not doesn't matter much to the politicians. They see reports of Asian carp, and snakehead carp advancing up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers into Lake Michigan and are going to great lengths to get Chicago to bottle up the Chicago river. Meanwhile, zebra mussels (which many believe came in ballast water flushed into the Great Lakes) are heading downstream, and into small lakes. Off of the politician's radar for now, bt high on my personal hot list, is the issue of snail larvae. Until there is an outbreak of "swimmer's itch" on a hot summer week these pests get spread quietly and widely.

I can see your point about SOF boats covered with cotton canvas. There is a tendency for these to rot faster when used in fresh water. But, owners of these boats probably already follow common care and upkeep techniques, such as flushing with a mold/mildew prevventative, such as a borax solution, or a commercial preparation. And those SOFs skinned with synthetic materials probably can't rot.

It may be a toss up on which preserves the skin more--flushing it regularly to eliminate any build up of dirt and grit (including dried salt) that might act as an abrasive on the inside of the fabric, or not flushing it and letting the salt keep down the growth of mold and mildew spores.

I opt for keeping it clean and hosing with fresh water. I think the exercise gives the boat owner a chance to go over the boat inch by inch and spot any problems before they get critical. An early bloom of mildew may look like a layer of durt, but if you get it off it won't continue to grow and do more damage. If you can see it, you can treat it. If it is hidden under dirt then it can flourish.

Just my opinion here. You can take it with a grain of salt, or an ocean full :)

PGJ